Editor’s note: I originally published this post in August 2019. It’s been rewritten top to bottom for November 2026, because almost everything in the original has changed. The 44 comments are still below, and they’re a fun time capsule.
Ah, the good old email and calendar integration discussion. Back in 2019, I compared Lightning Sync and Einstein Activity Capture (EAC) and landed on a verdict that got a lot of comments: I’d choose Lightning Sync, despite EAC’s shiny features.
My reason was simple. EAC stored your emails and events outside of Salesforce. You couldn’t report on them, and if you ever turned EAC off, all of that activity vanished from the timeline. That was a deal breaker for most of my clients.
Seven years later, that verdict has flipped, for two reasons:
- Lightning Sync is retiring on April 1, 2027. This isn’t a choice anymore. It’s a migration.
- EAC fixed my biggest complaint. Captured emails and events now land in Salesforce as standard activity records you can report on and automate against.
So this isn’t really a “versus” post anymore. It’s a “here’s where things stand, here’s what changed, and here’s what to watch out for” post. Let’s dig in.
Where Things Stand in 2026
If you only read one section, read this one. Here are the dates that matter, newest first:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| December 2027 | Salesforce for Outlook (the old desktop plugin) fully retires, after being pushed back from June 2024 |
| April 1, 2027 | Lightning Sync retires for everyone, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace alike. Microsoft also permanently removes Exchange Web Services (EWS) the same day |
| Spring ’27 (Feb 2027) | EAC’s legacy Activity Metrics, Activities Dashboard, Recommended Connections, and Activity 360 reports retire |
| October 1, 2026 | Microsoft started blocking EWS in Exchange Online by default. Any Lightning Sync or EAC connection still on EWS needed to be on Microsoft Graph by now |
| Spring ’26 | Sync Email as Salesforce Activity turns on automatically for new EAC orgs and existing orgs that hadn’t switched |
| Summer ’25 | EAC introduces Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, writing captured emails into standard Salesforce records |
| Winter ’21 (late 2020) | Lightning Sync no longer available to new customers |
If you’re on Microsoft 365 and your Lightning Sync is still on EWS, stop reading and go check your sync. As of October 2026, it’s likely already broken unless your Microsoft team set up a temporary EWS allowlist. You’ll find the connection method under Setup → Outlook Integration and Sync.
The Salesforce Lineup Today
The names have changed (of course), so here’s a quick refresher on the Salesforce-native options:
- Outlook Integration and Gmail Integration (formerly Lightning for Outlook/Gmail). Included with your licenses. A side panel inside the inbox where users manually log emails and view or create records. Still customizable with the Lightning App Builder, which I still love.
- Salesforce Inbox. A paid add-on to the Outlook and Gmail integration that layers productivity features (email tracking, send later, templates, meeting scheduling) on top of those integrations. The standalone Inbox mobile app is gone, but Inbox features live on inside Outlook and Gmail.
- Einstein Activity Capture. Automatically captures emails, events, and contacts in the background. This is now Salesforce’s long-term answer for sync.
- Lightning Sync. Background contact and calendar sync. Retiring April 1, 2027.
- Salesforce for Outlook. The plugin that inspired many #WhySFDCAdminsDrink tweets. Retiring December 2027. If you’re somehow still running it, that’s a separate (and overdue) project.
Lightning Sync: A Farewell
Lightning Sync was a quiet workhorse. No UI, no plugin, just contacts and calendar events syncing between Exchange or Google and Salesforce in the background. After the Salesforce for Outlook years, that felt like magic!
But it also never got much love. Salesforce stopped selling it to new customers in Winter ’21, and it hasn’t seen meaningful enhancements since. It also never captured emails; that was always a job for the Outlook or Gmail integration.
Now it’s on the active retirements list with a hard date of April 1, 2027.
If you’re still on it, you have two jobs, and the order matters:
- Keep it alive. If you’re on Microsoft 365 and still on EWS, upgrade the Lightning Sync connection to Microsoft Graph in Setup. It’s an org-wide change, and users don’t have to do anything.
- Get off it. The Graph upgrade only buys you time until April. The real fix is moving to EAC (checklist below).
