Overview
This document will cover how Workplace integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.
Customer-Hosted customers can integrate with their Exchange server so that it synchronizes
calendar events with the Workplace server, allowing users’ statuses to change automatically based on
the events in Exchange. Both Workplace-Hosted customer and Customer-Hosted customers also
have the option to synchronize with their local Outlook calendars (regardless of whether or not an
Exchange server is used). This client-side synchronization is available to any user who uses the
Workplace stand-alone application or the Workplace Outlook Add-In
Exchange Calendar Sync
Workplace allows you to synchronize Exchange events with Workplace using EWS (Exchange Web
Service). This means that future statuses will be automatically created for Workplace users so that
their statuses will be changed automatically. For example, let’s say you have a meeting next
Wednesday from 2:00PM to 4:00PM, and you have created an event for this in Exchange.
Workplace’s Exchange Sync feature will import this event into Workplace so that your status will
change to “Meeting” automatically at 2:00PM. You will also have the option to change your status
back to “In” (or even your previous status) at 4:00PM. This configuration will be discussed in the
following sections.
Please note that Exchange Calendar Sync is only available for Customer-Hosted customers
because it requires communication between the Workplace server and Exchange Server. Also, the
Exchange Server must be running Exchange 2007 or later. Client-side synchronization is available
for all customers and is discussed in the Outlook Calendar Sync section
As of 2023, Exchange Sync for Office 365 is no longer supported. We still support On-Premises to On-Premises Exchange Instances
Connect to Exchange
In the Workplace Server, go to Management > Settings. The Exchange Sync. tab of the server
settings allows you to configure connection settings for synchronizing Workplace with your Microsoft
Exchange email server.
In order to connect to Exchange, you will first have to check Enable Exchange Sync. Then you will
be able to input the rest of the required information so that Workplace can connect to Exchange:
Service URL, Domain Name, Username, and Password. You must use a username that has access
to all other Exchange mailboxes in order for Workplace to access these user’s events. By clicking
Test Connection, you can confirm that Workplace can connect to Exchange with the supplied
information.
Exchange Sync Configuration
The Exchange Sync tab of the main Workplace Server window allows you to configure how events
are imported from Exchange. Multiple templates can be saved and configured here (one per
organization). So if multiple organizations are being used in Workplace, each organization can have
different Exchange Sync settings.
To create a template for an organization, simply select the organization (at the top), configure the
settings specific to this organization, select each user to sync with (on the right), and click Save
Template. This template will now be run based on the user-defined Schedule, or the user can click
Start Manual Sync to sync these users’ calendars manually. If you do a manual sync, you can
view the status of each users’ synchronization by going to the Manual Sync Log tab
There are 4 different event types in Outlook (“Free”, “Tentative”, “Busy”, and “Out of Office”). Each
event type can be linked to any Workplace status so that each event will change a user’s status. For
example, as seen above, the “Busy” Outlook status is mapped to the “Meeting” Workplace status. So
whenever the user adds an Outlook event of type “Busy”, the event will also be added to the user’s
Workplace account with the Meeting status. When the event is over, it will return to “[Previous
Status]”, meaning that the user’s status will change back to the last status once the Meeting is over.
Below is a list of all other options in this window:
- Set Comment for All Events to Blank (Ignore Subject): Regardless of the details a user gives
to an event, the Workplace comment will show up blank - Set Comment for Events Marked as Confidential to “Confidential Event”: Events marked as
“Confidential” in Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Confidential Event” will be
shown instead) - Set Comment for Events Marked as Personal to “Personal Event”: Events marked as
“Personal” in Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Personal Event” will be shown
instead) - Set Comment for Events Marked as Private to “Private Event”: Events marked as “Private” in
Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Private Event” will be shown instead) - Show Appointment Location in Status Comment: If an Appointment Location is specified in
the Outlook Event, this location will also be appended to the end of the Workplace comment
Once all the events are synced from Exchange to Workplace, no user interaction is required. Each
users’ statuses will be automatically updated based on their Exchange events, even if they are not at
their computer!
Outlook Calendar Sync
If your organization does not have an Exchange server or if you are Workplace-Hosted, users can
still sync their local Microsoft Outlook events to Workplace. In the Workplace application or add-in,
simply open up the Settings and follow the instructions in the following sections. Then you Outlook
events will change your Workplace status automatically, just as described for Exchange sync.
