Odoo CRM Community Edition Features 2025

Odoo CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in the Community Edition is a powerful, open-source solution that helps businesses manage leads, opportunities, customers, and sales pipelines efficiently.
Although it lacks all the premium features of the Enterprise version, the Community CRM is still powerful and practical, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

1. Lead Management

Lead Management is a fundamental feature of the Odoo CRM Community Edition, allowing businesses to organize, track, and nurture potential customer inquiries from the initial point of contact until qualification.

1.1. Lead Creation

• Manual Entry: Sales teams can manually create leads with all relevant details like customer name, email, phone number, company name, source, etc.
• Website Forms: Leads can be automatically created from inquiries submitted through integrated website forms.
• Email-to-Lead: Incoming emails can be configured to automatically generate new leads using the catch-all email feature.

1.2. Lead Assignment

• Assign leads manually or set rules to auto-assign leads to specific salespeople or sales teams.
• Assignment can be based on geographical location, industry, language, or other custom criteria.

1.3. Lead Tracking and History

• Odoo maintains a full activity log for every lead, including all communications like emails, meetings, and calls.
• Salespersons can track all interactions directly from the lead form.
• Easily identify the next steps and follow-up actions.

1.4. Lead Prioritization

• Leads can be prioritized manually by the sales team.
• Set priority flags (e.g., Low, Medium, High) to focus on more promising prospects first.
• Leads can also be ranked based on expected revenue, closing probability, or source quality.

1.5. Lead Qualification

• Once a lead is engaged and shows potential, it can be converted into an opportunity.
• During conversion, sales teams can choose to:
• Link the lead to an existing customer.
• Create a new customer record.
• Merge with an existing opportunity if relevant.

1.6. Lead Segmentation

• Leads can be tagged for better segmentation (e.g., industry type, product interest, geographical area).
• This enables targeted marketing campaigns or personalized sales approaches.

1.7. Communication and Follow-Up

• Send emails, schedule meetings, and log calls directly from the lead form.
• Salespeople are reminded about follow-up activities through Odoo’s Activity Scheduling feature.
• Communication history stays attached to the lead, ensuring continuity if the salesperson changes.

1.8. Customizable Fields

• The lead form can be customized to add specific fields required for your business (like product of interest, lead source details, campaign names, etc.).
• No technical coding is needed to add basic custom fields.

1.9. Duplicate Detection

• Basic duplicate detection is available to prevent creating multiple records for the same lead.

1.10. Lead Analysis and Reporting

• Generate simple reports to analyze:
• Number of leads generated.
• Conversion rates.
• Source performance (which marketing channels bring the most leads).

2. Opportunity Management

Opportunity Management in Odoo CRM Community Edition is designed to help businesses track qualified leads (opportunities), manage their sales pipeline visually, and move deals forward through defined stages—until they are either won or lost.

An opportunity in Odoo CRM is a qualified sales lead that has a higher chance of conversion. It contains all essential sales information such as the potential customer's details, expected revenue, probability of closing, associated salesperson, and planned activities.

2.1. Sales Pipeline (Kanban View)

• Opportunities are displayed in a drag-and-drop Kanban view.
• Each column represents a stage of the sales process (e.g., New, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, Won).
• Salespeople can move opportunities between stages to reflect progress in the deal.

2.2. Customizable Stages

• You can create and name your own sales stages to match your workflow.
• Define specific stage order, colors, and probability of success for each stage.
• Set stage-specific actions like scheduling a follow-up or marking lost reasons.

2.3. Opportunity Form View

• Each opportunity has a detailed form containing:
• Customer/company details
• Contact person
• Expected revenue
• Closing date
• Salesperson/team
• Communication history
• Linked activities and tasks
• Users can also add tags and notes for better segmentation and internal reference.

2.4. Activity Scheduling

• Plan activities such as:
• Calls
• Meetings
• Emails
• To-dos
• Schedule follow-up actions directly within the opportunity.
• Set deadlines and get reminders to stay on track with each opportunity.

2.5. Internal Communication 

• Every opportunity has a Chatter section for internal notes, discussions, and automated logs.
• Records all interactions such as emails sent, status changes, and activity updates.

2.6. Lost & Won Opportunities

• Mark an opportunity as won when the deal is closed successfully.
• Mark it as lost if the deal doesn’t go through, and select a Lost Reason (e.g., price, competitor, budget).
• These reasons help in future analysis and performance improvement.

2.7. Merge Opportunities

• If duplicate opportunities exist for the same client, they can be merged.
• Prevents clutter and helps focus on the most relevant deal.

2.8. Opportunity Conversion

• Opportunities can be converted into quotations or sales orders if integrated with the Odoo Sales module (also available in the Community).
• This allows for a seamless transition from sales tracking to actual order processing.

2.9. Filtering & Grouping

• Filter opportunities based on:
• Salesperson
• Team
• Stage
• Expected closing date
• Tags
• Group opportunities by customer, stage, country, or any custom field.
• Enables quick insights and performance monitoring.

2.10. Reporting & Analysis

• Generate reports to analyze:
• Pipeline by stage or value
• Monthly deal closures
• Sales team performance
• Win/loss ratio
• Reports are available in graph, pivot, and list views.

3. Customer Management

Customer Management in Odoo CRM Community Edition is built around the Contacts module, which is fully integrated with the CRM app. It helps businesses manage customer data efficiently, maintain customer history, and ensure every contact or company is well-documented and accessible.

