Outlook 2010 Ribbon and CRM Dynamics 4.0 Integration

The introduction of Outlook 2010 brings some very handy improvements to email management.  Unfortunately, as of this post the default offering of the Outlook client for CRM Dynamics 4.0 is 10.  When installed in Outlook 2010 the client version 10 installs in the add in section of the ribbon.  This is makes the add in essentially useless.  Fortunately the client 11is now available if you know to go look for it.  After the install of the CRM client 11 for Outlook the CRM tool bar will be added to your ribbon in Outlook 2010. 

 

Once installed you will have the ability to move and modify your view in 2010.  To install the cumulative roll-up 11 chose the "CRMv4.0-KB981328-i386-Client-ENU.exe" file for download.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook client and the 64bit version of Outlook 2010

As clients begin the process of updating their software it is common for businesses to make the move to 64 bit systems.  During the Windows install the help screens make this seem like such a good idea.  Micrsoft however still recommends running the 32bit version of Office on your 64bit operating system.

Currently Microsoft CRM Outlook Connected does not support the 64bit version of Office Outlook 2010.  While direct access to CRM through IE is not affected this does prevent the installation of the CRM Outlook Client.  The ability to embed CRM into Outlook is one of it greatest strengths from a user adoption and consistency of use position.  As such, this is a deal killer when considering upgrading to 64 bit Office.  In general the advantages of running the 64 bit version of Office will pale incomparison to the ability to embed CRM in Outlook

Microsoft has reported that it has no immediate plans to support the 64bit version of Office Outlook with the CRM Dynamics 4.0 Client so we will need to wait for CRM 5.0.  For most organizations this will not be a major concern.

CRM Contacts address book blank?

For those of you using Microsoft's Dynamics CRM 4.0 with integration with Outlook you may have noticed you have a CRM address book for use in sending emails.  The default settings result in this being empty and if you are wondering why you need this there are some great reasons.

When you synchronize your CRM database with Outlook while running Exchange this will move the entire database to all your devices including your phone.  If you use a Blackberry then your Blackberry Enterprise Server pushes and pulls the entire data base to and from your device.  This can be irritating if you don’t need the entire database on your phone and you are used to quickly dialing from the phones search functions.

One solution is to not synchronize the entire data base to Outlook.  This sounds reasonable until you need to send an email to someone in CRM and want to do it from Outlook because if you are like me the spell check is a very nice feature.  To help us out the savvy group over at Customer Effective Blog has posted some help.  Please take a minute to read their post and you should really subscribe to their feed.

If your CRM address book is blank like below:

Then from Outlook select the CRM menu and then Options.  In options select Address Book and make the changes you desire.  For instance you can select to match the contact records only or if you would like you may match all records owned by you or just all records.

 Please note.  This example show an address book update every 1 hours.  This is likely excessive and is different discussion. 

Don't forget to select OK for the changes to be saved and then you will need to syncronize with CRM before you will see  the address book change.

Have fun!