Salesforce for Outlook
Salesforce for Outlook was a desktop integration tool that connected Microsoft Outlook to Salesforce, allowing users to sync emails, contacts, tasks, and calendar events between the two systems.
Definition
Salesforce for Outlook was a desktop integration tool that connected Microsoft Outlook to Salesforce, allowing users to sync emails, contacts, tasks, and calendar events between the two systems. It was retired in June 2024 and has been replaced by the Salesforce Outlook Integration (Lightning for Outlook), which provides similar capabilities as a cloud-based add-in.
In plain English
“Salesforce for Outlook was a desktop integration tool connecting Microsoft Outlook to Salesforce for syncing emails, contacts, tasks, and calendar events. It's been retired and replaced by the Outlook Integration (Lightning) and Einstein Activity Capture.”
Worked example
Wykefield Capital's sales team used Salesforce for Outlook from 2014 to sync emails, contacts, tasks, and calendar events between their Outlook desktop client and Salesforce. With Salesforce for Outlook retired in June 2024, they migrated to the Salesforce Outlook Integration (Lightning for Outlook) plus Einstein Activity Capture - modern cloud-based add-ins providing the same workflows. The desktop integration was a creature of pre-cloud Office; Lightning for Outlook is web-native and supports modern Outlook security models. The retirement was a forcing function for the migration.
Why Salesforce for Outlook matters
Salesforce for Outlook was a desktop integration tool that connected Microsoft Outlook to Salesforce, allowing users to sync emails, contacts, tasks, and calendar events between the two systems. It was a desktop-installed application that required local installation on each user's machine.
Salesforce for Outlook has been retired and replaced by modern alternatives: the Outlook Integration (Lightning for Outlook) for side panel access to Salesforce from Outlook, and Einstein Activity Capture for automatic email and calendar sync without user effort. Organizations still referencing Salesforce for Outlook should migrate to these current alternatives.
How organizations use Salesforce for Outlook
Migrated clients from Salesforce for Outlook to Einstein Activity Capture and Lightning for Outlook.
Treats Salesforce for Outlook references as retirement migration triggers.
Uses Einstein Activity Capture as the modern replacement for Outlook sync.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Salesforce for Outlook.
- Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)Salesforce Help
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. Is Salesforce for Outlook current?
Q2. What replaces email sync?
Q3. What replaces side panel access?
Discussion
Loading discussion…