It’s Finally Time to Remove your Dynamics 365 CRM Outlook Plug-In
Posted on: July 26, 2017 | By: Jim Bertler | Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Authored by: John Hinchy
Microsoft has been moving quickly with their new product introductions. They have recently released Project Service Automation, Field Service, and LinkedIn Sales Manager. These new tools allow companies and users to add on to their already existing Dynamics 365 for Sales environments and add a ton of new functionality for other company departments other than sales. With this new product introduction and rebranding Microsoft has also been working hard to update existing functionality that has needed a reboot for years. The major announcement this month related to Microsoft’s updates is the deprecation of the Dynamics Outlook Plug-In.
This plug-in has been around since the inception of Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Outlook, but has always caused issues. It allowed users to have a navigation tool within Outlook to the CRM, although this made navigation more cumbersome and was pretty confusing. The new Dynamics App for Outlook (which is the supported app going forward), allows the user to navigate directly to the record in Dynamics. Once they update the information in Dynamics they can close their screen and go back to their business in Outlook.
With the new Dynamics App, the user can see an email come through their Outlook, click the App, then add a contact and/or account directly to Dynamics. The user can also see Next Activities, open Opportunities, Cases needing attention, contact info, and much more. This new app uses Server Side-Synchronization and is a much more efficient way of linking your Outlook to Dynamics.
With the old Dynamics for Outlook Plug-In, there were many issues with crashing and lagging a user’s Outlook screen, and much need for improvement. Now that Microsoft has made progress on the Dynamics Outlook App it is refreshing news that they are finally retiring the plug-in.
For reference, the plugin adds the CRM/Dynamics tab to the top of your Outlook. This is no longer needed now, and to remove it go to Programs and Features- Uninstall Program- Microsoft Outlook Plug-In. We at Logan Consulting would advise removing this Outlook Plug-In as it will not be supported in the future. Also, now that the Dynamics App will be the main Outlook connection, look forward to future updates and additional functionality with this App.
If you think that a Dynamics CRM system is the next best step for your business, contact Logan Consulting, your Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner of Chicago.