Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft for electronic email messages. It includes other functions such calendaring, task management, contact and event management.
Cirrus Shield offers an integration with Outlook through a Plugin that needs to be installed.
This tool has been integrated to allow a synchronization of your contacts, events and tasks between Cirrus Shield and Outlook. Aside from the synchronization, you can customize the synchronized items as well the direction of synchronization between the two applications.
Shown below, is an illustration that explains the architecture of the Outlook Plugin that helps you to avoid duplication of your work and maximize your productivity.
1- Installation
1.1 Required Systems:
Before starting the integration process with Outlook, make sure that your system meets the requirements. Note that the Outlook Plugin works only on a Windows based system and not on a Mac or Liunx systems.
For a better experience, we recommend you to use one of the following Microsoft Outlook versions in your computer:
- Outlook 2010
- Outlook 2013
- Outlook 2016
- Outlook 2019
- Outlook 365
1.2 Supported languages by Cirrus Shield:
Cirrus Shield supports the following languages:
- English (USA, UK)
- French (France)
Note that the Plugin adapt automatically the language of the system. Contact us if you have any other language that you want to integrate.
1.3 Install the Outlook Plugin
Start by downloading the Plugin by clicking on the following button:
Open the installed file that you have downloaded and saved. Follow the wizard installation that will guide you through the steps of installation in your computer.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Once the Plugin has been settled, open the application Microsoft Outlook. You will find Cirrus Shield in the ribbon at the top and the icon of Cirrus Shield in the system tray of your computer. Both shown below:
Cirrus shield in outlook ribbon at the top
Cirrus shield in outlook ribbon at the top
2- Connection to Cirrus Shield Environment
Once you are in the Outlook application, click on the setting button found in the ribbon where Cirrus Shield is displayed.
In order to log in into Cirrus Shield environment, enter your username and password and click on “Log in”.
Check the “Stay logged in” box to automatically log in for the next sessions.
Once you are connected, the following confirmation message will appear in your notifications:
Note: You must disconnect from Outlook Plugin, reset Outlook and then reconnect to the plugin if:
- A new object or field was added in Cirrus Shield
- You are logging in with a different account
3- Contact settings and synchronizations
You can easily keep your Outlook and Cirrus Shield contacts synchronized with the Plugin Outlook with Cirrus Shield. To start with setting up all elements that need to be synchronized, click on contacts found in the settings bar.
Your Outlook configuration for contacts defines the following:
- Direction of the data flow between Outlook and Cirrus Shield
- The action taken in case of data conflicts,
- Synchronization rules and settings ( synchronization period, Outlook destination folder)
- Items that must be included in the synchronization
- Cirrus Shield Object should match with the Outlook contact Object
- Field mapping between Outlook and Cirrus Shield
3.1 Sync settings
We are going to explain each element in the images below in a chronologic way:
Synch Direction
Set the synchronization direction of your contacts. You can choose:
- A synchronization of your contacts from Outlook to Cirrus Shield :
Only the contacts that exists in Outlook will be created in Cirrus Shield. Thus, the contacts that exists in Cirrus Shield wont be synchronized in Outlook.
ATTENTION: ⚠ In case of conflict (if a contact has the same criteria of another one that already exists in Cirrus Shield), the contact in Cirrus Shield will be replaced by the contact from Outlook. ⚠
- A synchronization of your contacts from Cirrus Shield to Outlook :
Only the contacts that exists in Cirrus Shield will be created in Outlook. Thus, the contacts that exists in Outlook wont be synchronized in Cirrus Shield.
- Synchronization in both directions:
The contacts associated to Outlook will be synchronized in Cirrus Shield and the contacts associated to Cirrus Shield will be synchronized in Outlook.
ATTENTION: ⚠ In case of a conflict, the resolution setting below will determine how it is resolved. ⚠
Conflict Behavior
A conflict occurs in two cases :
- When synchronizing contacts between Cirrus Shield and Outlook, the system shows that the same contact (based on mutual criteria, for instance l’emailing) exists on the other side.
- When the same contact gets modified independently in Outlook and Cirrus Shield. For example, you can update a contact in Outlook and update the place where the event will take place in Cirrus Shield. When an error is detected, the version that replaces the other is chosen according to the conflict resolution setting:
-If your settings specify that Outlook is always chosen then Outlook version will replace the Cirrus Shield in both cases.
-If your settings specify that Cirrus Shield is always chosen then Cirrus Shield version will replace the Outlook one in both cases.
Outlook folder to be synchronized in Cirrus Shield
Make sure that your Outlook Folders include all the elements that you want to synchronize. Once you did that, choose the desired folder.
