Office 365 Integration: FAQ

This page answers common questions about the Office 365 integration for Aline CRM: how email and calendar sync behave, what to expect day to day, and how to troubleshoot. If you are setting up the integration for the first time, see Office 365 Integration: Admin Setup or Office 365 Integration: User Setup.

When does sync start?

Sync starts after you authorize your Outlook account in Aline CRM. Until each user authorizes, their email and calendar will not sync.

Why didn't my email show up on an individual's profile?

An email is recorded on an individual's profile when the sender or recipient address matches that profile and you share at least one community with the individual; you don't need to be the assigned user. If the same address matches more than one profile, the one assigned to you receives the activity. Emails that don't match any profile in Aline CRM are ignored; this is expected for messages involving people who aren't in the CRM.

Can I sync only my calendar and not my email?

Not today. Email and calendar are set up together, and the integration requires mailbox access to complete setup. If you want calendar sync, your organization also grants the CRM access to read your mailbox.

Can I send email directly from Aline CRM?

Yes. Open an individual's profile, use the Send Email tab, and the message is sent through your connected Outlook account. The editor supports multiple recipients, formatting, images, attachments, and links.

If I edit or delete an email in Outlook, does the CRM update?

Calendar items stay in sync when you change them in either system. For emails, the activity recorded on the individual's profile is a point-in-time record; editing or deleting the original email in Outlook does not change the activity already created in the CRM.

If sync stops and then restarts, do missed messages catch up?

Yes, in most cases. If a brief interruption keeps a notification from reaching Aline CRM, the integration automatically re-checks your mailbox and calendar once sync resumes and catches up anything it missed. If you still notice a gap after a few minutes, re-authorizing your account (or asking your Microsoft 365 administrator to check the connection) resolves it.

What happens when the client secret expires?

When the Azure client secret expires, every user's connection stops until your Microsoft 365 administrator adds a new secret value to the host. After it is updated, each user re-authorizes once to restart sync. There is no advance warning before a secret expires, so we recommend setting a long expiration (24 months) and adding a renewal reminder.

How does an admin check why one user's sync stopped?

In the Email / Calendar module, find the user and click Token Details to confirm whether their connection is still valid. If it isn't, send a new authorization banner with the key icon so they can re-authorize.

How does an admin restart sync for everyone at once?

If the client secret expired, update the new secret value on the host, then send the authorization banner to all users from the key icon next to the host.

Why isn't my synced Outlook event linked to an individual's profile?

Events that sync in from Outlook are not linked to an individual's profile automatically; they show "Not specified" in the For field. Open the activity in Aline CRM and choose the individual in the For field.

If I rename or move a calendar event in Outlook, what happens in the CRM?

The matching Aline CRM activity updates to match: its title, time, and all-day setting follow the Outlook change.

Do Outlook events count in CRM reporting?

No. Events synced in from Outlook appear on your CRM calendar but are not counted as activities in reporting.

Does the integration apply to all communities?

Yes. An Office 365 host applies to all communities in your account.