Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2013 Database Tool

 For more information on this update, please see the knowledge base article.

Thank you,

The Microsoft
Dynamics CRM Team

This tool allows administrators to host Business Contact Manager for Outlook databases on a computer on which Microsoft Office 2013 and Business Contact Manager for Outlook are not installed. Once installed on a server, this tool will allow users to:

• Create and back up Business Contact Manager for Outlook databases.
• Restore databases from Business Contact Manager for Outlook.
• Share Business Contact Manager databases with other users on a local network.
• Migrate databases from Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 and Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007.

When the Database Tool is posted, we’ll update this blog.

Thank you,

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team

 Update for Outlook 2010 users

If you’re currently using Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010, you can download and install the smaller update:

 Download the Business Contact Manager for Outlook package now.

Full download for Outlook 2007 and newer users

If you’re using Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007, you MUST download the full installation from the links below as there is no upgrade path for your Business Contact Manager V3 database to a Business Contact Manager V4c database.

All other users are welcome to download either version, above or below. If you are currently using Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010, you’ll have to uninstall that before running the full installer.

 Download the Business Contact Manager for Outlook package now.

For more information on this update, please see the knowledge base article.

Thank you,

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team

Business Contact Manager for Outlook is optimized for Microsoft Outlook 2013, but will also work with Microsoft Outlook 2010.  All of the languages supported by Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 will continue to be supported in the Compatibility Update. 

If you purchased a previous version of a Microsoft Office suite or a standalone edition of Microsoft Office Outlook that included Business Contact Manager, you will be able to download Business Contact Manager for Outlook at no additional cost. You will also be able to download Business Contact Manager for Outlook if you purchased one of the following products.

• Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 or Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013
• Microsoft Office Professional
• Microsoft Outlook 2010 (stand-alone edition) or Microsoft Outlook 2013 (stand-alone edition)

A few important notes on the Compatibility Pack: 

• If you already have a database in Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 your database will be copied and upgraded to work with Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2013, but the two databases will not be synchronized.  Your 2010 database will be left in place and you can continue to use it with Outlook 2010. 
• You will not be able to share databases between versions.  If you are working in Outlook 2013, anyone else you’re sharing databases with will also need to have Outlook 2013 and the Compatibility Pack. 
• If you try the new Business Contact Manager for Outlook and want to revert to using your earlier version, you may do so.  The new Business Contact Manager Database tool for Outlook 2013 will be released shortly after the release of the compatibility pack.  It can be used to create and manage databases which are compatible with Business Contact Manager in Outlook 2013.

Once the update is available, we will post an announcement to this blog, including download instructions and feature details.  

Thank you,

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team

Kim Boeh, Director Program Management

After careful consideration, we decided to simplify the Office 2010 lineup by including Outlook with BCM, a business product, only in volume licensing. We understand it is not ideal for every user. When we made this decision, we underestimated the importance of BCM to our small business customers and those who purchased previous versions of Office in retail stores or pre-installed on PCs. Worse yet, we left many of our customers, who didn’t want to buy through volume licensing, stranded with their data locked in previous versions of Office.

This was a mistake and today we’re announcing a program to make Outlook with BCM available to the millions of existing Outlook with BCM customers who don’t want to buy Office 2010 through volume licensing.

Starting today we are offering an upgrade to Outlook 2010 with BCM at no additional cost to customers who meet the following criteria:

1. Customers who have previously purchased one of the following:

• Office Small Business Edition 2003 or Office Professional Edition 2003
• Office Small Business 2007 or Office Professional 2007 or Office Ultimate 2007
• A stand-alone edition of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or 2007

And…

2. Purchased one of the following versions of Office 2010:

• Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010
• Microsoft Office Professional 2010
• A stand-alone edition of Microsoft Outlook 2010

Affected BCM customers can learn more and get started at https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX102040110.aspx. Just follow the steps to get the upgrade to Outlook 2010 with BCM download at no additional cost.

Finally, we apologize to customers who were adversely affected by this oversight.

We hear you, and we hope you will continue to provide constructive feedback so we can ensure that we are meeting your expectations.

Justin Hutchinson, Director, Microsoft Office

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5f83d55e-1cc5-49dd-9b5f-06a7c08c00c2

Thanks all for your patience as we get things squared away!

Chris

Business Contact Manager 2010 brings amazing new functionality in role-specific workspaces, customization, dashboards and analytics, and Outlook integration. For more information on these features and others, please see Top 10 benefits of Outlook 2010 with Business Contact Manager.

Business Contact Manager 2010 is available through our volume licensing channel as part of both Office Standard and Professional Plus, and will be available soon via MSDN and TechNet.

Thanks very much for your interest,

Chris Heydemann

Senior Program Manager

BCM Team

There are few important things you should know before starting the upgrade process. First, you don’t need to uninstall previous versions of BCM as the new version will automatically upgrade it for you. Second, if you have more than one BCM clients connected to a shared database, you will have to upgrade BCM on all the machines. Finally, if you are upgrading BCM clients that access database located on the remote machine, upgrade database on the server machine first as you will need to have upgraded database ready before BCM 2010 could connect.

The first scenario explains how to upgrade BCM on a machine that has previous version of BCM installed. The second scenario explains process to upgrade BCM database on a server (using BCM Database Tool) which does not have BCM installed.

Upgrading BCM on Standalone (Client) Machines

1. Launch BCM setup, and then push the Install Now button on the setup wizard. BCM will show:

2. Launch Outlook and the BCM First Use wizard will pop up

3. Select Custom, then Connect to a Local Database:

4. The wizard will show the list of databases. Databases that cannot be upgraded (perhaps because their locales don’t match) are shown greyed out but cannot be selected. Select the database you’d like to upgrade, and hit Connect:

5. Follow the instructions to finish the database upgrade. Should be clear sailing from here!

Upgrading BCM Database on Remote Machine (Using BCM Database Tool)

When you have a dedicated computer (server) without Office and BCM installed hosting a previous version of BCM database, you’ll need to upgrade the database to BCM 2010 format. You’ll be required to back up your database, create a new one, and then restore the backup to the new database. All of this can be accomplished with the Database Tool:

1. Download and install Database Admin tool on the server machine

2. Launch the Database Admin tool, select Backup a Database, select the database you want to backup, and let the Tool do its work:

3. After you‘re done backing up your database, you’ll be brought back to the first screen of the wizard Tool. This time, select Create a new database and follow the instructions:

4. Finally, again from the first screen, select Restore a database, select the backup file created in step 2 and follow the instructions:

5. Now the clients can launch outlook, select Connect to a Remote Database and follow the instructions to connect to the now created new BCM 2010 remote database.

That’s it!

Remember that in a shared database environment all versions of BCM – whether Office 2010 clients or the remote database on the server – must have the same version. But once you’ve upgraded, each client can connect to the now-upgraded remote database.

Thanks, and do let me know if this clarifies things!

Thanks

Mukesh Agarwal