Connect Phocas CRM with your Microsoft 365 Outlook app for 2-way synchronization of your calendars to save workflow time and reduce the risk of missed meetings or scheduling conflicts.
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This feature is still under development (beta) and will be available soon. If you'd like to try it out, contact your Customer Success consultant.
This feature is available for Microsoft 365 Outlook calendars, which are simply referred to as Outlook calendars below.
The term event is used throughout this page when referring to Outlook calendar items. In the old version of Outlook, this can be an appointment or meeting.
Please read the warnings and limitations section below.
When your connect your calendars, all the new activities (events) you create, and any existing ones you edit, will be synced. The data flow associated with the key CRM activity-related actions is as follows:
CRM: When you add an activity or personal appointment, a corresponding event is automatically created in Outlook.
The meeting description will be shared with all attendees. See the warning below.
Outlook: When you create an event, a corresponding activity is created in CRM. The type of activity depends on whether any of the event attendees are matched to contacts associated with an account in CRM. If there's a match, the activity type is meeting, but if not, it's a personal appointment.
The following example shows a personal appointment added in CRM automatically showing up in an Outlook calendar.
When you open CRM, you'll see a blue message at the top with a Connect button. This button is also available on your Phocas Account settings page.
Click the Connect button. What happens next depends on whether your administrator has preapproved the connection.
If the connection is preapproved, you don't need to do anything. You'll get a green success message in Phocas, like the one in step 4 below.
If the connection isn't preapproved, a Microsoft dialog opens and you need to follow these steps:
Click Back to app to return to CRM. You'll see a red message telling you the connection failed. This is because it hasn't been approved yet.
When your request is approved, click the Connect button in CRM again. You should be instantly connected and get a green success message.
If you want to disconnect Phocas CRM and Microsoft 365 Outlook, go to your Account settings page and click Disconnect.
If you're a Phocas administrator, we recommend you preapprove the integration between the CRM and Outlook calendars, to save time for you and your users. It removes the approval email workflow and allows users to connect their calendars straight away.
In your Microsoft Entra account, you can view a list of users who have connected to the Phocas app. You can also preapprove all users to connect to the Phocas app.
Open your Microsoft Entra admin centre and go to Applications > Enterprise applications.
Click Phocas CRM, then click Users and groups.
Click Permissions, click Grant admin consent for MSFT, select the user and click Approve.
To get the best out of the calendar integration, please be aware of the following points:
The meeting description will be shared with all attendees, so it's important you don't enter any private information there.
When your calendars connect, all existing meetings aren't synced. Only the meetings you create or edit after the connection will sync.
As this feature is still in development, the following limitations apply:
You can't add recurring events.
You can't include attachments.
All day meetings aren't fully supported.
Select your Microsoft account, read the app information, enter a justification, and click Request approval.
Check your email account (the one you selected above). You should receive an email informing you that your request has been sent to your administrator, then another one when your request has been approved by your administrator.
