---
name: microsoft-outlook
description: |
  Microsoft Outlook integration via Apideck's CRM unified API — same methods work across every connector in CRM, switch by changing `serviceId`. Use when the user wants to read, write, or search contacts, companies, leads, opportunities, activities, and pipelines in Microsoft Outlook. Routes through Apideck with serviceId "microsoft-outlook".
license: Apache-2.0
alwaysApply: false
metadata:
  author: apideck
  version: "1.0.0"
  serviceId: microsoft-outlook
  unifiedApis: ["crm"]
  authType: oauth2
  tier: "2"
  verified: true
  status: beta
  difficulty: highly_complex
  partnershipRequired: false
  sandboxAvailable: true
---

# Microsoft Outlook (via Apideck)

Access Microsoft Outlook through Apideck's **CRM** unified API — one of 21 CRM connectors that share the same method surface. Code you write here ports to Odoo, Salesforce, HubSpot and 17 other CRM connectors by changing a single `serviceId` string. Apideck handles auth, pagination, rate limiting, and retries so you don't write per-tenant Microsoft Outlook plumbing.

> **Beta connector.** Microsoft Outlook is currently in beta on Apideck. Expect partial resource coverage and occasional mapping gaps. Always verify coverage (see below) and fall back to the Proxy API for unsupported operations.

## Quick facts

- **Apideck serviceId:** `microsoft-outlook`
- **Unified API:** CRM
- **Auth type:** oauth2
- **Status:** beta
- **Apideck setup guide:** [Connection guide](https://developers.apideck.com/connectors/microsoft-outlook/docs/consumer+connection)
- **Gotchas:** [page](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/crm/microsoft-outlook/gotchas)
- **Microsoft Outlook docs:** https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/api/overview

## At a glance

- **Implementation difficulty:** highly complex — Consumer-Registered Entra App + Tenant Admin Consent
- **Vendor partnership required:** no
- **Apideck-managed credentials:** not available — Each consumer's organisation registers its own Entra app and supplies its credentials.
- **Account type required:** Microsoft Entra work or school tenant; personal Microsoft accounts cannot be used.
- **Consumer access level:** A Microsoft Entra administrator who can grant admin consent (registering the app alone needs the Application Developer role).
- **Sandbox:** available ([signup](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/dev-program)) — Free Microsoft 365 E5 developer subscription with sample data, only for Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise subscribers and qualifying programmes.
- **Rate limits:** 10,000 requests per 10 minutes and 4 concurrent requests, per app and mailbox combination.
- **Authentication:** Client credentials (app-only): no user signs in.
- **Webhooks:** No webhooks - the connector does not subscribe to Microsoft Graph change notifications, so contacts and users are read by polling.

**Important to know:**

- The application permissions cover every mailbox in the consumer's Microsoft 365 tenant, not just the people who use your product, so expect a security review on the consumer side; Microsoft lets an administrator narrow the app's contacts access to specific mailboxes.
- The consumer creates the client secret in Microsoft Entra with a lifetime of 24 months at most, and the connection cannot obtain a token once that secret expires, so someone has to issue a new secret and update it in Vault before then.

> Facts synced from Apideck's connector metadata API — `GET /connector/connectors/microsoft-outlook` (`overview` field) is the live, authoritative version.

## When to use this skill

Activate this skill when the user explicitly wants to work with **Microsoft Outlook** — for example, "pull contacts in Microsoft Outlook" or "sync leads in Microsoft Outlook". This skill teaches the agent:

1. Which Apideck unified API covers Microsoft Outlook (CRM)
2. The correct `serviceId` to pass on every call (`microsoft-outlook`)
3. Microsoft Outlook-specific auth and coverage caveats

For the full method surface (parameters, pagination, filtering), use your language SDK skill:

- [`apideck-node`](../../skills/apideck-node/), [`apideck-python`](../../skills/apideck-python/), [`apideck-dotnet`](../../skills/apideck-dotnet/), [`apideck-java`](../../skills/apideck-java/), [`apideck-go`](../../skills/apideck-go/), [`apideck-php`](../../skills/apideck-php/), or [`apideck-rest`](../../skills/apideck-rest/)

For the raw OpenAPI spec:

- **CRM:** [https://specs.apideck.com/crm.yml](https://specs.apideck.com/crm.yml) · [API Explorer](https://developers.apideck.com/api-explorer?id=crm)

