In the latest update of Dynamics 365 CRM (8.2.2.1458, May 2018), Microsoft has added a new capability to track emails, appointments, tasks…just by assigning them a special category (as shown in screenshot below):

You can track multiple records at once by assigning category “Tracked to Dynamics 365 CRM”. If you need to do “Set regarding”, then use dynamics 365 app for outlook.

This special category also helps in easy identification of tracked outlook items as shown below:

Please note that this feature is presently available only for CRM Online (v8.2) having server side sync enabled with exchange online. For more details refer Microsoft KB article Use Outlook category to track appointments and emails

To enable category based tracking, we can use Microsoft’s supported OrgDBOrgSettings tool. Refer instructions below:

[Correction: I was suggested a much easier approach to modify OrgDBOrgSettings from a web editor instead of command line tool (by Sean McNellis) …Download the managed solution from below link:
https://github.com/seanmcne/OrgDbOrgSettings/releases
Ignore below steps if using web editor approach…]

  1. Download OrgDBOrgSettings tool from below link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56131
    When downloading, only select CRM2016-Tools as shown in screenshot below: 
  2. Extract all files in a folder (try to create this folder in root directory for easy navigation when using command line)
  3. Modify the tool’s configuration file(.config) as shown below:
  4. Run the tool from command line console
  5. Enter below command:
    Microsoft.Crm.Se.OrgDbOrgSettingsTool.exe update /u ORGNAME TrackCategorizedItems True
    //Here ORGNAME is unique crm organiztion name
    Then enter password…You will receive “Update Successful message” as shown below:

After performing this update on your CRM organization, the special category “Tracked to Dynamics 365 CRM” should be available in Outlook for all users having server side synchronization enabled!

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