Outlook Synchronization powered by Implicit Sync - Overview

Once your Outlook sync plugin is installed and running, you can easily sync your contacts, meetings, tasks, and emails between Outlook and BigContacts. This guide walks you through how syncing works after setup—so you know what to expect and how to make the most of it.

If you're still installing the plugin, we recommend starting with our Outlook Sync Setup Guide first.

How Does BigContacts Synchronize with Outlook?

Your BigContacts admin sets the sync preferences during plugin setup. These preferences determine whether each user syncs:

• All contacts, meetings, and tasks
• Or only those that are assigned specifically to them

Once set, the sync runs quietly in the background—no ongoing configuration needed from your side unless you want to make changes.

Syncing Contacts

Adding a contact in BigContacts

Adding or updating a contact in BigContacts syncs automatically to Outlook based on your assigned sync rules. You don’t need to do anything extra—it just works.

Adding a contact in Outlook

If you're creating a new contact in Outlook and want it to sync with BigContacts, there’s one small step:

1. Create the contact as usual in Outlook
2. Click the “Sync Categories” button (this button appears after plugin installation)
3. A small window will pop up—confirm that you want this contact to sync

You only need to do this once per contact. After that, the contact stays in sync automatically.

Syncing Calendar Events

Creating a meeting in BigContacts

Any meeting scheduled in BigContacts is automatically added to your Outlook calendar. No extra steps are needed.

Creating a meeting in Outlook

Outlook doesn’t naturally associate calendar events with contacts. But the plugin helps you work around that.

To link a meeting to a contact in BigContacts:

1. Create the meeting as usual in Outlook
2. After saving, click the “Sync Categories” button
3. When the window opens, select the contact this meeting should be linked to

That’s it. The plugin will sync the meeting and attach it to the correct contact in BigContacts.

Syncing Tasks

Creating a task in BigContacts

Tasks created in BigContacts sync automatically to Outlook, just like meetings. There’s nothing else you need to do.

Creating a task in Outlook

Just like meetings, Outlook tasks don’t support contact linking by default. The plugin helps bridge that gap.

To make sure your task links to the right contact:

1. Create the task normally in Outlook
2. Click the “Sync Categories” button
3. Choose the contact this task should be associated with

Once saved, that task will appear in both systems and stay linked to the right contact.

Syncing Emails

BigContacts includes a feature called Custom Email that captures and stores email communications in your contact records.

You can use this feature in two ways:

1. Automatic capture using Custom Email

If you've set up email forwarding to your unique BigContacts Custom Email address, incoming emails will be stored in the matching contact’s history. This only needs to be set up once and then works in the background.

If you haven’t done this yet, you can find instructions here: Capture Emails with Custom Email

2. Manual capture from Outlook

If you prefer to pick and choose which emails to store—or haven’t set up automatic capture—you can upload emails manually:

1. Right-click the email you want to store in Outlook
2. Choose “Upload Email”
3. Select the contact record it belongs to
4. Click to confirm

You can upload multiple emails at once if needed. This is especially helpful for saving important messages without cluttering every contact's history.

Summary: What Syncs and How

If you're ever unsure whether your sync is working as expected—or if you just want someone to walk through it with you—feel free to reach out to our support team. We're happy to help.

Contact Support: support@bigcontacts.com