Prepare for Salesforce for Outlook Retirement

Review Migration Documentation Early

We recommend starting your preparation early. Although most product changes don’t occur until after the full product is retired in June 2024, it’s a good idea to review recommendations and take some initial steps before the action menu is retired in Summer ’21.

Plus, if you plan on migrating to a replacement product, avoid surprises by familiarizing yourself with the complete migration process right away. Review our migration advice even if you meet one of the following scenarios.

• You plan to finish rolling out a replacement product after the full Salesforce for Outlook product retirement in 2024.
• You can choose to roll out a third-party AppExchange offering rather than one of our next-generation products.

See Who’s Using Salesforce for Outlook

Before Summer ’21, get a list of who’s using the product, so that you know which sales reps are impacted by the retirement.

From Salesforce Setup, refer to the Salesforce for Outlook login history. Export a .csv file to see who’s logged in over the last 6 months. This report includes two types of users.

• Users who were given access to Salesforce for Outlook by an admin at your company through an Outlook configuration.
• Users who downloaded Salesforce for Outlook on their own and have used the default Outlook configuration to access features.

Depending on the size of your company, your bandwidth to manage a rollout, and your knowledge of your reps’ work cycle, it’s possible that reps who show up in the report are likely the only active users. In that case, you can focus on migrating those users only.

However, if you’re concerned that some reps still expect to use Salesforce for Outlook despite their 6-month absence, review users who are assigned to Outlook configurations. Reps in Outlook configurations were manually given access to Salesforce for Outlook by you or another admin at your company from Salesforce Setup. To locate Outlook configurations, see Assign Users to Salesforce for Outlook Configurations.

Comparing reps assigned to Outlook configurations with reps on the history report helps you to understand these usage considerations.

• Which users were working with Salesforce for Outlook recently
• Which users have used Salesforce for Outlook in the past and still can periodically
• Which reps are using Salesforce for Outlook without your knowledge
• What features and settings reps are using, including admin-configured settings, user-defined settings, and default configuration settings

Note any reps who appear to be working from the default Outlook configurations. Doing so helps you remember to check in later with those reps about which settings and features they’re working with to prepare reps for rollout.

Announce the Summer ’21 Removal of the Side Panel Action Menu

If you aren’t planning on migrating to the next-generation products before the action menu is removed in Summer ’21, announce the change to your Salesforce for Outlook users. Communicate the expected user experience and suggested workaround. See Salesforce for Outlook Retirement.

Retain Salesforce for Outlook Configuration Details

Before June 2024, retain notes on your sales reps’ current user experience. That way, when Outlook configurations are no longer available, you still have setting and user assignment details. Saving setting and user assignment details prepares you to mimic a similar user experience when you roll out the replacement products. Plus, it helps you avoid introducing sync issues.

Check your reps’ Outlook configurations, and note which features and settings are enabled. If all Salesforce for Outlook users are assigned to the same settings, you don’t have to track the reps assigned to each configuration. Track assigned users in these cases.

• You have multiple Outlook configurations that you use to assign different features and settings to different reps.
• You assigned Salesforce for Outlook to only a subset of your Salesforce users.

To get started quickly, consider using our Salesforce for Outlook Migration Worksheets to take your notes. The worksheets become a useful planning resource you can update and refer to throughout your rollout.

Note To work with the Salesforce for Outlook Migration Worksheets, click the link, and then copy and paste the sheets into a new Quip document. Or use another application that edits spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. After you copy and paste each sheet into your own spreadsheet, make it your own. Track notes and progress to keep organized during your rollout. Plus, we give you advice about how to use it along the way.

To retain notes using the worksheets, start with the Feature Usage Checklist sheet.

• Track the enabled features and settings in the column labeled Were you using this feature with Salesforce for Outlook?
• Track which users or profiles are assigned to each configuration in the column labeled Which Salesforce for Outlook users had access to this feature?. Keep in mind that you must list out specific users or profiles here. If you write the name of the configuration only, you haven’t retained the details you need when Salesforce for Outlook retires.

If you prefer not to use the worksheets, take screenshots or notes of configurations to record enabled settings and user or profile assignments. If you take screenshots, don’t forget to expand or scroll through any collapsed or scrolling page sections, such as Assigned Members or Edit Field Mappings. Plus, don’t forget to open your datasets and record your sync filters.

For a reminder about how to locate your Outlook configurations and what the settings do, see Create Salesforce for Outlook Configurations. To view your datasets, see Define Data Sets for Salesforce for Outlook.

Prepare Your Sales Reps for Retirement

To avoid complaints from sales reps after feature retirement, before June 2024, let reps know about the changes expected after the full Salesforce for Outlook retirement. Assure reps that you plan to communicate next steps and progress, and request participation from them along the way. Throughout the guide, we specify some key communications milestones.

Tell Reps Not to Remove Salesforce for Outlook Sync Categories

In addition to communicating the retirement date, before June 2024, give reps some important instructions about their Salesforce for Outlook sync categories.

With Salesforce for Outlook, reps indicated which contacts or events they wanted to sync using the Outlook categories Sync with Salesforce or Don't Sync with Salesforce. The categories reps used depend on how you configured reps to sync or whether you let them configure themselves to sync. See Manage How Microsoft Outlook Items Sync with Salesforce and Create Salesforce for Outlook Configurations.

With Einstein Activity Capture, reps follow different steps to mark items to sync or not sync. Because it’s a different user experience, migrating without some preparation from reps can introduce duplicate records into Salesforce or Outlook. Later, we explain how reps use the Outlook categories to prepare for migration before you roll out Einstein Activity Capture.

After Salesforce for Outlook is retired, even if you uninstall the client, the Outlook categories remain on reps’ contacts and events. Make sure that reps know not to remove the Outlook categories from their contacts or events, even after Salesforce for Outlook stops working.

To see how to use Outlook Categories during rollout, see the Prepare Reps for Contact Sync section in Things to Know Before Replacing Your Contact Sync Product.

Ask Reps Which Outlook Folder They’re Syncing With

If you plan on migrating to a replacement sync product, before June 2024, ask reps to confirm which Outlook folders they’re syncing with. Later, we explain how reps can use this information to prepare for migration to a replacement product. If reps aren’t sure which Outlook folder they’re syncing to, it’s probably the default folder. In that case, reps don’t need to do anything. However, they can check from Salesforce for Outlook Settings using the Change Folder button. See Install and Set Up Salesforce for Outlook.

Reps don’t have to worry about their task sync folder—our next-generation products don’t sync tasks. But don’t worry, some other task integration features are available.