Include private contacts in Outlook
You can check the box “include private contacts in Outlook” to synchronize all elements that you have indentified as private contacts. If by default this box is not checked, the private contacts in the folder chosen for synchronization will not be part of the sync.
ATTENTION: ⚠ If you sync a contact, then you check in the box that this contact is private in Outlook, this contact will no longer be synchronized between Outlook and Cirrus Shield as long as the “Include private contacts in Cirrus Shield” box is unchecked ⚠.
Synchronize Cirrus Shield category in Outlook
You can check the box “Synchronize Cirrus Shield category in Outlook”. if the box is checked, any contact in Cirrus Shield will be under Cirrus Shield category in Outlook. Thus, any contact in the synch folder of Outlook that is not under the Cirrus Shield category wont be synchronized.
NOTE: ⚠ If you sync records without including them under the Cirrus Shield category, then you check in the box “Synchronize Cirrus Shield category in Outlook“, these records wont be synchronized as long as the box is checked ⚠.
Records of Cirrus Shield to be synchronized.
Start by choosing if you would like to synchronize all your records or only my records. When you choose to synchronize only your records, this means that only the records created by you will be synch.
Synch automatically
Change the synchronization period. You can:
- Do not synchronize automatically ( the system will not perform any background synch. The only time that all elements will be synchronized is when the user click on “Synchro Contacts”) ;
- Synch every hour
- Synch every 8 hours
- Synch every 24 hours
- Synch every week
At any time, you can sync your contacts manually by clicking on the Sync Contacts button.
3.2 Correlation of Objects and Fields
In this section, the mapping defines the correlation between the Cirrus Shield and Outlook fields when synchronizing items between the two systems.
- Choose the correlation of the contact object from the object list: Contact, Lead, or other customized objects … then the corresponding fields of the selected object.
- Define how Outlook handles multiple matches with Cirrus Shield contacts during the initial synchronization of a contact with Outlook. Select the Outlook field that should match the CIRRUS SHIELD field. The list only displays fields in CIRRUS SHIELD that are marked as “Unique ID” to avoid duplicates and mismatch errors.
- Map each Outlook contact field to a Cirrus Shield field. You can also map the contact’s image as well as its corresponding address (postal, home, professional, personal …)
NOTE :
-Fields that are left blank will not be matched to any Cirrus Shield fields (unless they are mandatory which need to be matched).
– The Fields mapped between CIRRUS SHIELD and OL must be of the same type (the “email” field corresponding to the email of an Outlook contact must be mapped to an Email type field in Cirrus Shield.
- Lastly, select the field corresponding to the name of the company. It must be a unique ID to avoid duplicates.
Once the mapping is done, save the configurations made. To return to the default settings, click Defaults.
3.3 Synchronization
When you click on Synchronize Contacts, a panel opens with all the items that indicate the synchronization process. You can see the number of contacts that have successfully synced or failed for each direction. By clicking on “View” you can see some details about the top 100 contacts. For more details, click on “Open .CIRRUS SHIELDV Report”. A CIRRUS SHIELDV file will open after being downloaded locally and display the full report of all contacts synced.
Create a contact
If a record is created in Outlook and does not exist in Cirrus Shield, it should be created in Cirrus Shield. (depending on the synchronization direction and conflicting behavior) and vice versa.
Modification of a contact :
Outlook to Cirrus Shield + Outlook always wins:
- Contact modified in Outlook -> Contact modified in Cirrus Shield
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield -> Contact not modified in Outlook
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, -> Contact modified according to the conflict behavior. Here Outlook wins.
Cirrus Shield to Outlook + Outlook always wins:
- Contact modified in Outlook -> Contact not modified in Cirrus Shield
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield -> Contact modified in Outlook
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, -> Contact modified according to the conflict behavior. Here Outlook wins.
Outlook to Cirrus Shield + Cirrus Shield always wins:
- Contact modified in Outlook = Contact modified in Cirrus Shield
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield = Contact not modified in Outlook
- Contact modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, = Contact modified according to conflict behavior. Here Cirrus Shield wins.
Cirrus Shield to Outlook + Cirrus Shield always wins:
- Contact modified in Outlook = Contact not modified in Cirrus Shield
- Contact changed in Cirrus Shield = Contact changed in Outlook
- Contact changed in Cirrus Shield and Outlook = Contact changed based on conflict behavior. Here Cirrus Shield wins.
In both cases : Contact changed is based on conflict behavior.
Deleting a contact :
If Outlook always wins :
- The Contact is deleted in Outlook = The contact is deleted from CIRRUS SHIELD
- The Contact is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The contact is not deleted from Outlook
- The Contact is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The contact is not recreated in CIRRUS SHIELD
- The Contact is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD & updated in Outlook = It is recreated in CIRRUS SHIELD.
