Onedrive Salesforce Integration: Enable Actionable File Management in 2 Easy Steps

Ensuring a seamless collaboration feature for Business Teams, OneDrive Salesforce Integration, specifically OneDrive for Business Salesforce Integration is definitely a prominent integration that centralises the Document and File Management for easy access and increased productivity.

When your Business employs Microsoft’s powerful tools such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access, OneDrive for Business allows for easy sharing and collaboration from any device. OneDrive Salesforce Integration connects OneDrive Cloud Storage to the World’s Best CRM using the Salesforce announced functionality Salesforce Files Connect, allowing access to files from inside your Dashboard.

Continue reading to discover more about OneDrive Salesforce Integration and how to achieve it using simple to follow steps. Here’s a brief overview to help you navigate:

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites for Configuring OneDrive Salesforce Integration
• Overview of Microsoft OneDrive for Business
  • Key Features and Benefits of Using Microsoft OneDrive for Business
    • Integrated Ecosystem
    • Collaboration On-The-Go
    • Enterprise-Grade Security
• Overview of Salesforce CRM
  • Key Features and Benefits of Using Salesforce
    • Provides a Bird’s-Eye View of the Entire Sales Pipeline
    • Salesforce AppExchange: The Powerful Integration Channel
    • Advanced Analytics Tools
• Guide to Configure OneDrive Salesforce Integration
  • Step 1: Enable Salesforce Files Connect for OneDrive Salesforce Integration
• Create an Authentication Provider for OneDrive for Business
  • Step 2: Create an Authentication Provider Using Placeholder Values
  • Step 3: Register an Office 365 App
  • Step 4: Edit the Authentication Provider in Salesforce
• Conclusion

Prerequisites for Configuring OneDrive Salesforce Integration

Any User or Business Team looking forward to OneDrive Salesforce Integration should have:

• A OneDrive Account
• A Salesforce Account (The user should have Salesforce Permissions to Customise Application and Manage Auth. Provider)

To get a token for the end-user, OneDrive Salesforce Integration uses the Salesforce OAuth 2.0 Authorization mechanism. This access can be removed at any moment by the Salesforce Admin or by disconnecting the account inside the system. We will link the OneDrive Business Account in the Salesforce CRM using the Salesforce Files Connect function.

Overview of Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Microsoft OneDrive is a Cloud Storage Solution for Companies, Teams, and Individuals. Users may use Microsoft OneDrive to save their everyday data and tools that they use to create, communicate, and collaborate from anywhere and on any device.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business as a shared Storage Service utilises the power of the Cloud to provide Business Users and Teams with access to the most critical and often used documents without the inconvenience of contacting or asking someone else. It comes with at least 1 TB of storage space, and Site Administrator access who can control what co-workers can do in the library. OneDrive for Business uses SharePoint to give each member of your Team a place to store documents and collaborate with others.

OneDrive also offers secure sharing of information with different control levels, i.e. with edit access, expiration date set for the links generated and password control. You can share your files with anyone or people in your Organisation or with specific people through the link settings. You can even set such security levels for files and subfolders within the drive as well.

Key Features and Benefits of Using Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Integrated Ecosystem

OneDrive integrates with a variety of other Microsoft Products, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams, and stores all of your files seamlessly from Office 365 or Microsoft Teams so all the users can have access from a single space. 

Apart from Microsoft Apps, OneDrive can also integrate with other SaaS Applications like Salesforce, 

Collaboration On-The-Go

Microsoft OneDrive can be accessed from any device whether you are using a PC or Mac or Phone. You can upload, and collaborate on files directly from your phone as well without having to use a Desktop Client every single time. 

Enterprise-Grade Security

Microsoft OneDrive uses SSL/TLS Connections for all to and from communications. All SSL connections are made with 2048-bit keys. As a result, your data is encrypted the whole time you view it to prevent unwanted access. 

When you’re not using your data, Microsoft implements encryption called ‘Encryption at Rest’ which includes BitLocker disk-level encryption and per-file encryption of Customer Content.

Overview of Salesforce CRM

Undoubtedly, the World’s #1 CRM needs no introduction. Salesforce is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that does not require the installation of Software or the use of a Server. Salesforce, founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez, now comprises over 150,000 Companies, including prominent data giants such as Coca-Cola, Facebook, Sony, Vodafone, and L’Oreal.

Salesforce CRM Application aids in the administration of Marketing Activities and integrates the Marketing Team with the Sales Management and Account Management Teams of the firm, ensuring that the whole Organisation is reaching out to Customers in a unified manner. Salesforce can manage your Contacts, monitor Opportunities, provide Custom Reports, automate Marketing Campaigns, and much more.