Synchronization Settings
The Calendar Sync tab allows the user to configure how events get synchronized from Outlook. For
example, if you create an event in Outlook each time you have a meeting, it would be a hassle to
enter that into Workplace as well. This synchronization makes it so that you only have to enter it in
Outlook, and then Workplace will automatically update your status at the time of the meeting using a
Future Status.
By checking Add Workplace Future Status to Outlook, you can also sync Workplace events to
Outlook. So if you add an event inside of Workplace through the Calendar feature (found in the main
toolbar), then these events will also be automatically added to Outlook.
NOTE: Synchronization can be done Manually (from the Synchronize button of the toolbar) or
Automatically (configured in the Auto Sync settings). If you would like to sync events manually, you
have the option to check Prompt for Synchronization on Startup so that you will be asked to
sync all events when Workplace starts up
Below is a list of all other options in this window. These exact options were already listed in the
Exchange Sync section, but they are listed here as well for convenience:
- Set Comment for All Events to Blank (Ignore Subject): Regardless of the details a user gives
to an event, the Workplace comment will show up blank - Set Comment for Events Marked as Confidential to “Confidential Event”: Events marked as
“Confidential” in Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Confidential Event” will be
shown instead) - Set Comment for Events Marked as Personal to “Personal Event”: Events marked as
“Personal” in Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Personal Event” will be shown
instead) - Set Comment for Events Marked as Private to “Private Event”: Events marked as “Private” in
Outlook will not show the comment in Workplace (“Private Event” will be shown instead) - Show Outlook Location in Status Comment: If an Appointment Location is specified in the
Outlook Event, this location will also be appended to the end of the Workplace comment
Once all the events are synced from Outlook to Workplace , no more user interaction is required.
Your status will be automatically updated based on your Outlook events, even if you are not at their
computer!
Auto Sync
The Auto Sync tab allows the user to configure when the Calendar Sync will occur and what
statuses will be mapped. For example, you may want all “Tentative” events in Outlook to change your
status to “Meeting” in Workplace. In this case, you would go to the “Tentative” Status section,
check the Automatically synchronize to box, and change the status to Meeting. If you want to
change your status back once the meeting is over, check the Set Auto Return to box and select a
status. “[Previous Status]” means that your status will return to whatever status it was before the
event started.
This window allows you to configure a couple different things for automatic synchronization. You
can configure how often (in minutes) events are synchronized at the top. Sync for the next X days means that Workplace will only sync events that occur within the given number of days. So an
event three months from now will not be added to the calendar if it is only syncing over the next 14
days. And finally, you can check Do not Synchronize Old Appointments if you do not want to
synchronize your events before today (recommended).
There are 4 different event types in Outlook (“Free”, “Tentative”, “Busy”, and “Out of Office”). Each
event type can be linked to any Workplace status so that each event will change a user’s status. For
example, as seen above, the “Busy” Outlook status is mapped to the “Unavailable” Workplace status.
So whenever the user adds an Outlook event of type “Busy”, the event will also be added to the
user’s Workplace account with the Unavailable status. When the event is over, it will return to
“[Previous Status]”, meaning that the user’s status will change back to the last status once the
Meeting is over.
Manual Sync
If you would like to manually sync your Workplace events with Outlook, you can do so by going to
Synchronize > Calendar from the Workplace toolbar. The Calendar tab displays the Outlook events
that will be synchronized with the Workplace Future Statuses. Click the Sync check box next to the
events you wish to add to your Workplace Calendar. Then you can configure what status each event
will change to in the In/Out Status column.
When you are ready, click OK at the bottom of the window. This will now add your Outlook events
as Workplace Future Status Events.
Outlook Contact Sync
If you would like to manually sync your Workplace contact information with Outlook, you can do so
by going to Synchronize > Contacts from the Workplace toolbar. This will automatically create
Outlook contacts (or update existing contacts) based on the information provided in Workplace : the
user’s name, email address, phone number, title, etc.
The Contacts tab displays the Workplace Contacts information screen for all users. This allows you
to check each user that you want to add into your Outlook contacts. Simply check each user you
would like to sync to Outlook and then click OK at the bottom.
You can also synchronize for a Single Contact by right-clicking a user and selecting Contact Sync.
When you are syncing a single user, the Synchronize Contact Information screen will come up
and Synchronize for this one contact. You can check or uncheck which information you would like
to be included, if necessary.
Note: If the Workplace Contact is not synchronized with the Outlook Contact already, it will try to
match with the Email of an existing user first, then with the Last Name and First Name. Otherwise, it
will create a new contact.
