Make a Note of This - OneNote is coming to CRM

Fig. 1 - CRM Online - OneNote Online integration

The leading note taking application on the planet OneNote is coming to CRM.

With OneNote integrated in CRM you can do so much more in terms of rich note taking, compared to the native notes in CRM. How about scanning a business card and utilize OneNotes built in OCR to grab the text on the card? Or capturing a picture of the whiteboard you filled with great ideas during a meeting with Office Lens? With the integration between CRM and OneNote the world of note taking powered by OneNote opens up to CRM users.

In the upcoming release of CRM Online (Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1) we are introducing the first steps of the CRM-to-OneNote integration. The feature is right now in preview and below I'm sharing a first look.

To test the feature out you need to enable the SharePoint Integration in CRM Online. As a best practice I always create a dedicated SharePoint site for the CRM integration. Makes it easier to manange eg storage allocations a.s.o.


Fig. 2 - SharePoint site (optionally)


Fig. 3 - SharePoint Site validated

Once the SharePoint integration is setup a new entry will show up in the "Document Management" page under "Settings" (1) in CRM - "OneNote Integration" (2)


Fig. 4 - OneNote Integration under Settings/Document Management

If you click "OneNote Integration" you see a dialog with four entities preselected (1)


Fig. 5 - Default entities enabled for OneNote integration

Only the entities that are enabled for document management settings are available for you to select and enable. The default entities enabled for SharePoint Integration are: Account, Article, Lead, Opportunity, Product, Quote, and Sales Literature.

Pre-selected entities for OneNote integration are: Account, Lead, Opportunity, and Product.

If I open the Account entity under Settings (1) I can verify that the "Document management" checkbox as well as "OneNote integration" checkbox are checked (2)


Fig. 6 - Account Entity enabled for OneNote integration

With the OneNote integration enabled for the Account entity I now have a "OneNote" header on the Activity Wall of all my Account records (1)


Fig. 7 - OneNote header on Accounts Activity Wall

If I on the other hand look at the Contacts entity under settings (1) I can verify that neither "Document management" nor "OneNote integration" (2) are checked (as expected)


Fig. 8 - Contact entity not enabled for OneNote integration

Hence I *don't* see the OneNote header on a contacts Activity Wall


Fig. 9 - No OneNote header on Contacts Activity Wall

Returning to the Account record - once I click the OneNote header (1) for the first time a notebook will be created for the record (2)


Fig. 10 - Notebook being created

The new notebook is created with the default section with the default title "Untitled" (1)

I can click the new entry in the Activity Wall (1) ….


Fig. 11 - Notebook created with section in it

…and I'm taken to the OneNote notebook. Next to the OneNote logo I see the name of the SharePoint site hosting the OneNote notebook (1). The name of the notebook corresponds to the display name of CRM record upon creation (2). I'm automatically taken to the Untitled section (3) and the cursor is in an Untitled Page (4)


Fig. 12 - Notebook opened in OneNote

I can now start editing the notebook a bit – rename the page (1), type a few notes (2), add a new section (3), and rename the current section (4), eg. from "Untitled" to "Meetings"


Fig. 13 - Editing the notebook

The section is now renamed to "Meetings". In OneNote that is.


Fig. 14 - Section is now renamed

 

If I head back to the CRM record I see that the renamed section still shows up with its old title in the Activity Wall (1). Remember this is very early stages of the Preview.

The new section I created in OneNote ("Another Section") however *has* come through to CRM though (2)


Fig. 15 - Sections in Activity Wall

You *can* correct the title disconnect if you prefer so. All you need to do is head to the Associated Documents for the record and fix the name of the *.one file

Click the down arrow (1) and then "Documents" (2)


Fig. 16 - head to Associated Documents

Select the file "Untitled.one" (1) in the list


Fig. 17 - SharePoint Documents associated with the record

Click Edit (2) and edit the name (3)…


Fig. 18 - editing the name of the *.one file

…to "Meetings" (4) and finally click Save (5)


Fig. 19 - editing the name of the *.one file

The *.one file has now been renamed (1)


Fig. 20 - updated file name in list

And the Activity Wall entry is updated (1)


Fig. 21 - Activity Wall entry is updated

It's still early days for the CRM-OneNote integration - but the promise is worth making a note of. Dont you think?