Along with the Customer Relationship Management Service, Salesforce also provides many other Salesforce Products like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Analytics, Process Automation, etc. (more details are covered later in this article). Salesforce ensures a personalized experience with its Customer 360 Platform. 

If you are a Small Business Owner and use Salesforce as your CRM Solution, you can explore our comprehensive guide on Salesforce for Small Business here.

Key Features and Benefits of Using Salesforce

Provides a Bird’s-Eye View of the Entire Sales Pipeline

Salesforce’s unique proposition comes from its ability to lay the entire Sales Pipeline into a single intuitive Dashboard. You can check on all aspects of your Sales Pipeline at one glance, from Customer Activity to Conversion Rates. Not only this, your Teams can also build Customised Reporting and Data Visualizations to view only the necessary details that matter.

Salesforce AppExchange: The Powerful Integration Channel

The Salesforce AppExchange is an ecosystem of over 5000 ready-to-install Apps that enable Organisations to increase Salesforce Capabilities throughout their Customer-facing Teams and Departments. All these supported Applications are carefully designed to integrate and help Businesses work smoothly over their Salesforce Platform without any hassle.

The only disadvantage Salesforce AppExchange has is that not all Apps are free. So, it’s recommended that you check User reviews and ratings before making a purchase.

Advanced Analytics Tools

Organizations may get useful insights through the Salesforce Platform’s simple functionality, and with the aid of Salesforce Einstein Analytics. Your Business can now empower Support Agents, Analysts, Marketers, and Sales Reps by simply allowing them to click on the visual interface and get insights rather than building Mathematical Models or Coding Algorithms.

Guide to OneDrive Salesforce Integration

In the following stages, we will install OneDrive Salesforce Integration by utilising the Salesforce Files Connect function. Although there are other options available in the Salesforce AppExchange through third-party Apps like XfilesPro: Advanced File Management & External Integration for Salesforce, these options are made available to users on pay per user basis.

Otherwise, if you are unsure of the security and have doubts about integrating third-party Apps for OneDrive Salesforce Integration, you can connect OneDrive as an External Data Source to your Salesforce CRM and access the same data within your CRM Module.

Here are the steps to configure OneDrive Salesforce Integration:

Step 1: Enable Salesforce Files Connect for OneDrive Salesforce Integration

Visit your Salesforce CRM Setup, and enter Files Connect in the Quick Find Box. Select Files Connect.

To modify the existing settings (if there is a need to), click Edit, and select Enable Files Connect. For File Sharing, select one of the following:

• Copy — stores a copy of external files in Salesforce. If files are shared with a Chatter group, all group members can access the files, even if they lack access to the external system.
• Reference — points to external files stored outside Salesforce. No file previews are available, and file downloads require user access to the external system. (Users must enter credentials for the system in the Authentication Settings for External Systems section of personal setup).

Quick Note: If your Company exchanges files with external Customers or Partners, choose a Copy mode. Select Reference mode to reflect access restrictions from an external system in Salesforce.

Create an Authentication Provider for OneDrive for Business

To leverage Microsoft’s Cloud-based External Data Sources, in our case OneDrive for Business, you must first build an Authentication Provider in Salesforce and then register that provider in an Office 365 Application.

Quick Note: To use and achieve OneDrive Salesforce Integration, Salesforce users will be required to possess “Customise Application” and “Manage Auth. Provider” User Permissions. 

Here is the action plan to achieve so:

Step 2: Create an Authentication Provider Using Placeholder Values

In your Salesforce Setup, find Auth. Providers under the Identity category. Under this tab, click on the New button to add Microsoft Service. 

Under the provider tab, select Microsoft Access Control Service. Here you’ll be asked about the following options:

• Name: Where you can enter the name you want to appear in Salesforce.
• URL Suffix: Where you can enter a suffix you want to appear at the end of the URL path. By default, the suffix reflects the Name entry.
• Consumer Key: Where you can enter a placeholder value.
• Consumer Secret: Where you can enter a placeholder value.
• Authorize Endpoint URL: Where you can enter a placeholder that begins with HTTPS.
• Token Endpoint URL: Where you can enter a placeholder that begins with HTTPS.
• Default Scopes: Optional or Leave empty.

After entering all the details, click on the Save button at the bottom of the Auth. Provider Page. Copy your Callback URL Entry and save it for later (this will be used for registering Office 365 App in our next step).

Step 3: Register an Office 365 App

Log in to your Office 365 Account as an Administrator and visit the following URL:

https://your company name-my.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/appregnew.aspx

Here you will be required to set the following options.

