Dynamics 365 App for Outlook: a complete guide to enabling, configuring and actually using it

Summary of the article published on LinkedIn (in Spanish). “View original” opens the full step-by-step guide.

First, be clear about what you are enabling

• Dynamics 365 for Outlook (classic COM add-in): deprecated since 2020.
• Dynamics 365 App for Outlook (modern Office add-in): the recommended path. It works in Outlook desktop and web and relies on Server-Side Synchronization.

End-to-end setup

1. Process email through Server-Side Synchronization and decide what syncs (incoming and outgoing email, appointments, contacts, tasks).
2. Approve and test the mailboxes (Test & Enable Mailbox). Only the user or a Global or Exchange administrator can do it.
3. Assign the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook User role. Adding a team to the role does not grant its members the privileges.
4. Deploy the app to users from advanced settings.
5. Validate in Outlook desktop and web.

Day-to-day use and good practice

• Track, Set Regarding and Untrack from the side panel; pin the panel; create records with quick create.
• Tracking through the Tracked to Dynamics 365 category, very handy with Outlook rules.
• A clear tracking policy (what is and isn’t tracked) and few tables and views to start with.

Common issues

“Track and Set Regarding are currently disabled” almost always means the mailbox is not enabled; Pending is normal because sync runs in cycles of about 15 minutes.