Salesforce OAuth Authentication for XpressDox Data Sources

XpressDox now supports OAuth authentication for Salesforce data sources. This article walks through the configuration required on both the Salesforce side and within XpressDox to enable this.

Step 1: Salesforce App Configuration

In Salesforce, navigate to Setup → Platform Tools → Apps → External Client Apps → External Client App Manager and click New External Client App in the top right corner.

Fill in the required fields under Basic Information, including the External Client App Name, API Name, and Contact Email.

Scroll down to the API (Enable OAuth Settings) section and configure the following:

• Tick the Enable OAuth checkbox
• Set the Callback URL to:

  https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/success

• Under OAuth Scopes, add Manage user data via APIs to the selected scopes
• Under Flow Enablement, tick Enable Client Credentials Flow
• Click Create

On the next screen, go to the Policies tab and click Edit. Under OAuth Policies → Plugin Policies, set the OAuth Start URL to your Salesforce organisation URL.

Save your changes. Then navigate to the Policies tab, scroll to OAuth Flows and External Client App Enhancements, ensure Enable Client Credentials Flow is ticked, and enter the email address of the user account under which the API will be called in the Run As (Username) field and Save.

Next, go to the Settings tab and click the Consumer Key and Secret button. Copy both values to a safe location (you will need these in Step 2).

Step 2: XpressDox Configuration

Using the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret copied in Step 1, prepare a new connection string for your Salesforce data source in the following format:

client_id=<Consumer Key>;client_secret=<Consumer Secret>;tokenurl=https://<YOUR-ORG>.my.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/token;Tls=1.2

Note: Replace <Consumer Key>, <Consumer Secret>, and <YOUR-ORG> with your actual values.

In Microsoft Word, open the Configuration screen and navigate to the Data Sources tab. Select your Salesforce data source and click Use Data Source’s Editor.

In the editor, ensure SalesForce.com is selected as the Connection Type, then replace the existing connection string with the new one prepared above and click Save.

To verify the configuration, use the Verify button in the Configuration screen. If set up correctly, your Salesforce data will be returned successfully.