• Client Id:  Click Generate, and copy the generated value to a text file.
• Client Secret: Click Generate, and copy the generated value to a text file.
• Title: Here enter a name for the App.
• App Domain: Here enter the domain name of your Salesforce Org.
• Redirect URL: Here enter the Callback URL you copied when creating the Authentication Provider in Salesforce.

Create Create, when completed with setting the options. Now visit the following URL

https://your company name-my.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/appinv.aspx

And once again, set the following options:

• App Id: Input the Client Id you obtained from the previous step, then click Lookup.
• Title: Keep the default value.
• App Domain: Keep the default value.
• Redirect URL: Keep the default value.
• Permission Request XML: Here enter a string with this format:

<AppPermissionRequests>
 <AppPermissionRequest Scope="http://sharepoint/content/tenant" Right="[PLACEHOLDER]"/>
 <AppPermissionRequest Scope="http://sharepoint/social/tenant" Right="Read"/>
</AppPermissionRequests>

replacing [PLACEHOLDER] with one of these values:

• Read
• Write
• Manage
• FullControl

These are the permissions that an Add-In is permitted to do within the requested scope. OneDrive Salesforce Integration supports these four rights where you can:

Permission Level	Description
Read	View pages, list items and download documents.
Write/Contribute	View, add, update, and delete items in the existing lists and document libraries.
Design/Manage	View, add, update, delete, approve, and customize items or pages in the Web site.
Full Control	Allow full control of the scope.

More specific information pertaining to these rights can be found here in the official Microsoft Documentation.

Click Create at the end of this step to move on to the next step.

Under the same Salesforce Auth. Providers tab click on Edit beside the existing Authentication Provider which you created and change the following fields:

• Consumer Key: Input the Client ID you obtained from the previous steps.
• Consumer Secret: Input the Client Secret you obtained from the previous steps.
• Authorize Endpoint URL: Input the URL of the OAuthAuthorize.aspx page in Office 365. The URL format is as follows:

https://your company name-my.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/OauthAuthorize.aspx

• Token Endpoint URL: Here input the URL in the following format:

https://accounts.accesscontrol.windows.net/your company name.onmicrosoft.com/tokens/OAuth/2?resource=00000003-0000-0ff1-ce00-000000000000/your company name-my.sharepoint.com@your company name.onmicrosoft.com

Hit Save when finished. Your Authentication Provider is now ready to use.

Now, the OneDrive Salesforce Integration Configuration is complete. For using OneDrive as an External Data Source, you will be required to enable OneDrive for Business as an External Data Source from the Setup Menu.

Under the Setup Menu, find External Data Sources in the search, and set the following listed fields:

Field	Description
Label	Contains names that will be used to identify the Data Source displayed in the Salesforce CRM Interface.
Name	Unique Identifier is used to refer to this External Data Source definition through the API.
Type	Files Connect Microsoft OneDrive for Business.
Site URL	The URL of your OneDrive Business Site or Web App.
Exclude Other Site Collections	Enable if any users are currently allowed to access the root site collection.
Identity Type	The type of identification used to authenticate to an external data source. Select Per User if you want to need unique credentials for each user that accesses the Data Source. Select Named Principal to utilise the same set of credentials for all Salesforce users who access the Data Source.
Authentication Protocol	Select OAuth 2.0
Authentication Provider	Enter OneDrive for Business Authentication Provider
Scope	Optional
Start Authentication Flow on Save	Select to immediately test your settings or to create an external object for this external data source.

Now your Salesforce CRM is configured to harness the power of OneDrive Salesforce Integration by accessing all the available information on OneDrive from within the Salesforce CRM.

Conclusion

All in all, we saw OneDrive capability addition to Salesforce CRM, i.e. OneDrive Salesforce Integration and how you can achieve so, using the Salesforce Files Connect extension to use and deploy OneDrive for Business as an External Data Source. This OneDrive Salesforce Integration:

• Saves time by allowing Team Members to access OneDrive for Business files directly from Salesforce CRM.
• Allows access to the entirety of OneDrive without leaving your normal Workflow in Salesforce.

In reality, as an experienced or regular Salesforce CRM User, you are most likely dealing with a significant number of data sources, both internally and through external Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suppliers. Having all of this data in one place, such as a Data Warehouse, simplifies analysis and accelerates decision-making. This demands integration with all third-party Apps and Services.

When you work with Hevo, you get this superpower to load your aggregated Data from various SaaS Applications and CRMs such as Salesforce (Free Source Connector with Hevo), HubSpot, Zendesk to Data Warehouses like Snowflake, Amazon Redshift Google BigQuery in a completely hassle-free & automated manner. 

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