If Cirrus Shield always wins :
- The contact is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The contact must be deleted in Outlook
- The contact is deleted in Outlook = The contact is not deleted from CIRRUS SHIELD
- The contact is deleted in Outlook = The contact is not recreated in Outlook
- The contact is deleted in Outlook & updated in CIRRUS SHIELD = = It is recreated in Outlook.
4- Event settings and synchronizations
You can easily keep your Outlook and Salesforce events in sync with the Outlook Plugin with Cirrus Shield. This synchronization helps to maintain an accurate view of your availability as you create events and meeting requests from your calendar in Cirrus Shield.
To start configuring all of the elements to be synchronized, click on the Event tab in the settings bar.
The configuration defines the following:
- The direction of data flow between Outlook and Cirrus Shield.
- The action taken in the event of data conflicts
- The synchronization rules and parameters (synchronization period, Outlook destination folder)
- The Cirrus Shield object correlates with the Outlook Event object
- Field mapping between Outlook and Cirrus Shield.
4.1 Sync settings
We will explain each element in a chronolgical way of the image below:
Synch Direction :
Define the direction of synchronization of your events. You can choose:
- Synchronization of events from Outlook to Cirrus Shield: Events that exist in Cirrus Shield are not synchronized in Outlook. Only events that exist in Outlook will be created in Cirrus Shield.
⚠ In case of a conflict (if an event with the same match criteria already exists in Cirrus Shield), the event in Cirrus Shield will be overwritten by the event from Outlook. ⚠
- Synchronization of events from Cirrus Shield to Outlook: Events that exist in Outlook are not synchronized in Cirrus Shield. Only events that exist in Cirrus Shield will be created in Outlook
- Synchronization in both directions: Events in Outlook will sync in Cirrus Shield and events in Cirrus Shield will sync in Outlook.
⚠ In case of a conflict, the conflict resolution setting below will determine how it is resolved. ⚠
Conflict behavior
A conflict occurs in two cases:
- When synchronizing an event between Cirrus Shield and Outlook, the system finds that the same event (based on the matching criteria which are by default the subject, the creation date and the end date) exists on the other side.
- When the same event has been changed independently in Outlook and Cirrus Shield. For example, you can update the date of an event in Outlook and update the location of the event in Cirrus Shield. When a conflict is detected, the version that overwrites the other is chosen according to the conflict resolution setting:
- If your setup specifies that Outlook always wins, the Outlook version of the record replaces the Cirrus Shield version on both sides.
- If your setup specifies that Cirrus Shield always wins, the Cirrus Shield version of the record replaces the Outlook version on both sides.
Outlook folder to synchronize in Cirrus Shield
Make sure your Outlook folders include the items you want to sync, and then choose the folder you want.
Include private events in Outlook
You can check the “Include private events in Outlook” box to synchronize the items that you have marked as private in Outlook. By default this box is not checked. Private events that exist in the sync folder are not part of the sync.
⚠ WARNING: If you synchronize an event, then you check this event as private in Outlook, it will no longer be synchronized between Outlook and Cirrus Shield as long as The “Include private events in Cirrus Shield” box is unchecked ⚠
Synchronize with Cirrus Shield category in Outlook
You can check the box “Synchronize Cirrus Shield category in Outlook”. if the box is checked, any event in Cirrus Shield will be under Cirrus Shield category in Outlook. Thus, any contact in the synch folder of Outlook that is not under the Cirrus Shield category wont be synchronized.
⚠ NOTE: If you sync records without including them under the Cirrus Shield category, then you check in the box “Synchronize Cirrus Shield category in Outlook“, these records wont be synchronized as long as the box is checked ⚠
Synch automatically
Change the synchronization period. You can:
- Do not synchronize automatically ( the system will not perform any background synch. The only time that all elements will be synchronized is when the user click on “Synchro Contacts”) ;
- Synch every hour
- Synch every 8 hours
- Synch every 24 hours
- Synch every week
At any time, you can sync your contacts manually by clicking on the Sync Event button.
Synchronization Window
The synchronization window determines which events you want to synchronize. This option ensures that not all Outlook events will be included in the synchronization. This is useful in case Outlook contains a huge amount of events. This will reduce the time required for synchronization. We only need the closest events.
Choose the time interval that suits you:
4.2 Correlation of Objects and Fields
In this section, the mapping defines the correlation between the Cirrus Shield and Outlook fields when synchronizing items between the two systems.
- Choose the correlation of the event object from the object list.