Google Workspace orgs dodge the EWS mess entirely, but the April 2027 date still applies to you.
Einstein Activity Capture in 2026: What Changed
EAC still does what it always did: users connect their Microsoft 365 or Google account, and emails, events, and contacts get captured automatically and shown on the Activity Timeline. Nobody has to click “log email.”
What changed is where that data lives and how much control admins have. Summer ’25 was a big release for EAC, and Spring ’26 made those changes the default.
Emails Are Now Real Salesforce Records
This is the big one. With Sync Email as Salesforce Activity, each captured email is written as a standard EmailMessage record with an associated Task. Events and contacts sync as standard records too.
That means everything I complained about in 2019 is fixed:
- Standard reports work. Activity report types and any custom report types you’ve built on Email Message now include EAC emails.
- Automation works. Flows can trigger off captured activity.
- Turning EAC off doesn’t make history disappear from the timeline the way it did with the old external store.
- Sharing is standard. Captured activities follow your normal activity sharing rules instead of EAC’s separate email-sharing settings.
Salesforce auto-enabled this setting in Spring ’26 for new EAC orgs and existing orgs that hadn’t switched yet, and older orgs have been getting auto migration notices.
Record Matching Runs Through Flow
EAC’s matching logic used to be a black box. Now it runs through an out-of-the-box flow (“Activities: Match Email to Records”) that matches Leads and Contacts first, then Accounts and Opportunities. You can customize it, including how Partner Accounts are identified. As an admin, this is my favorite change!
Better Privacy Controls
Header-only capture logs that an email happened (who, when) without storing the subject or body. It shows on the timeline as “[No subject].” You can also exclude certain email types, like out-of-office replies, from capture.
Microsoft Graph Instead of EWS
New Microsoft 365 connections have used Microsoft Graph since Spring ’26. Older EAC connections had to be upgraded by October 1, 2026, and the upgrade can’t be rolled back.
Still Around: Email Insights
Einstein Email Insights still highlights things like commitments made in an email, and you can create up to 10 custom insights based on keywords. Those insights are now reportable through a custom report type, though the fields are basic.
The New Considerations
With all of that great news, it feels like the shoe has to drop somewhere! It turns out there’s always a catch. The old EAC considerations are mostly gone, but solving them created a new set you need to plan for.
Data Storage
This is the one that’s surprising mature orgs. Captured emails used to sit on Salesforce’s infrastructure outside your org, so they cost you nothing in storage. Now every synced email is an EmailMessage plus a Task, and both count against your data storage limit. Orgs that coasted along for years are suddenly bumping into their ceiling.
Check Storage Usage in Setup before you migrate, and have an archive or deletion plan ready.
Activity Clutter
Every reply becomes its own activity, which can crowd the activity timeline and related lists. Admins on Reddit have been grumbling about this since the migration wave hit. Good list views, timeline filters, and Excluded Addresses help.
Historical Data From Before the Switch
Emails captured under the old architecture may still live in EAC’s separate store under its retention window, rather than as native records. Salesforce has said a migration path is in the works. Until then, don’t assume your pre-switch history is reportable.
Legacy EAC Features are Retiring
Salesforce is retiring Activity Metrics, the Activities Dashboard, Recommended Connections, and Activity 360 reports, with Spring ’27 (February 2027) on the retirements list. The Activities Dashboard’s historical data isn’t preserved. If leadership opens one of these every Monday, rebuild it now with standard Activity report types and dashboards.
Remember the “cooler benefits” I gushed about in 2019 (Activity Metrics, Recommended Connections, the Activities Dashboard)? Yep. Those are the ones going away. Native reporting replaces them, and honestly, that’s a better trade.
Licensing and Retention
- EAC Standard is included with Sales Cloud Starter, Pro Suite, Professional, and Enterprise, for up to 100 users, with a shorter retention window (commonly cited as 6 months for data in EAC’s store).
- Full EAC comes with Unlimited and higher editions, or through add-ons like Sales Engagement. Retention defaults to 24 months and can be extended.
- Every EAC user needs both a permission set license and membership in an active EAC configuration. Salesforce started enforcing the configuration requirement in May 2026.
