Tired of Salesforce retiring their plugins?
The next Salesforce product retirement is for 2027 — are you ready?
Legacy add-in. Forced migration on the calendar.
Current product. Records in the sidebar — that's it.
Runs your Screen Flows in the inbox.
What does native Salesforce for Outlook consist of?
Two Salesforce products, both branded as the Outlook integration. Different products, different fates.
Salesforce for Outlook
The legacy add-in. Standard option for years. Salesforce has scheduled it for retirement in December 2027. If your team is on it today, you have a forced migration on the calendar.
Lightning for Outlook
Also marketed as Outlook & Gmail Integration. Current and actively maintained. Still a sidebar viewer — it shows the Salesforce UI in the inbox.
Sidebar viewer, or process executor.
Lightning for Outlook shows.
Salesforce in the sidebar. Records, related fields, edit forms, manual logging. The user sees the Salesforce UI in a narrow window. Entering data is done by copy-paste. Existing records are only identified on exact email-address match — too rigid for most orgs.
FlowRunner runs.
Screen Flows in the sidebar. The admin decides what flows to create and make available to each user. They automatically contain all email context data — no more copy-pasting. Existing records are shown based on whatever logic makes sense for your org.
We don't sync your data. We run your logic.
Side by side.
Architecture, capability depth, and risk — table by table.
| Capability | Lightning for Outlook | FlowRunner |
|---|---|---|
| Match emails to existing records | Exact email-address match only | Admin-configurable rules, per object and per user |
| Customize which fields show in the sidebar | Fixed Salesforce record layout | Admin defines per Flow |
| Custom object support | Limited | Full |
| Run Screen Flows in the sidebar with email context pre-filled | No | Yes |
| Exposure to the December 2027 retirement deadline | Predecessor (Salesforce for Outlook) retiring; forced migration on the calendar | Not exposed to the Salesforce-side deadline |
How to implement FlowRunner.
Install.
Salesforce managed-package install plus the Outlook (or Gmail) add-in pushed via Microsoft 365 Admin Center or Google Workspace. No new automation tool. Process logic stays in Flow Builder where it already lives.
Configure.
Create Flows for your processes and assign them to the right users. Redefine the record-lookup Flow to implement your own logic. Use email addresses, names, subject, body — whatever resolves an email to a Salesforce record.
Cut over.
IT disables Salesforce for Outlook/Gmail and makes FlowRunner available simultaneously via the Microsoft Admin Center or Google Workspace Admin Console.
Estimated total IT effort for a 100-rep org
~30 minutes of IT time + 1 admin afternoon
Want to see your existing Flows running in Outlook before you commit?
Book a demoMigration questions.
Do my existing Flows run on FlowRunner without rebuild?
What about the email tracking and calendar features Lightning for Outlook has?
What happens to existing Salesforce for Outlook installations during migration?
Can we run FlowRunner alongside Lightning for Outlook during the transition?
Ready when the deadline is.
Run your existing Flows in Outlook today — or start the install guide and have it live by next quarter.