ExtendSync for Outlook sends search requests to NetSuite using the global search API, the same way you would search manually in the NetSuite UI.
The app then filters those results based on the record types you’ve configured in your ExtendSync settings.
If the expected results don’t appear, the issue is often related to search behavior, NetSuite configuration, or user permissions.
🧲 Common Question: Why Don’t Customer Records Return When a Contact Is Matched?
This is one of the most frequent questions from users and it has a simple technical explanation.
The Reason
NetSuite’s global search does not return parent records (like Customers) when searching by a contact’s email address.
You can confirm this by typing an email address directly into NetSuite’s global search. Only the contact record appears, not the customer.
The Good News
The good news is that anytime you save an email to a Contact and that Contact has a parent company associated with it (Customer, Prospect etc.) it will AUTOMATICALLY roll up to the parent level.
Example
You receive an email from justine.burdo@celigo.com and want to associate it with both the Contact and Customer records.
You click Suggest Related Records.
ExtendSync auto-fetches the Contact record but not the Customer record.
When you save the email to the Contact, ExtendSync automatically rolls it up to the Customer record.
✅ Result: No need to manually search for the Customer.
This is a major time saver! ⏰
Other troubleshooting steps
Try the following steps below.
Log Out and Log Back In
Go to Menu → Log Out, then sign back in.
When logging back in be sure to choose a role that has access to the records you are searching for.
Also cross-check that you are logging into the proper account (sandbox, production, etc.)
Verify Access in NetSuite
Before troubleshooting in ExtendSync, confirm your role can see the records directly in NetSuite:
Log in to NetSuite.
Use the Global Search bar (search by email address, transaction title, or document number).
If you can see the record there, you should be able to see it in ExtendSync as well.
If it’s missing in NetSuite, your role likely lacks access to that record type.
Check Your Auto-Fetch Configuration
ExtendSync filters global search results to show only the record types you’ve selected in your settings.
Go to Menu → Settings → Configure Records Filter, and confirm that the desired record types are checked.
Too Many Records Returned
There may be too many records being returned in the results to be efficiently passed back to ExtendSync.
If your search term is too broad (e.g., Smith), the global search may return too many results to efficiently process in ExtendSync.
Solution:
Enable the Search by Prefix feature to narrow results and improve performance.
“Show Individuals as Contacts” Setting
If your organization creates Customers, Contacts, or Partners as Individuals and has the setting Show Individuals as Contacts enabled in NetSuite (Home → General Preferences), ExtendSync will only display the Contact record in auto-search results.
The technical reason for this is that both records (the contact and the partner/vendor/customer) share the same internal ID and are really the same record.
Don't worry though, because the records are actually the same any emails saved to the contact will also appear on the other record as well.
Searching by Transaction Number
If you’re searching by a known NetSuite transaction number and no results are returned, check with your admin to see if the following feature is enabled:
When enabled, NetSuite limits searches so that only document numbers are valid search terms.
If you’re searching by anything else (e.g., name or subject), results will not appear.