If you’re on Enterprise with more than 100 people who need sync, budget for that conversation with your AE early.
Recurring Events
This was a sore spot in 2019 for both tools. Test recurring meetings carefully in a sandbox before cutover, because some migration guides still flag recurring events as not syncing in EAC.
2019 vs 2026 at a Glance
| Lightning Sync | EAC in 2019 | EAC in 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Retiring April 1, 2027 | New and heavily pushed | Salesforce’s long-term sync product |
| Syncs contacts and events | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Captures emails | No | Yes | Yes |
| Where emails are stored | n/a | Outside Salesforce | Standard EmailMessage + Task records |
| Standard reports and Flow | Events only | No | Yes |
| History survives turning it off | Yes | No | Yes, for records synced as activities |
| Record matching | Email address match to Leads/Contacts | Black box | Customizable Flow |
| Counts against data storage | Events only | No | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 connection | EWS (Graph upgrade available) | EWS | Microsoft Graph |
| Built-in analytics | None | Activities Dashboard, Activity Metrics | Standard reports (legacy analytics retiring) |
Your Migration Checklist
If you’re still on Lightning Sync, here’s the path Salesforce lays out, plus a few things I’d add from experience:
- Inventory. Document every Lightning Sync configuration, the users in it, sync directions, and filters. Note whether you’re on EWS or Graph.
- Check storage. Pull your Storage Usage numbers and estimate email volume per user. Get your archive plan approved before go-live, not after.
- Bring IT in early. Graph needs admin consent in Microsoft 365, and conditional access policies can quietly block a chunk of users.
- Build in a sandbox. Set up EAC, run the Lightning Sync migration tool in Setup, and review what carries over and what doesn’t.
- Customize matching. Review the “Activities: Match Email to Records” flow against how your team actually works (multiple open opportunities per contact is the classic headache).
- Assign licenses and configurations. Every user needs the right EAC permission set license and must belong to an active configuration.
- Rebuild reporting. Replace anything built on Activity Metrics, the Activities Dashboard, or Activity 360 with standard Activity reports and dashboards.
- Communicate. Tell users what changes, what stays the same, and what they need to do (for example, reconnecting their account if you use user-level authentication).
- Cut over and turn off Lightning Sync. Then confirm the EAC connection is on Microsoft Graph.
And don’t forget the compliance question I mentioned in the 2019 comments: decide what your system of record for email really is. If you already have an archiving tool like Smarsh capturing everything, Salesforce doesn’t need to be your 10-year email vault.
The Verdict (Updated)
In 2019, I said I’d pick Lightning Sync over EAC regardless of the benefits. In 2026, I’m officially eating those words, and they taste better than I expected.
The reason I avoided EAC was that your activity data didn’t really belong to your org. That’s no longer true. Captured emails are now native records you can report on, automate against, and keep. Add a Flow-based matching engine and real privacy controls, and EAC is the tool I wish we’d had back then.
It isn’t free of trade-offs. Storage, timeline clutter, licensing caps, and the retiring dashboards all need a plan. But those are the kind of problems admins know how to solve.
One more thing to keep an eye on: with Salesforce’s acquisition of Momentum, we’ll have to see how long EAC remains the preferred integration method. Momentum is already being built into Sales Cloud, so perhaps it will run as a paid or premium option alongside EAC.
And with Lightning Sync retiring on April 1, 2027, the decision has been made for you anyway. The only question left is whether you migrate on your schedule or Microsoft’s.
Where are you in the move to EAC? Did storage bite you, or did the Flow matching save the day? Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear how it’s going.
Sources
- Salesforce Active Product & Feature Retirements
- Upgrade Lightning Sync from EWS to Microsoft Graph (Salesforce Help)
- Retirement of EAC Activity Metrics, Activities Dashboard, Recommended Connections, and Activity 360 Reports (Salesforce Help)
- Activity 360 Reporting, Activity Metrics, Activities Dashboard Upcoming Retirement (Salesforce Help)
- Einstein Activity Capture and Microsoft Graph API (Salesforce Help)
- Ultimate Guide to Einstein Activity Capture (Salesforce Ben)
- Salesforce for Outlook Getting Started Guide (Salesforce)
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