LinkPoint Connect(ME) Synchronization Engine: An Overview¶
The core data synchronization process described in this article is not to be confused with the toggleable LinkPoint Connect(ME) features – auto-syncing of every new inbound or outbound email or calendar item, or auto-saving of new emails in specific threads. Those features are carried out by this process and if synchronization is not set up or is suspended, these features will not work. Refer to this comparison article to learn about the scope of functions performed by the Sync Engine and the Add-In (or the Chrome Extension).
LinkPoint Connect(ME) Synchronization (LPC Sync Engine) is a recurrent background (server-side) process of two-way data exchange between your email account (on an MS Exchange, Office 365, or Gmail server) and your Salesforce account, that LinkPoint Connect(ME) performs 24/7 to maintain data mirroring between your email/calendar items and their matching Salesforce objects, also considering your choices and actions in LinkPoint Connect(ME) Sidebar and your email client (via the dedicated category or folder). LPC Sync does not depend on whether LinkPoint Connect(ME) Add-In is opened in your email client. Sync data is transferred securely server-to-server:
- over EWS for MS Exchange or Office 365 with Exchange Online
- over MS Graph for Office 365 with Exchange Online
- over TLS / SSL for Gmail
- over official secure Salesforce API to/from your Salesforce account.
By default, LPC Sync sessions are carried out every 30 minutes; they run regardless of whether LinkPoint Connect(ME) Sidebar or MS Outlook/other supported email client is opened or not, as server-to-server data exchange unnoticed by the users. Since data exchange is carried out between your email server and Salesforce server while your local email client and the Sidebar only serve to display email / calendar data and register your choices and actions, LPC Sync does not consume any noticeable amount of your local internet traffic.
The users have the possibility to differentiate between emails they saved via the Save button (Read and Compose modes) and ones auto-saved by LPC Sync engine; the former are marked via a custom Salesforce field AddInEmail which is added by the advanced Salesforce integration Connect(ME) managed package.
The key aspects of synchronization process can be flexibly adjusted by the end users individually via Sync dashboard and LinkPoint Connect(ME) Customization page, or by the local admin via Admin settings. Synchronization can be manually suspended or forced to run sooner than the next scheduled session. It may also get suspended due to errors and monitored for troubleshooting.
Maintaining data mirroring is based on tables of matching fields mapped between MS Exchange/Office 365 calendar items/tasks/contacts and corresponding Salesforce objects. These mapping tables are used to compare the values in matching fields and transfer updated values from email server to Salesforce or vice versa, replacing old values in corresponding fields with actual ones. This ongoing data mirroring process has its specific exceptions and overriding patterns applied in certain cases as required by convenience of use considerations, e.g. for processing event attendees lists. In addition, refer to this article for in-depth explanations of specific calendars sync exceptions. Finally, there are custom sync adjustment options which alter the reciprocal mirroring principle according to customers’ preferences.
Note
Unlike continuous mirror-syncing of MS Exchange/Office 365 or Gmail Tasks, Contacts, or calendar items, saving of emails is always a one-way Mail server → Salesforce process by definition. In addition, it is performed only one time for each saved email, except for the special case of Enhanced Emails editing
Besides this core data mirroring process, synchronization sessions involve several related jobs: checking for emails / events / tasks / contacts assigned Salesforce category or put into Salesforce folder, creation of Salesforce objects based on new emails or calendar items and user input, finding and linking of related records in Salesforce, deletion of the matching object if the configuration requires that (for example, removal from Salesforce of a meeting that got cancelled in Exchange/Office 365).
Note
Note that in the latest LinkPoint Connect(ME) updates, resetting/reapplying Customization settings does not affect calendar items synchronization in any way
Important
Some actions can only be performed via Sync Engine: calendar items syncing in Salesforce, saving of email messages in Compose mode, saving of emails, contacts, or tasks by assigning them the Salesforce category or moving emails to the Salesforce emails folder. Note that because of the sync sessions interval it may take up to 30 minutes for a corresponding item to appear in Salesforce after your performed either of these saving actions. Several other actions involving creation or updating of Salesforce items do not depend on the Sync Engine, since they are performed by LPC Add-In immediately in Salesforce. That includes saving email messages using the Save button in Read mode or initial sharing (creation) of calendar items in Salesforce. See this comparison table for complete information
Tip
Besides regular synchronization settings LinkPoint Connect(ME) offers special adjustments to meet your company’s specific preferences - syncing calendar items as other object types besides events and one-way synchronization options
Auto-linking of email/event/task items created by Sync¶
Another important aspect of synchronization is auto-linking of Task/Email message/Event objects created in Salesforce by LinkPoint Connect(ME) sync. The Salesforce objects mirroring your email messages and calendar items get automatically associated through “lookup” relationships (the “Name” (WhoID) and “Related To” (WhatID) fields) with a relevant Contact/Lead, Account, and (optionally) Opportunity. This linking pattern is used both on auto-saving and user-initiated saving through the custom category or dedicated folder.
