How the Outlook add-in will work

FreeCRiM's CRM data already lives in a workbook rather than a private database, which is what makes an Outlook add-in possible without inventing a second copy of your contacts and deals. This page describes the plan for that add-in; it is not released yet, and the web app is the only way to use FreeCRiM today.

What it is designed to do

• A task pane beside your inbox. Reading an email from someone already in your workbook shows their company, their open deals, and their recent activity, without switching to another tab.
• Log an email as an activity in one step. Attach the message you are reading to a contact or a deal, so the history stays in the same workbook the web app reads.
• Create a contact from a sender. Turn an email address you do not recognise yet into a new contact row, without leaving Outlook.

Why it reads the same workbook

The add-in is planned to authenticate as you and open the same workbook the web app already uses - there is no separate "Outlook data set" to keep in sync. A change made from the task pane is a write to the workbook, exactly like a change made from the browser, so the two surfaces never disagree about what a deal's stage is.

What is built today

The web app is live. The Outlook add-in and a companion Teams app are both planned; neither has a release date yet. If you want to be notified when the add-in ships, the fastest path is to keep using the web app - the workbook it builds is the same one the add-in will read on day one.