How "Outlook Configuration" is different from "LEX for Outlook and sync"

Question

I am little confused...To sync salesforce and outlook we have 2 options

1)Use salesforce for outlook:- In this we can download "Salesforce for outlook" plugin and configure Syn settings using "Outlook Configurations".

2)Use Lightning For Outlook And Lightning Sync:-In this use "Lightning for Outlook" and set "Lightning Sync" settings

But what i don't understand is both of them are doing the same thing....Then what is different. And if they are same then which one to use when.

As far as i remember we can use Lightning for Outlook in Classic version too....So its not like lightning version is made only for LEX and older one is for classic.

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

The only reason why you'd want to use Salesforce for Outlook is if your current software (OS, mail client, server, etc) isn't supported in Lightning for Outlook. See Salesforce for Outlook System Requirements and Lightning for Outlook System Requirements for a comparison. Assuming you're using decently modern systems, you will want to use Lightning for Outlook. Basically, though they're essentially the same thing, Lightning for Outlook is newer and will be supported further in to the future than Salesforce for Outlook will (at least, based on experience with previous versions of this integration). Salesforce for Outlook is still supported, and can continue to be used by people already using it. That's why there are two different install packages and configuration options.