Automatic creation of Contacts or Leads by LinkPoint Connect(ME) (Autoresolving)¶
On user-initiated syncing or auto-syncing of calendar items as well as emails auto-saving, LinkPoint Connect(ME) can automatically create required Leads or Contacts for meeting attendees and email recipients whose addresses were not registered in Salesforce previously (unresolved meeting attendees/email recipients). Created Leads’/Contacts’ fields will be populated with data retrieved from the meeting invitation’s/email’s signature, if one is available.
The Calendar Event or Task/EmailMessage object created in Salesforce to match the saved item will be linked to this Lead or Contact. Note that LPC will be lacking certain details to populate some of auto-created Leads’ or Contacts’ key fields, so the users should populate these fields later via the Sidebar to make them more detailed.
To request enabling of the Auto-resolving feature for your org, send a corresponding request to Connect(ME) support team, specifying if you would prefer Leads or Contacts to be auto-created for unresolved meeting attendees’ addresses. Optionally, LinkPoint Connect(ME) can also create Person Accounts instead of Leads/Contacts.
Note that email addresses and domains blocklisted from syncing by an individual LPC user (personal contacts, for example) or by the Org Admin will not be processed on Leads/Contacts auto-resolving by LPC for this user.
Finally, the latest LPC updates include optional advanced smart Lead/Contact auto-resolving mechanisms. See the descriptions of the settings SalesforceSmartCreateUnresolvedObjects and SalesforceEmailCreateAllUnresolvedRecipients in this article to learn more about these mechanisms.
In addition, LPC can optionally auto-create new Accounts to link the auto-created Contacts to in case there is no relevant Account retrieved by LPC Initial Search. The auto-created Account’s Name field will be based on the corporate email domain from the attendee’s email address. Later the Account’s specific details can be populated by the user via the Sidebar.
Alternatively, all auto-resolved Contacts can be linked to a specific Account pre-defined by the local Admin or Connect(ME) support team. Later, such Contacts can be sorted and re-linked to proper Accounts individually by someone in the Org.
Instant Sync of Calendar Items¶
Note
Insta-sync is only available for big Enterprise LPC customers, please send a corresponding request to our CSM team if you wish to get it enabled
MS Outlook Calendar ➝ Salesforce Calendar insta-sync¶
Instant synchronization (insta-sync) is available for MS Outlook Meetings, Appointments, and All-Day Events; it enables LPC end users to synchronize their calendars with Salesforce calendar in real time, without a 2 - 30 minute wait.
Insta-sync only triggers when a calendar item is created, updated, or deleted in MS Outlook; it does not trigger on any event updates in Salesforce calendar. Its behavior can be adjusted in LPC Global Settings (which are usually managed by linkpoint360.com CSM team). Insta-sync can also be set to trigger specifically on calendar items creation, calendar items updating, or calendar items deletion.
When activated by a meeting change in MS Exchange / Office 365, Insta-sync auto-triggers Force synchronization, this way initiating a sync session ahead of the default 30 minute sync interval; several sequential insta-syncs can be performed only with 1-3 minute intervals, not immediately.
Events insta-sync is not available for LinkPoint Connect(ME) Chrome Extension for Gmail.
Salesforce Calendar ➝ Email client Calendar insta-sync¶
This optional instant Salesforce ➝ Email client calendar Events down-syncing feature can be enabled for big Enterprise customers by request sent to our Support team. It is available for MS Exchange or Office 365 boxes connected over EWS or MS Graph and Gmail boxes.
This features enables LPC end users to synchronize new created Salesforce events with email client’s calendar in real time, without a 2 - 30 minute wait. This insta-sync is only triggered on Salesforce Events creation.
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