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Syncing Between Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring) and Microsoft® Outlook®
Stop duplicating your contacts, events, and tasks in Outlook and Salesforce and start syncing between the two systems with Salesforce for Outlook.
Required Editions
| Available in: Salesforce Classic |
| Available in: Lightning Experience, if Salesforce Classic is available in your org. |
| Available with the purchase of Sales Cloud or Government Cloud in: Personal, Contact Manager, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions |
| User permissions needed to sync | When you sync | You’ll Need |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | From Salesforce to Outlook | “Read” on contacts; Contacts sync direction set to Salesforce to Outlook |
| Both ways | “Read” and “Edit” on contacts, and “Read” on accounts; Contacts sync direction set to Sync both ways | |
| Events and tasks | From Outlook to Salesforce: | “Read” and “Edit” on events; Events and Tasks sync direction set to Outlook to Salesforce |
| From Salesforce to Outlook | “Read” and “Edit” on events; Events and Tasks sync direction set to Salesforce to Outlook | |
| Both ways | “Read” and Edit” on events; Events and Tasks sync direction set to Sync both ways | |
| Multiday events | “Enable Multiday Events” on activities | |
| Recurring Salesforce tasks to Outlook | “Sync recurring Salesforce tasks to Outlook” |
Before you download and install Salesforce for Outlook, make sure your Outlook folders include the items you want to sync. If you’re syncing from Outlook to Salesforce, moving a record out of a synced Outlook folder deletes that record in Salesforce. If you’re syncing from Salesforce to Outlook, removing a record from Salesforce deletes that record in Outlook.
Learning about Sync Schedules in Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
Salesforce for Outlook syncs your items based on your system activity. Events and tasks sync automatically every ten minutes; contacts sync automatically every hour. If, however, Salesforce for Outlook detects keyboard or mouse inactivity for 30 minutes, the sync frequency for events and tasks changes to 30 minutes. After two hours of inactivity, the frequency for all updates changes to hourly, and after four hours, the frequency changes to every four hours.
You can, of course, sync manually whenever you’d like. Just right-click the system
tray icon 
, and then click
Sync | Sync Now.
Excluding Certain Records from Syncing in Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
If you chose the Sync All Outlook Items option for your sync method during setup, you can exclude certain items from syncing in these ways.
- You can choose to sync items you mark as Private in Microsoft® Outlook®. If you don’t
want to sync private items, open Salesforce for Outlook Settings, and deselect the types
of private items you don’t want to sync.
If you have synced items in Outlook that you later mark as Private, those items remain in Salesforce. The corresponding Salesforce items, however, will no longer receive updates if you modify the ones in Outlook.
- If you don’t want certain Outlook items to sync, regardless of whether they’re marked as Private, assign them to the category Don’t Sync with Salesforce in Outlook. For details on using categories in Outlook, refer to your Outlook documentation.
How Salesforce for Outlook Syncs Specific Items in Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
- How Your Contacts Sync with Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
You can keep your important Outlook and Salesforce contacts in sync using Salesforce for Outlook. When contacts initially sync, Salesforce for Outlook checks to see whether a contact with the same email address exists in both Outlook and Salesforce. If a matching email address exists, the two contacts are synced. If it doesn't exist, Salesforce for Outlook checks to see whether a contact with the same first name, last name, and company name exists. If it doesn't exist, a new contact is created and the two are synced. - How Events Sync with Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
You can keep your Outlook and Salesforce events in sync using Salesforce for Outlook. After an event is in Salesforce, you can assign it to related records, such as contacts, accounts, opportunities, and so on. Syncing events also lets you maintain an accurate view of your availability when you create events and request meetings from your Salesforce calendar. - How Recurring Events Sync with Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
Salesforce for Outlook syncs Salesforce recurring events (repeating events created in Salesforce Classic) with Microsoft Outlook calendars. - How Tasks Sync with Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
Keep Microsoft® Outlook® and Salesforce tasks in sync. - Automatic Account Assignments for Synced Contacts in Salesforce for Outlook (Retiring)
After syncing contacts from Outlook, Salesforce for Outlook tries to automatically assign them to accounts.
