A Look Back at Infor CRM Xbar and Previous Versions of Outlook Intergration

There have been a few different versions of Infor CRM Outlook Integration over the years. I will attempt to explain what these features were called in different versions of Infor CRM software (formerly Saleslogix), as some of the terms are confusingly similar.

In older versions, (verison 6 and 7 are are far back as my records go) there was a feature called Outlook Integration.  This feature included Send to CRM and Record to History, allowing you to take emails and events from Outlook, and record them in CRM.  The actual ability to sync contacts and other things with Outlo0k was handled by a different feature.  This feature was know as Desktop Integration, but was also sometimes referred to as Outlook sync.  In some versions, Desktop Integration also allowed drag and drop functionality, and the use Mail Merge Templates.  These features were a part of base CRM installation, and were not upgraded separately.

Starting sometime in version 8, Infor came out with Infor CRM Xbar.  Xbar is an Outlook add-in, and it is downloaded and installed separately from Infor CRM.  It include both the Send to CRM/Record to History functionality of the old Outlook Integration feature, as well as the ability to sync contacts and events like Desktop Integration.  In recent versions, they have even  added drag and drop functionality.

The rest of the features not included in Xbar are handled by Office Integration.  Currently, this mainly consists of the ability to create Mail Merge templates.  LIke Xbar, Office Integration is a separate install. But, unlike Xbar, it is not downloaded separately from CRM, it version number should match the version of CRM you are using.  The installs for both Xbar and Office Integration are stored in the Desktop Integration folder in the Web Client, and can be install by link in the General tab of Tools > Options in the Web Client.  If you wish to use this link to install a more recent version of Xbar, you can place the install for that Xbar in the Desktop Integration folder, which is either directly under Slxclient , or in the Libraries sync folder (depending on which CRM version you have).  Installing from the link is no different from installing directly from the install file, so feel free to use either method. And do not change the version of Office Integration in this folder, only Xbar.