Microsoft 365 Integration

Introduction

3CX integrates with Microsoft 365 to provide the following functionality:

• Sync user accounts from Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory (Local Active Directory synced to the cloud using Azure Connect).
• Allow users to use their Microsoft Account to log in to the 3CX Web Client.
• Users' personal contacts are synced with the 3CX personal phonebook.
• Shared mailbox contacts are synced with the 3CX Company directory.
• 3CX Profile status is changed based on the Microsoft Calendar, i.e. if you are in a meeting your status will be set to busy.
• Requires Microsoft 365 Accounts with Exchange subscription plan:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium
• Microsoft 365 F3, E3 or E5

Teams integration

In addition to the above, the 3CX Enterprise Edition for 16 sim calls and above offers Teams Direct Routing integration:

• Allows Teams users to be called by 3CX users and teams users to make outbound calls via 3CX;
• Requires Microsoft 365 E5 subscription plan or Microsoft Teams + Microsoft Phone System (add-on) for those teams users that wish to call or be called.
• See the guide on how to configure 3CX with Microsoft Teams.

Non-Microsoft 365 users (Local Active Directory)

If you do not have Microsoft 365 but just “local” Active Directory, you can still sync those users with 3CX and enable SSO for them. To do this:

1. If you are using a private active directory domain suffix (e.g. contoso.local), assign a public domain (e.g. contoso.com) and set it as an alternative UPN.
2. Create an Azure Account and create an Azure tenant (here’s how). Assign the public domain you used as UPN to this Azure tenant.
3. Sync your users to your new Azure tenant using the Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect tool.
4. You can now proceed to step 1 of this guide to configure User synchronization and SSO. You don’t need Microsoft 365 accounts nor the 3CX PRO Edition.

See a detailed guide on how to configure Active Directory in the cloud with 3CX here.

Step 1: Configure Microsoft 365 Access

In this step you need to configure your Microsoft 365 account to allow synchronization with 3CX. To do this:

1. Login to the 3CX Management Console and navigate to “Settings > Microsoft 365”.
2. Click on “Click here to provision Microsoft 365 access.” You will be redirected to the integrations.3cx.com.
3. Login with your Azure admin account to authenticate the app creation on Microsoft 365.

4. Select all needed permissions according to the features you want to use and click “Connect”.

5. Once you Connect and login, the 3CX MS 365 Wizard will open. “Consent” to the permissions requested by the app and click “Accept”.
6. After app creation is completed, you will be presented with the following message.

7. Click “Back” to navigate back to the Management Console. Verify that no errors are shown and click “OK” to complete the process.
8. Now the synchronization has been setup and you can proceed to configure user, contacts and calendar sync.

Step 2: Configure User Sync

Now you need to synchronize the users from Microsoft to 3CX:

1. In the 3CX Management Console, go to “Settings > Integrations > Microsoft 365”.
2. Set the extension number range to be assigned to Microsoft users. You can configure a starting extension, otherwise, it will use the first available extension.
3. The synchronization is one-way (MS365 to 3CX) and happens every night (once per day). If you have not deleted the user in MS 365 it will reappear in 3CX the next day.
4. You can select Microsoft “Office phone” to be the “Outbound Caller ID” for the extension in 3CX.
5. You can sync Microsoft 365 user photo to 3CX to show the photo as an avatar in the apps and in the web client.

Step 3: Configure SSO

With SSO, users can log in to the 3CX Web Client using their Microsoft credentials.

Step 4: Configure Contact Sync

You can have personal 365 contacts synced to the 3CX personal phonebook. This is a one-way synchronization: Contacts need to be managed and updated from Microsoft 365. You can do the same for Microsoft 365 shared mailbox(es) contacts and sync these to the 3CX Company phonebook. All contacts in “Well Known Folders” (Default) folders are synced.

Step 5: Configure Calendar Sync

You can automatically update 3CX users’ status based on the "Show As" status in their Microsoft 365 calendar entries. So if you are in a scheduled meeting, your phone will not ring. At the end of the Microsoft 365 calendar entry, 3CX switches the profile back to the previous status. If a 3CX “Business Trip/Holiday” profile is selected, changes from calendar information are ignored.

The mapping of “Show As” to 3CX Profiles is as follows:

• “Busy” or “Working Elsewhere”        → “Do Not Disturb”
• “Out of office” or “Away”                 → “Away”

See Also

• See how to integrate 3CX with the CRM API
• Configure 3CX with Microsoft Teams Business Voice

Last Updated
This document was last updated on 23 September 2023
https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/microsoft-365-v18/