Attio and Outlook: what syncs, what doesn't, and how to set it up
Attio syncs Microsoft 365 email and calendar into records on every plan and sends email through your Outlook account. Only Inbox and Sent sync, and on-premise Exchange is not supported.
- Connector
- Native app built by Attio (listed as an official app), free, connected from Account settings in Attio
- Sync direction
- Mostly Outlook → Attio; emails you compose in Attio send through your Microsoft 365 account
- Setup time
- Four steps per user; the first sync runs afterward and its length depends on mailbox history. An Entra admin may need to approve the app.
- Availability
- All Attio plans, including Free; Microsoft 365-hosted Outlook accounts only
- Our rating
- 4 out of 5. Mail and calendar sync on every plan, and Attio sends through Outlook; only Inbox and Sent sync, and only from Microsoft 365 mailboxes.
| What | Direction | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Email history and new email | Outlook → Attio | Attio imports past emails and keeps syncing new ones. Only the Inbox and Sent folders sync. Emails show on the Emails tab of records; Attio has no central inbox. |
| Calendar events | Outlook → Attio | Each non-private Outlook Calendar event becomes a meeting on the Activity tab of matching person and company records. Private events do not sync. |
| Automatic people and company records | Derived | Default setting is selective: Attio creates a person only for contacts you emailed or met. Companies come from non-public email domains. Admins can switch to all contacts or none. |
| Sending email | Attio → Outlook | Attio sends single and mass emails through your synced Microsoft 365 account. Aliases work as sender addresses. Replies and forwards also start from the record. |
| Communication intelligence | Derived | Attio fills Last interaction, Next calendar interaction, Connection strength and Strongest connection from synced mail and meetings. Access depends on the Attio plan. |
| Email summaries and labels | Derived | Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans only. Attio adds a short summary and a label such as Scheduling or Invoices to emails you have full access to. |
| Email open tracking | Derived | Microsoft 365 only. Needs SMTP AUTH enabled in the Microsoft 365 admin center and the Email tracking toggle. Works for emails sent from Attio to one participant, not for sequences. |
| Call recording | Derived | Pro and Enterprise users can record meetings that arrived through calendar sync. Each recording links to its meeting. |
Setting it up
- Each member opens their workspace name, then Account settings, then Email and calendar accounts.
- Click Connect Account for Microsoft and authorize Attio. If the work email also signs in to a personal Microsoft account, choose Work or school account.
- If Microsoft shows Need admin approval, ask an Entra ID admin to add Attio as an enterprise application using the consent URL in Attio's Entra ID article.
- Wait for the account to show In sync. Attio sends a confirmation email when the first sync finishes.
- Set Email visibility on the connected account. The default shares participants, timestamps and subject lines, and keeps bodies private.
- As an admin, open Workspace settings, Email and calendar, Record creation and confirm the default (Selective contact creation) before most of the team connects.
- Optional: for open tracking, enable SMTP AUTH in the Microsoft 365 admin center and turn on Email tracking for the account.
Where the integration stops
- Only Microsoft 365-hosted accounts sync. On-premise Exchange and third-party-hosted accounts are not supported. Other providers can forward emails to an Attio address instead.
- Only the Inbox and Sent folders sync, and shared inboxes do not sync. Attio offers no other filter than blocklists, so mail in other folders never reaches records.
- Deletions and drafts do not carry over. Deleting an email in Outlook does not delete it in Attio; only removing the mailbox does. Drafts made in Outlook never appear in Attio.
- Calendar sync reads events. The docs describe importing events into Attio and do not describe Attio creating or editing Outlook events.
- Sending has caps. Each mailbox sends at most 12 emails per hour and 200 per day. Free allows 200 emails a month and Plus 1,000. Attio advises against cold outreach, newsletters and transactional email.
- Account count depends on the plan. Free and Plus allow one synced account per member, Pro two, Enterprise any number.
- Record settings are not retroactive. Changing default record creation affects new data only. Suppressing addresses from record creation needs Pro or Enterprise.
Attio's Outlook connector reads a Microsoft 365 mailbox and calendar into Attio and sends email from Attio through that mailbox. It suits teams that want records built from real correspondence and no manual logging. Attio built the app, and it works on every plan, including Free.
The fact that surprises teams: only the Inbox and Sent folders sync. The Attio and Gmail connector syncs all emails that have not been deleted, so Outlook users get a narrower slice. Check Attio's pricing for the account and sending limits on your plan.
Only Inbox and Sent sync, and only from Microsoft 365
Attio supports Outlook accounts hosted by Microsoft 365. It does not support on-premise Exchange, third-party-hosted accounts or Microsoft 365 shared inboxes. Private calendar events stay out of Attio too.
Attio also keeps what it has already imported. An email deleted in Outlook stays in Attio until someone removes the mailbox. Plan for that if your team deletes sensitive threads.
The defaults decide what your team sees
After the first sync, Attio creates people and companies. The default is selective: a person appears only if you emailed them or had a meeting with them. Someone who only emailed you gets no record.
Companies come from non-public domains, so outlook.com and gmail.com addresses create none. Admins can change both settings under Workspace settings. The change applies to new data only.
Sharing has its own default. Teammates see participants, timestamps and subject lines, and Attio hides bodies. Each member sets this for their own mailbox, so decide a team baseline before everyone connects.
Sending runs through your Outlook account
Attio is not an email service provider. It sends through your synced Microsoft 365 account, so the message goes out under your address, with your aliases available. Attio spaces mass sends and sequence emails five minutes apart. A mailbox sends at most 12 emails an hour and 200 a day.
For open tracking, a Microsoft 365 admin must enable SMTP AUTH first. Tracking covers emails sent from Attio to one participant. It does not cover sequences.
If your mailbox is not on Microsoft 365, Attio cannot sync or send for it. Forwarding is the only route in the docs.