6 Tips for Optimising Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook

If you're using Increase Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook, this article has seven tips for improving performance. Please note, this article refers to the online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook and not Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook with Offline Access.

1. Refer to our article for optimising Internet Explorer for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 web client
The tips provided in our aticle for optimising Internet Explorer for Microsoft CRM also apply when using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook, so that's a good place to start.

2. Install the latest cumulative hotfix for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook
We expect Microsoft to release a Rollup Update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook in December 2008. In the meantime, the cumulative hotfix KB956720 resolves the following issues:

• 948121 - With E-mail Auto Promotion Enabled, Outlook may not close cleanly/properly
• 948045 - Contacts with birthdays earlier than 1/1/1970 causes Outlook to crash
• 949086 - Items in Shared Calendars will report Sync Issues
• 952724 - Outlook hangs during initialization (progress toolbar displays “Loading…” and never finishes)
• 949719 - Cannot Promote an E-mail where the name of the attached file contains a ‘&’ symbol
• 950475 - Selecting Dismiss on Outlook Calendar reminder for Service Activity causes record to change Status Reason back to default value for that record
• 950088 - OWA Sent Emails Get Stuck in Outlook Draft Folder When Outlook Is Open And CRMADDIN is Enabled
• 954800 - Microsoft Outlook stops responding when you open, close, reply to, or forward e-mail messages in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Outlook
• 952046 - CRM Outlook client and/or Desktop Client hangs in presence of other Outlook add-ins
• 956720 - Phone call activity due time is changed after the activity is snoozed or dismissed

You should download and install the cumulative hotfix from KB956720 only if you are experiencing one or more of the issues listed above and cannot wait for the CRM 4.0 Update Rollup. Inidividual hotfixes are designed to fix only the specified issue and they don't receive as much regression testing as the Update Rollup, so please don't install the cumulative hotfix unless you need to.

To download cumulative hotfix KB956720:

1. Download the hotfix package from Microsoft Support.
   Review the Agreement for Microsoft Services, and if you're happy, click I Accept.
2. Select the hotfix for KB956720.
3. Provide your e-mail address.
4. Click Submit.
5. When you receive an email from hotfix@microsoft.com, click on the link to download the hotfix.
6. Click Save to download the hotfix package to your PC.
7. On the Save As dialog box, select a location on your PC and click Save.
8. Once the hotfix has been downloaded, click Run.
9. In the Microsoft Self-Extractor, select a folder where you want to unzip the hotfix file to and click OK.
10. To unzip the hotfix package, refer to the email from hotfix@microsoft.com and enter the hotfix password when prompted.

To install cumulative hotfix KB956720:

1. First, close Outlook if it is running.
2. If you are using Windows XP, double-click on the file CRMv4.0-KB956720-i386-Client-INTL.exe. If you are using Windows Vista, right-click on the file and select Run as Administrator).
3. On the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update dialog box, click Next.
4. If you're happy with the licence agreement, select I accept this licence agreement and click Next.
5. Once the installation has finished, click Finish.
6. You may need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

3. Optimise the synchronisation process
To optimise the synchronisation process for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, configure the synchronisation process so that:

• As few records are synchronised as infrequently as possible to meet your requirements.
• Duplicate records are not created if key fields match.

To set your synchronisation options for optimal performance:

1. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, on the CRM menu, click Options.
2. On the Synhronization tab, in the Synchronize Microsoft Dynamics CRM items with my default folders section, select only the record types that you require to be synchronised. For example, if you don't need CRM Letters to be synchronised as Outlook Tasks, then uncheck My Letters.
3. In the Schedule automatic synchronisation with Outlook section, increase the interval between each synchronisation. The minimum time interval between synchronisations is 10 minutes, but 15 minutes is the default and you may find that an interval of 30 or 60 minutes will improve performance.
4. In the Schedule what to do if duplicates are found during synchronization section, select Do not create duplicates to block the creation of records if key fields contain the same data.
5. Click OK to close the Set Personal Options dialog box and save your settings.

4. Optimise the Outlook address book synchronisation

To make it easier to email CRM accounts, contacts and leads from Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook maintains an Outlook address book which is synchronised with records from your CRM system.

To optimise the Outlook address book synchronisation, configure settings so that the Outlook address book:

• Matches only against contacts synchronised to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Retrieves updates as infrequently as possible without compromising business requirements

To set Outlook address book synchronisation for optimal performance:

1. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, on the CRM menu, click Options.
2. In the Set Personal Options dialog box, on the Address Book tab, under Select how e-mail recipients are reconciled with Microsoft Dynamics CRM records, to the right of Contacts, verify that Match only against contacts synchronized to Microsoft Dynamics CRM is selected.
3. To the right of Other record types, ensure that Match only the items I own is selected.
4. In the Select how often the Outlook Address Book should be updated from Microsoft Dynamics CRM section, ensure Update the Outlook Address Book every x hours field is checked and set the interval to 24 hours.
5. Click OK to save your settings and close the Set Personal Options dialog box.

4. Improve the startup time for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook

Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook relies on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application Host system tray application to maintain a connection to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Configuring Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook so that the Host service runs continuously, rather than only when Microsoft Office Outlook runs, will help to ensure that Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook starts and loads as efficiently as possible.

To ensure that the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Host service runs continuously:

1. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, on the CRM menu, click Options.
2. In the Set Personal Options dialog box, on the General tab, under Improve Outlook startup time and Microsoft Dynamics CRM display speed, ensure that Always run the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application Host process is selected.
3. Click OK to close the Set Personal Options dialog box.

5. Run the Diagnostics program for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook comes with a useful Diagnostics program. It's a good idea to run the Diagnostics program from time to time, particularly if you are experiencing errors or slow performance.

To run the Diagnostics program for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 > Diagnostics.
2. In the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Office Client Diagnostics program, click Run Diagnostics.
3. Once the diagnostic tests have been completed, which may take several minutes, click Fix next to any settings which the Diagnostics program may be able to automatically fix.
4. If requested by the Increase help desk, click Save to save the Diagnostic results to your computer and email the MSCRM Diagnostics Report.xml to help@increasecrm.co.uk.

6. Modify your My Contacts local data group to synchronise only the required contacts

By default, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook will synchronise all the CRM contacts owned by you with your Outlook Contacts folder. If you are the owner of a large number of CRM contacts, then all of these contacts will be synchronising in the background with your Outlook contacts which can cause poor performance. Synchronising more than a few hundred CRM contacts with Outlook can cause performance issues.

To modify the contacts that synchronise between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Outlook:

1. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, on the CRM menu, click Modify Local Data Groups.
2. In the Local Data dialog box, double-click on the My Contacts local data group.
3. Add additional filter criteria to restrict the number of contacts. For example, to synchronise only contacts related to a customer parent account, filter on Related > Parent Customer (Account) > Type > Equals > Customer.
4. Once you have finished adding additional filter criteria to the My Contacts data group, click Save and then close the Data Group dialog box.
5. Click OK to save your settings and close the Local Data dialog box.
6. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, on the CRM menu, click Synchronize with CRM.