Exchange/Outlook integration for contacts and calendar

[AndyPitre]

Sales people use Outlook, period. And because that's what they use, that's where the information should be at. Best way to achieve this would be via Exchange integration so that people would have access to the same information even on their mobile and wouldn't just be dependent on a single plugin.

[AndyPitre]

Hi @Bryantworks 

We do have a closed beta right now specifically to allow exchange users to use Meetings. You can reach out to your customer success rep who can sign you up for the beta. This beta allows anyone with Exchange to use the Meetings app, which creates a booking page allowing contacts to book meetings directly on your calendar.

I decided not to update the status of this thread because this beta is only adding an integration for the Meetings app. 

Best,

Glen

[AndyPitre]

Thanks everyone for the interest in this! I'm sorry for not providing more details on the larger scope related to   Some areas of this work have been completed and some are still in progress, I'll try and break this down based on the different ways HubSpot needs to connect with exchange:

Inbox connection:

Provide the abilty to connect your Exchange inbox with HubSpot. This allows you to use our CRM for emailing and use the Sequences tool in sales. Today, the only way to connect an Exchange inbox is through IMAP - which is an experience that we are improving to make it easier for Exchange users to connect their email. This is currently in a closed beta.

Meetings sync:

This would allow users to use the HubSpot Meetings scheduling tool with an Exchange email address. This is currently in development and we hope to deliver this in Q3 of this year.

Calendar sync:

This would allow Exchange users to schedule meetings through calendar invite directly through the CRM. This would also create meetings events on a contact timeline when they are added to your Exchange calendar. This work would add Exchange to the users that can use this sync: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/integrations/use-hubspots-integration-with-google-calendar-or-office-365-calendar

I hope this is helpful! Please let me know if there are other questions or features related to syncing with Outlook. We may break each of these features into separate Ideas to help with tracking and understanding.

[AndyPitre]

re: @Joshua_McQueen 

That's right that the Office 365 Outlook calendar bi-direcitonal sync is live! However this does not include those on an Office Exchange server.

[AndyPitre]

We are currently working on a calendar and contact sync for Exchange/Outlook, please feel free to comment and share ideas and examples.

[#6]

Word!!! This is truly the greatest pain point for us as it relates to CRM.

[#7]

Thanks everyone for the interest in this! I'm sorry for not providing more details on the larger scope related to   Some areas of this work have been completed and some are still in progress, I'll try and break this down based on the different ways HubSpot needs to connect with exchange:

Inbox connection:

Provide the abilty to connect your Exchange inbox with HubSpot. This allows you to use our CRM for emailing and use the Sequences tool in sales. Today, the only way to connect an Exchange inbox is through IMAP - which is an experience that we are improving to make it easier for Exchange users to connect their email. This is currently in a closed beta.

Meetings sync:

This would allow users to use the HubSpot Meetings scheduling tool with an Exchange email address. This is currently in development and we hope to deliver this in Q3 of this year.

Calendar sync:

This would allow Exchange users to schedule meetings through calendar invite directly through the CRM. This would also create meetings events on a contact timeline when they are added to your Exchange calendar. This work would add Exchange to the users that can use this sync: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/integrations/use-hubspots-integration-with-google...

I hope this is helpful! Please let me know if there are other questions or features related to syncing with Outlook. We may break each of these features into separate Ideas to help with tracking and understanding.

[#8]

Thanks Glenn. Exactly the kind of update i was looking for. Perhaps a monthly update makes sense as i know things change.

Thanks you very much! Great response!

Rob

[#9]

Meetings sync:

This would allow users to use the HubSpot Meetings scheduling tool with an Exchange email address. This is currently in development and we hope to deliver this in Q3 of this year.

Looking forward and really hope that Q3 would be possible.

Thanks for getting the news, when ready.

Carol

[#10]

This feature request appears to be specific to an Exchange deployment on-premises, but I'm hoping it is acceptable to also ask about Office 365.

@glencornell you mention inbox, meetings and calendars.  What about contacts?

The inbox and calendar integration with Office 365 is already possible, however, the lack of contact synchronization is a real pain point.  Not only do "sales peole use Outlook, period.", they also use their mobile phone, period.

Unfortunately, creating and updating contacts in HubSpot,  does not update Office 365/Exchange and subsequently doesn't sync to the sales person's mobile phone contacts, which means calls from new or updated phone numbers may go unrecognized.

Without contact synchronization, the only way to keep contact CRUDs in sync is to do it in two places.

[#11]

Hi there. I see a BETA version for the Exchange icon in the email integrations section. I have successfully connected the exchange version and I downloaded the Office 365 version of the Outlook app (I'm on a Mac). Works great!

Still no meeting connection in the meetings area. I do see the thread above that is showing a Q3-Q4 delivery. Is this still the case here? Only asking in case the meeting connection was supposed to hit at the same time as the BETA Exchange test. 

Thank you for the progress!!!!

[#12]

This is a MUST! If Outlook and HubSpot were integrated I would be able to seamlessly contact sales leads and prospects. My outlook contacts automatically sync to my address book. If there was a way of automatically adding contacts from HubSpot to Outlook my cell would recognize the contact. This would save a TON of time. 

[#13]

Absolute requirement here as well for contact sync.

Too long to double enter contact detail between outlook 2019 and hubspot or to export from outlook to import from hubspot. 

Would love to see the desktop hubspot app to handle this better than the side panel which isn't doing much today. 

In terms of what would helpful. One way sync is a start. Creating a contact in outlook, one button push to Hubspot. If hubspot has the company account created already or has the contact already it should ask us what do to? Merge, overwrite, Add, skip. 
A usual worflow also is : I receive an email from unknown contact, I'm adding to my contacts and want it to appear immeditly in my leads contact in Hubspot. I'd like to set a follow-up task as well in case that person doesn't not respond in 3 days for example. If we can do this all from outlook, big time saved.

Side note: please do not forget small businesses without exchange and only working with Outlook 2016/2019 with IMAP accounts... 

[#14]

Any word on the integration of Exchange with calendars?  I see it was a Q3 initiative, and wanted to check in for a few clients of my own.

[#15]

Hi @Bryantworks 

We do have a closed beta right now specifically to allow exchange users to use Meetings. You can reach out to your customer success rep who can sign you up for the beta. This beta allows anyone with Exchange to use the Meetings app, which creates a booking page allowing contacts to book meetings directly on your calendar.

I decided not to update the status of this thread because this beta is only adding an integration for the Meetings app. 

Best,

Glen