I started using CRM for Outlook, and now I get notified when my contacts have birthdays. Why does CRM do that?

First of all, CRM doesn’t do this. At least it’s not a direct feature. This is a great example of how CRM functionality can have indirect behavior due to the default actions of other applications. While CRM does not have a feature that notifies you of contact birthdays, Outlook does. It is called the “Birthday Calendar.”

Any contact in your Outlook contacts that has a value set for birthday will be displayed on the Outlook Birthday calendar. If you choose to display the birthday calendar, you will see contact birthdays on your calendar..

If a contact synchronizes with your Exchange contacts, and you keep the default field sync settings, your synchronized contact records in Outlook will contain the birthday of the contact. This will make the birthday calendar in Outlook notify you of your CRM contact’s birthdays.

If you don’t want to see these birthdays, you can turn off the birthday calendar in Outlook. But instead of being such a birthday hating grouch, maybe you should join the party and send them some cake.