## Minimal example (TypeScript)

```typescript
import { Apideck } from "@apideck/unify";

const apideck = new Apideck({
  apiKey: process.env.APIDECK_API_KEY,
  appId: process.env.APIDECK_APP_ID,
  consumerId: "your-consumer-id",
});

// List contacts in Microsoft Outlook
const { data } = await apideck.crm.contacts.list({
  serviceId: "microsoft-outlook",
});
```

## Portable across 21 CRM connectors

The Apideck **CRM** unified API exposes the same methods for every connector in its catalog. Switching from Microsoft Outlook to another CRM connector is a one-string change — no rewrite, no new SDK.

```typescript
// Today — Microsoft Outlook
await apideck.crm.contacts.list({ serviceId: "microsoft-outlook" });

// Tomorrow — same code, different connector
await apideck.crm.contacts.list({ serviceId: "odoo" });
await apideck.crm.contacts.list({ serviceId: "salesforce" });
```

This is the compounding advantage of using Apideck over integrating Microsoft Outlook directly: code against the unified CRM API once, gain access to every connector in it. New connectors Apideck adds become available to your app without code changes.

## Authentication

- **Type:** OAuth 2.0
- **Managed by:** Apideck Vault — Apideck handles the full OAuth dance (authorization code flow, token exchange, refresh). Never ask the user for API keys or tokens directly.
- **User setup:** Users authorize via the Vault modal. Connection state progresses `available → added → authorized → callable`.
- **Token refresh:** automatic. Expired tokens are refreshed transparently on the next API call.

**Setup guide:** Apideck publishes a step-by-step guide for registering an OAuth app / configuring credentials for Microsoft Outlook — see [https://developers.apideck.com/connectors/microsoft-outlook/docs/consumer+connection](https://developers.apideck.com/connectors/microsoft-outlook/docs/consumer+connection). Use that as the authoritative source when walking users through connection setup.

See [`apideck-best-practices`](../../skills/apideck-best-practices/) for Vault setup, connection lifecycle, and handling re-auth flows.

## Verifying coverage

Not every CRM operation is supported by every connector. Always verify before assuming a method works:

```bash
curl 'https://unify.apideck.com/connector/connectors/microsoft-outlook' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APIDECK_API_KEY}" \
  -H "x-apideck-app-id: ${APIDECK_APP_ID}"
```

See [`apideck-connector-coverage`](../../skills/apideck-connector-coverage/) for patterns around `UnsupportedOperationError` and connector-specific fallbacks.

## Escape hatch: Proxy API

When an endpoint isn't covered by the CRM unified API, use Apideck's Proxy to call Microsoft Outlook directly — Apideck injects auth headers and handles token refresh. Set `x-apideck-downstream-url` to the target endpoint on Microsoft Outlook's own API:

```bash
curl 'https://unify.apideck.com/proxy' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APIDECK_API_KEY}" \
  -H "x-apideck-app-id: ${APIDECK_APP_ID}" \
  -H "x-apideck-consumer-id: ${CONSUMER_ID}" \
  -H "x-apideck-service-id: microsoft-outlook" \
  -H "x-apideck-downstream-url: <target endpoint on Microsoft Outlook>" \
  -H "x-apideck-downstream-method: GET"
```

See [Microsoft Outlook's API docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/api/overview) for available endpoints.

## Sibling connectors

Other **CRM** connectors that share this unified API surface (same method signatures, just change `serviceId`):

[`odoo`](../odoo/) *(beta)*, [`salesforce`](../salesforce/), [`hubspot`](../hubspot/), [`pipedrive`](../pipedrive/), [`zoho-crm`](../zoho-crm/), [`activecampaign`](../activecampaign/), [`close`](../close/), [`microsoft-dynamics`](../microsoft-dynamics/), and 12 more.

## See also

- [Apideck connection guide for Microsoft Outlook](https://developers.apideck.com/connectors/microsoft-outlook/docs/consumer+connection)
- [CRM OpenAPI spec](https://specs.apideck.com/crm.yml) · [API Explorer](https://developers.apideck.com/api-explorer?id=crm)
- [`apideck-connector-coverage`](../../skills/apideck-connector-coverage/) — programmatic coverage checks
- [`apideck-best-practices`](../../skills/apideck-best-practices/) — architecture, Vault, pagination, error handling
- [`apideck-node`](../../skills/apideck-node/) — TypeScript / Node SDK patterns
- [Microsoft Outlook official docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/api/overview)