Using Microsoft Products and Apps with Insightly CRM

Best Practices | Business & tech

by   Val Riley

It’s the ultimate ‘this or that’ question in business: does your company use Microsoft Office 365 or Google Workspace?

Did you know that globally, it’s nearly a dead even split? According to NinjaOne, “Google Workspace tends to be more popular among businesses, holding 50% of the market compared to Microsoft 365’s 45% market share.”

The good news is that you are all set either way with Insightly. This article explores the many ways to connect Microsoft products with Insightly. 

Google fans, do not fret! You can find out about all the ways Insightly CRM works with Google Workspace in a similar article. 

What Microsoft integrations are available in Insightly?

There are several ways you can sync Microsoft features to Insightly. These integrations are available for all users, though some require a paid Insightly plan. (Psst – get the details on the Insightly Free Plan.) Read on for ways to get more from Insightly plus Microsoft apps, including Microsoft Outlook Email, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure AD, and Microsoft Word. 

Insightly Email Sidebar for Microsoft Outlook 

With the Insightly Email Sidebar for Outlook, you can build stronger relationships right from your inbox. Insightly knows that sales reps spend a ton of time in their email inboxes as well as in Insightly CRM. With this sidebar, you don’t have to choose. You get the convenience of both at the same time so the CRM stays up to date. 

With the sidebar, you view customer information and save emails to Insightly CRM right from your Outlook inbox. Select your recipients from Insightly, use a template, and even schedule an email to send later. You’re doing this all from Outlook, so it’s super convenient. The email you send appears as a sent item in both Outlook and in Insightly CRM. 

If you’re in Outlook and you’d like to send a message to someone who is not yet in Insightly CRM, no worries. You can use the sidebar to create the contact in Insightly and then go ahead and send that person a message. 

The sidebar pops up on the right side of your screen while you are using Outlook and gives you these options. Ready to start using it? Great! You can install the Sidebar from the Microsoft Office Store. This feature is available with all Insightly plans.

Learn more in this video.

Microsoft Exchange Calendar Sync   

Everyone knows that maintaining multiple calendars is a recipe for disaster…or at least a missed meeting or two. Your Insightly calendar is just as important as your Outlook calendar, but the good news is that you don’t have to choose.

Set up a two-way sync of your Insightly CRM calendar with your Outlook calendar and you’re all set.  Once you’ve established this two-way sync, Insightly will display your Exchange calendar items on your Insightly calendar and copy Insightly items from the last two months and into the future to your Exchange calendar. 

What about milestones and tasks? No worries – you can also choose to sync Insightly milestones and tasks if that additional data is helpful for your daily operations. When you enable either of these options, Insightly will add two new calendars to your external calendar called Insightly-Tasks and Insightly-Milestones. Heads up: this feature is only available on paid Insightly plans. Learn more. 

Insightly Calendar Feed 

If you’re on the Insightly Free Plan, you still have options! You can display your Insightly calendar in your Outlook Calendar via a link. The link can be found at the bottom of your Insightly calendar page, and you can add it in Outlook Calendar under ….Other calendars > Add by URL.

Save Files in Insightly CRM to Microsoft OneDrive 

A lot of companies rely on the safety of Microsoft OneDrive. It can offer peace of mind versus saving files to local machines that can die or be corrupted. 

Did you know that Microsoft OneDrive files can be linked to your Insightly records? All you need to do is click the OneDrive cloud icon on the Files subtab of a record when you want to log in to OneDrive and create links to those files. Then you will see your Microsoft OneDrive files in the Files section in the Related subtab in your records.

Learn more in this Help Center Article. 

Connect Insightly CRM with Microsoft Sharepoint

If your team is using Microsoft products, odds are you are utilizing Microsoft Sharepoint to share files. With Sharepoint, your team can create document collections and make custom layouts and designs. 

You can connect Insightly CRM and Sharepoint via AppConnect, Insightly’s low-code/no-code integration tool. 

With AppConnect, you can set up a recipe to run between Insightly CRM and Sharepoint. When a new project is created in Insightly, a linked Sharepoint folder is created and you can sync the attached files in the CRM to that Sharepoint folder. This makes it easy for everyone on your team to collaborate and have access to the documents and data they need to do their jobs. 

Get the details in this video:

Connect Insightly CRM with Microsoft Teams

In addition to being in the CRM and email all day, your team is probably spending a great deal of time in Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams is an excellent way to foster collaboration in your organization since it shares data and information instantly. It can also be a source of fun and connection for teams who are spread across an office or even the world. 

Great news…it’s pretty simple to connect Insightly CRM and Microsoft via AppConnect, Insightly’s low-code/no-code integration tool. Just build a recipe and let it run. 

Here’s what it looks like in action. Imagine you have a new project in Insightly CRM. With a simple checkbox, you can have Insightly CRM create a channel in Microsoft Teams for that new project, and even invite the team members to that Microsoft Teams channel. They’ll get notified in Microsoft Teams, so you’ll ensure that everyone is aware of the project. This is just one way that Insightly CRM and Microsoft Teams can work together to improve communication for your teams. 

Get the details in this video:

SSO for Insightly CRM with Microsoft Azure Active Directory

With the Insightly Single Sign-On (SSO) application, your Azure Active Directory users can access Insightly with one click through Azure AD. It’s convenient to give your users access to Insightly from their Azure AD access panel or Office 365 portal. Clicking the Insightly icon will log them in to Insightly without entering their Insightly username and password – an extra time saver. While this makes it more convenient to sign in, they can still access Insightly by signing in directly, too. 

To access this feature, your Azure system admin will need to log in to the Azure portal and access Insightly via the Enterprise Applications menu. From there, grant the necessary permissions and you’ll be all set. Read more in the Help Center Article. 

Add conditional merge statements into Microsoft Word templates

Using Microsoft Word and Insightly? You’ve got a great option for your templates. Whether you are on a Mac or PC, you can create a PDF from any record in Insightly with Microsoft Word. 

When making templates for merge documents or PDFs, you have the option to include IF/THEN logic within them. You can use this logic to selectively include document sections depending upon what fields are filled out in the record. Using the features under the ‘Insert’ tab in Microsoft Word, you’ll add a conditional statement that routes to a Field Code in Insightly. Read more in the Help Center Article. 

Get to work fast with Insightly CRM and Microsoft applications

Insightly plus Microsoft is a winning combination. This article covered ways to get more from using both, including opportunities in Microsoft Outlook Email, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure AD, and Microsoft Word. 

Want to get a closer look at any of these features? Schedule a personalized demo with a member of the Insightly team today. 

 

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