Home > Salesforce Winter ’21 Release Notes > Sales > Integration with Microsoft® > Lightning Sync for Microsoft® Exchange® >

Lightning Sync Not Available for New Salesforce Customers

If you're exploring contact and event sync for the first time, we recommend Einstein Activity Capture. Einstein Activity Capture offers sync plus even more productivity-boosting features. Keep reading to learn more about the change in Lightning Sync availability and the latest feature enhancements available for Einstein Activity Capture. Current customers can continue using Lightning Sync.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience, Salesforce Classic, and all versions of the Salesforce app in Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions.

Who: Lightning Sync isn't available for customers who purchase Salesforce after the Winter '21 release. After Winter '21, no Lightning Sync enhancements will be introduced. But customers who purchased Salesforce before Winter '21 can still access and enable Lightning Sync for users with the appropriate Salesforce licenses. And Lightning Sync continues to sync contacts and events for current users.

Why: We heard customer requests for more flexible connection options and optimized features. To offer you the best in Microsoft integration, we're focusing our development efforts on one sync product: Einstein Activity Capture.

With Einstein Activity Capture, sales reps get even more productivity features than they did with Lightning Sync. To read about the benefits, see What Does Einstein Activity Capture Do?

And if you considered Einstein Activity Capture in the past, you're probably most interested in our Winter '21 improvements.
  • Microsoft Office 365 users get new options for connecting to Salesforce: an org-level connection or a service account. Both connection methods provide the security of OAuth 2.0. Plus, users aren't required to connect their own accounts, which simplifies the rollout process.
  • You can choose to sync contacts and events from Salesforce to Microsoft Exchange only.
To learn more about what's offered in Winter '21, check out the Einstein Activity Capture release notes.

To learn more about the change in Lightning Sync availability, see Lightning Sync: Not Available for New Salesforce Customers Starting in Winter '21.