How do you install the ‘Dynamics 365 App for Outlook Preview’

Preview?

Welcome to my blog, previously I had written a series of articles introducing Users to the App for Outlook and what it can do.

• Part 1 can be found here.
• Part 2 can be found here.

Microsoft  highlighted the deprecation of the Dynamics 365 Outlook Client with the announcement of the July Update and Organisations should be looking at moving to the App for Outlook as its successor/replacement.

I often see people asking or wondering how they can install the Microsoft Dynamics 365 App for Outlook (Cloud based addin). Currently (at date of publish), this is still available in preview only i.e. you can see the big PREVIEW text whilst using the App and requires additional steps to configure on top of the prerequisites.

Dynamics 365 V9.0 is currently online only, so on premise D365 V9.0 configurations are not applicable at present; I expect this will soon change due to the V9.0 Customer Driven Updates (CDU) being shortly available.

Configuration

Trying to configure the preview version of the App for Outlook can be a pain if you have not met all the pre-requisites which Microsoft layout in their basic steps listed here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/outlook-app/deploy-dynamics-365-app-for-outlook

Please read the disclaimer on the page that looks like this:

Microsoft assumes you have setup an Office 365 tenant with Dynamics 365 and Exchange Online where Users have been assigned a license for each product or where they have a Dynamics 365 License and access to a supported Exchange mailbox for the addin to be installed too. You cannot just go in and setup a Dynamics 365 trial and expect it to just work – in fact, you actually have to enable the preview before you can get to the App for Outlook sitemap area.

The next sections will detail the steps allowing you to complete the setup from start to finish and end up with a working App for Outlook. This can take up to an hour or so to complete due to the provisioning of services and Users Mailbox, the Exchange services and associated mailboxes take the most time to provision here.

As this guide is creating a trial (most likely for demo/testing purposes) – then it is assumed that the User is the Global Office 365 Admin; this speeds up any privilege issues that may arise. But otherwise you will need a CRM Service Admin and Exchange Service Admin privileges in O365 for the initial configuration.

What are the configuration steps?

So from a high level – what actually needs to be configured or created?

1. Creation an Office 365 Tenant
2. Setup a Dynamics 365 Trial
3. Setup an Office 365 Trial (E3 or E5)
4. Assign User Licenses
5. Create the Users Mailbox and set it up
6. Configure Email Setting and User Mailbox in Dynamics 365
7. Enable the App for Outlook Preview
8. Add the App for Outlook the Users mailbox in exchange

Once all these high level steps have been completed, the Users will be able to use the App for Outlook! Simple huh?

Steps 1,2 – Provision a Dynamics 365 Trial

The quickest way I have found to kick start this whole process is to create a Dynamics 365 trial (which also creates the Office 365 tenant), this process can be kicked off at the following site (UK link):

https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-gb/

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page
2. Click Try Dynamics 365 > Start Free
3. Complete/follow the steps to create the CRM instance.
4. Choose your additional solutions.
5. Login to Dynamics 365 after it has been provisioned.

Once you can finally see the D365 Sales area – your done! (This part at least).

This process can take up to 10 minutes to complete depending on what items you select when you want to use CRM. When setting up a Dynamics 365 trial, I usually install none of the additional solutions as you can do that separately with the Dynamics 365 Admin area once CRM is provisioned unless I explicitly know what the trial is going to be used for, i.e. PSA or FSM.

Step 3 – Exchange/Office 365 Trial

1. Navigate to the Admin area in Office 365.
2. Click on Billing > Subscriptions > + Add Subscriptions.
3. Select Office 365 E3/E5 – click Start Free Trial.
4. Confirm the Order.

Whilst you are waiting – add any Users you require to your tenant and the assign them licenses to both Dynamics 365 and Office 365 E3/5 plan.

To add users:

1. Navigate to Office 365 Admin area.
2. Click on Users.
3. Click on Active Users.
4. Click + Add User.
5. Fill in required information.
6. In the Product Licenses area, select the Dynamics 365 and Office 365 Licenses.
7. Click Save.

To add Licenses to existing users:

1. Navigate to Office 365 Admin area.
2. Click on Users.
3. Click on Active Users.
4. Select the User(s) you want to assign licenses to.
5. Click on the Edit product licenses menu item.
6. Select add existing assignments.
7. Select the Dynamics 365 and Office 365 Licenses.
8. Click Save.

Users will then eventually have access to both Dynamics 365 (when they are assigned a Security Role) and their Mailbox in Exchange. This may take up to 15 minutes or so! The next set of steps can be performed whilst this action occurs in the background to save some time.

Additionally, Users in CRM will need a Security Role with the “User Dynamics 365 App for Outlook” Security privilege:

 

Step 5 – Mailbox Configuration

Users actually have a few more steps to complete personally to configure their mailbox; this could probably be done in an automated way by an exchange admin – but I have not investigated this or know how to do this.

1. When the Office Mail icon appears – this means that their mailbox is ready!
   
2. When Users click on this – they will be asked to select their Timezone and Language/Format.
3. Set this accordingly and then they should be able to log into Outlook for Web (OWA).

This step will confirm that the mailbox exists in Exchange – and will ensure that the addin will be installed first time and not get stuck in a pending state.

Step 6 – CRM Email and Mailbox Configuration

For the App for Outlook to work with Exchange/Dynamics – all synchronisation methods must be set to Server Side Synchronisation.

The default CRM setting should be set and each of the Users mailbox records should also be set accordingly, their email approved and the mailbox Tested and Enabled.

1. Navigate to Settings > Administration > System Settings
2. Click on the Email Tab.
3. Set the Synchronisation Method to Server Side Synchronization for all, Incoming Email, Outgoing Email and Appointments, Contacts and Tasks.

   

Once these items have been completed – navigate to each Users Mailbox record and perform the following:

1. Navigate to Settings > Email Configuration > Mailboxes.
2. Select the User(s) mailbox records.
3. Click on Apply Default Email Settings button in the Command Bar.
4. Click on Approve Email button in the Command Bar.
5. Click on Test and Enable Mailbox.
6. If their mailbox has not yet been configured this will fail – so please complete step 5
7. Once successful – this will be highlighted:
   

The App for Outlook pre-requisites should be now met.

Step 7 – Enable the Preview – App for Outlook

For Dynamics 365 V8.X – the App for Outlook sitemap area would be visible under the Settings area.

With V9.0 by default – it is not there:

This is where it needs to be enabled as it is in Preview.

1. Navigate to Settings > Administration > System Settings.
2. Click on the Preview Tab.
3. Read the License Terms (Optional) and check the I have read and agree to license terms.
4. This enables the sections that were greyed out.
5. Navigate to MailApp Preview > Enable Dynamics 365 App for Outlook Preview = Yes.
   
   
6. Click OK and close the System Settings window.

This is where the magic happens – hit CTRL + F5 to refresh the page, the Sitemap item should appear under the System group!

Step 8 – Add the Addin

One the Preview has been enabled – you can now add Addin to all Users whom meet all the pre-requisites.

1. Navigate to Settings >System > Dynamics 365 App for Outlook.
2. Select the User(s) you wish to add the App for for Outlook too and click either Add App to Outlook or Add App for all Eligible Users.
   
   
3. Whilst the installation is pending, this will be installed to the Users Exchange Mailbox.
4. When it has been completed:
   

Once it has been added – the User can use the Addin in Office!

Step 9 – Use

1. Open OWA – open an email or send one and the addin should be viewable!
2. Enjoy!
   

Thank you for reading – I hope this article helps you take a trial run of the App for Outlook for Dynamics 365!

MW