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Deploying to Outlook

This page is for customer IT. It covers getting the add-in into users' Outlook. The Lime CRM side — installing the package and configuring it — is done by the CRM administrator or partner and is described in Configuration.

If you want to know what the add-in can access and how it authenticates before you deploy anything, read Technical first.

What you are deploying

A single manifest.xml file. The CRM administrator downloads it from Lime Admin and hands it to you.

The manifest is not the add-in. It is a small description that tells Outlook:

  • what the button is called and which icon to use;
  • that the add-in appears when reading a message;
  • the URL to load the task pane from — your own Lime CRM instance.

Everything the add-in actually runs — its own code, and the API it calls — is served by the customer's own Lime CRM instance, and email data never leaves it. The task pane does load a few static assets (a UI library, some styling) from Microsoft and a public CDN at page load — see Network requirements — but no vendor has your data, and there is nothing to install on a server of yours.

Manifest format

This is a classic XML add-in manifest. It works with Microsoft 365 centralized deployment, Exchange PowerShell, and per-user sideloading.

Before you start

  • Confirm the Lime CRM URL in the manifest is the customer's production Lime CRM, over HTTPS.
  • Confirm your network allows users' Outlook clients to reach that URL — see Network requirements.
  • Decide which users or groups should get the add-in.

Deployment options

Push the add-in to users or groups from the Microsoft 365 admin center. Users get the button automatically; nobody has to install anything.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center as a Global Administrator.
  2. Go to Settings → Integrated apps.
  3. Choose Upload custom apps.
  4. Select App type: Office Add-in, then Upload manifest file (.xml) from device, and upload the manifest.xml.
  5. Assign it to specific users/groups, or to the entire organization.
  6. Review and finish.

Microsoft's full documentation: Deploy add-ins in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Option 2 — Exchange PowerShell

For scripted or delegated rollouts, use the New-App cmdlet in Exchange Online PowerShell. See Microsoft's add-in deployment reference.

Option 3 — Per-user sideloading

Useful for a pilot with a handful of users, or while testing.

  1. Open Outlook Add-Ins and go to My add-ins.
  2. Under Custom Addins, choose Add a custom add-in → Add from file.
  3. Upload the manifest.xml and confirm.
  4. Reload Outlook.

This does not scale — each user must repeat it, and you cannot update or withdraw the add-in centrally afterwards.

After deploying

It does not appear instantly

Centrally deployed add-ins can take up to 24 hours to appear in users' Outlook — often much less, but not immediate. Do not conclude the deployment failed because the button isn't there five minutes later.

To verify:

  1. Open Outlook and open an email. The button only appears when reading a message, not in the message list.
  2. Look for Lime CRM → Save in CRM in the ribbon, or under the More actions (…) menu.
  3. Click it. The task pane opens on the right, offering Connect.

Each user then connects their own Outlook to their own Lime CRM login, once. See How It Works. You do not create accounts, issue tokens, or distribute secrets for this.

Shared mailboxes

If the add-in doesn't appear when a user opens a shared mailbox via Open another mailbox, deploy the add-in to the shared mailbox as well, not just to the individual users.

What shared-mailbox use looks like otherwise — who a save is credited to, marker visibility, mobile support: Known Limitations.

Network requirements

Users' Outlook clients must be able to reach:

Host Why
The customer's Lime CRM URL (HTTPS) Serves the task pane, the save form, and the API the add-in calls
appsforoffice.microsoft.com Microsoft's Office.js library — required by every Office add-in
*.microsoft.com, *.office.net, *.sharepointonline.com, *.aspnetcdn.com Microsoft-hosted resources loaded by Office.js
cdn.lime-crm.com Lime CRM web client assets
unpkg.com UI component library (@fluentui/web-components) loaded unconditionally by the task pane

The add-in's Content Security Policy restricts network calls (connect-src) to the Lime CRM instance itself. It does not send email data anywhere else. See Technical.

If the organisation uses Microsoft Entra Conditional Access, be aware that it blocks add-in sign-in on iOS and Android. Desktop and web are unaffected.

Updating

You normally never redeploy the manifest. The add-in itself is served by the Lime CRM instance, so when the CRM administrator upgrades the package, users pick up the new version the next time the task pane loads.

Redeploy the manifest only if the Lime CRM base URL changes, or if a release note explicitly says so. See Upgrading.

Removing

  • Centralized deployment — remove or unassign the add-in under Settings → Integrated apps in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Sideloaded — each user removes it under My add-ins in Outlook.

Removing the add-in does not delete anything already saved in Lime CRM. It also does not revoke users' connections — users can disconnect from the task pane, and a CRM administrator can revoke access server-side.