- Define how Outlook handles multiple matches with Cirrus Shield events during the initial synchronization of an event with Outlook. Select the Outlook field which should match the Cirrus Shield field. The list only displays fields in Cirrus Shield that are marked as “Unique ID” to avoid duplicates and mismatch errors. The events are matched with 3 fields at the same time: the title, the start date and the end date. This is because an event does not have a unique field that defines it (like the email for a contact for example).
- Map each Outlook event field to a Cirrus Shield field.
NOTE:
-Fields that are left blank will not be matched to any Cirrus Shield fields (unless they are mandatory which must be matched).
– The fields mapped between CIRRUS SHIELD and OL must be of the same type (the “start” field corresponding to the start date of an Outlook event must be mapped to a date / time type field in Cirrus Shield.
Once the mapping is done, save the configurations made. To return to the default settings, click Defaults values.
Create an event
If an event is created in Outlook and does not exist in Cirrus Shield, it should be created in Cirrus Shield. (depending on the synchronization direction and conflicting behavior) and vice versa.
Modification of an event :
Outlook to Cirrus Shield + Outlook always wins:
- Event modified in Outlook -> Event modified in Cirrus Shield
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield -> Event not modified in Outlook
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, -> Event modified according to the conflict behavior. Here Outlook wins.
Cirrus Shield to Outlook + Outlook always wins:
- Event modified in Outlook -> Event not modified in Cirrus Shield
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield -> Event modified in Outlook
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, -> Event modified according to the conflict behavior. Here Outlook wins.
Outlook to Cirrus Shield + Cirrus Shield always wins:
- Event modified in Outlook = Event modified in Cirrus Shield
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield = Event not modified in Outlook
- Event modified in Cirrus Shield and Outlook, = Event modified according to conflict behavior. Here Cirrus Shield wins.
Cirrus Shield to Outlook + Cirrus Shield always wins
- Event modified in Outlook = Event not modified in Cirrus Shield
- Event changed in Cirrus Shield = Event changed in Outlook
- Event changed in Cirrus Shield and Outlook = Event changed based on conflict behavior. Here Cirrus Shield wins.
In both cases : Event changed is based on conflict behavior.
Deleting an event :
If Outlook always wins :
- The event is deleted in Outlook = The event is deleted from CIRRUS SHIELD
- The event is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The event is not deleted from Outlook
- The event is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The event is not recreated in CIRRUS SHIELD
- The event is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD & updated in Outlook = It is recreated in CIRRUS SHIELD.
If Cirrus Shield always wins :
- The event is deleted in CIRRUS SHIELD = The event must be deleted in Outlook
- The event is deleted in Outlook = The event is not deleted from CIRRUS SHIELD
- The event is deleted in Outlook = The contact is not recreated in Outlook
- The event is deleted in Outlook & updated in CIRRUS SHIELD = It is recreated in Outlook.
5-Troubleshooting
Logs:
By default, logs are enabled for the plugin and can be found on the following path:
<User folder>\AppData\Local\CirrusShield\CIRRUS SHIELDOutlookPlugin\Logsverbose.log & errors.log It shows the details of the plugin’s commands.
Note: This files are emptied upon each restart of Outlook.
For more advanced logs, contact us.
Error Messages and Warnings :
- OutlookId
By default, the event, contact, task and prospect objects have an “OutlookId” field which optimizes the mapping between Cirrus Shield and the OL Plugin. If you want to map an object different from these 4 mentioned, it is recommended to add a technical field of type text in Cirrus Shield with a Label “OutlookId”
If this field is not created it will still be possible to synchronize, but you will receive the following alert each time you save the settings in the plugin:
For better performance, it is recommended to add the “OutlookId” field for the object you are mapping with the Outlook Plugin.
- Limitations :
- Country values must have the same API name as the one in Cirrus Shield. Example: “Cote_d_ivoire” (API name) cannot be written “Ivory Coast”.
- Outlook can only detect and propagate more than 50 deletes in a single selection. For this, when deleting records in Outlook before synchronizing with Cirrus Shield, be careful not to delete more than 50 records in a single selection. For example : To delete 100 contacts, do not select these 100 contacts at the same time and click on the delete button. However, you must select at most 50 contacts, delete them, and then select the remaining 50 and delete them.
- When the sync direction is “Outlook to Cirrus Shield”, the conflict resolution rule defaults to “Outlook always wins”.
This means that if we have the same record in Outlook and in Cirrus Shield (Same Email for contacts, and same Name, start date and end date for events for example), the synchronization must transfer the values of this record from Outlook to Cirrus Shield. However, currently and only in this specific case, the record in Cirrus Shield will be mapped to that of Outlook but will not be overwritten