Customer Management involves the storage, organization, and retrieval of information related to your clients, leads, vendors, and other business partners. In Odoo CRM Community Edition, this is handled through the Contacts module, which works seamlessly with CRM and Sales.

3.1. Centralized Contact Database

• All customer and lead data is stored in a centralized contacts directory.
• Each record contains essential information such as:
• Name (individual or company)
• Email, phone, mobile
• Billing/shipping addresses
• Job title and department (for individuals)
• Website and social media
• Tax information (e.g., VAT, TIN if needed)
• Data can be viewed and updated by salespeople or CRM users.

3.2. Companies and Individuals

• Manage companies and their associated contacts separately:
• Example: A company (e.g., XYZ Ltd.) can have multiple individual contacts (e.g., CEO, Sales Manager, Accountant).
• This B2B/B2C separation allows structured customer relationships.

3.3. Customer Segmentation

• Use tags to segment and group customers:
• Example: VIP, Wholesale, Retail, Repeat Buyer, Region-based (e.g., UK, EU, USA)
• Segmentation helps in targeted campaigns and personalized interactions.

3.4. CRM Integration

• When a lead is converted to an opportunity and then won, a customer record is automatically created in the Contacts module.
• The contact record is linked to all related opportunities, activities, emails, and sales orders.

3.5. Communication History

• View the complete interaction log with any customer:
• Emails sent/received
• Meetings held
• Calls made
• Opportunities and sales linked to that customer
• All of this is visible through the Chatter on the contact form.

3.6. Internal Notes and Files

• Add internal notes about customer preferences, history, or requirements.
• Upload and attach documents such as contracts, proposals, or compliance forms.

3.7. Custom Fields and Layouts

• Users can add custom fields (e.g., industry, budget, preferred language) to contact forms.
• No need for coding—customization is available from the UI using developer mode.

3.8. Customer Hierarchies

• Define parent-child relationships:
• Useful for franchises, subsidiaries, or company branches.
• Example: Global Corp (parent company) > Global Corp UK Branch (child).

3.9. Sales and Accounting Integration

• The same contact record is used across Sales, Invoicing, and CRM modules.
• Ensures a single source of truth across departments.

3.10. Filtering & Search

• Filter customers by:
• Country, tags, salesperson, company size, last activity date, etc.
• Use advanced search to find customers based on specific criteria.

4. Sales Team Management

Odoo CRM Community Edition allows businesses to organize their sales process by teams, giving structure to how leads and opportunities are assigned and managed. This ensures clarity in responsibility and enables performance tracking within defined groups of users.

4.1. Sales Team Creation

• Sales managers can create and configure multiple sales teams (e.g., Regional Sales, Online Sales, Key Accounts).
• Each team is assigned a team leader and includes individual team members.

4.2. User Role Management

• Salesperson Roles: Assign users to specific teams based on their roles and responsibilities.
• Team Leader Privileges: Team leaders have visibility into the performance of their team members and can manage opportunities across the team.

4.3. Team Assignment for Leads/Opportunities

• Assign specific sales teams to incoming leads or opportunities.
• Team assignments can be made manually or based on filters such as regions, customer types, or source channels.

4.4. Pipeline Segregation

• Sales teams have independent pipelines, allowing team members to focus on their specific opportunities without interference.
• Team-specific Kanban views show the stages of opportunities assigned to that team.

4.5. Performance Monitoring

• Sales managers can track team progress through:
• Opportunity counts.
• Expected revenues.
• Won/lost deals.
• Filtering opportunities by team or individual.

4.6. Access Control

• Access to opportunities and leads is restricted to the assigned sales team members.
• This ensures data privacy and avoids overlaps between teams.

4.7. Team Communication

• Chatter allows team members to communicate within each lead or opportunity, ensuring seamless collaboration.

5. Activity Scheduling & Follow-Up

Activity Scheduling is a built-in feature in Odoo CRM Community Edition that helps sales teams organize and manage tasks like follow-up calls, meetings, emails, and to-dos. It ensures that every opportunity and lead progresses without being forgotten.

5.1. Activity Types

Odoo allows you to schedule different types of activities linked to a lead, opportunity, or customer record.

Default types include:

• Call
• Meeting
• Email
• To-do

5.2. Scheduling Activities

Salespeople can schedule activities directly from a record (lead/opportunity) using the clock icon or the "Schedule Activity" button.

• Set the activity type (e.g., Call)
• Assign a due date
• Add an optional summary or note
• Choose the responsible user

This keeps the workflow organized and ensures someone is always accountable for the next action.

5.3. Chained Activities

While the Community Edition doesn’t support automated activity suggestions (an Enterprise feature), users can manually schedule multiple follow-ups in sequence, helping them maintain a structured communication plan.

5.4. My Activities View

Users can view and manage their scheduled actions from the "My Activities" dashboard:

CRM → My Activities

This section provides a clear list of:

• Upcoming tasks
• Overdue follow-ups
• Completed interactions

Salespeople can filter by due date, activity type, and related records to prioritize their day.

5.5. Marking as Done or Postponing

Each activity can be:

• Marked as done
• Logged with a note
• Postponed to a future date with one click

This keeps the history of all interactions visible in the Chatter (message log) of the related record.

5.6. Notifications & Reminders

• Odoo shows visual reminders on records with pending or overdue activities.
• Colour indicators:
• Red: Overdue
• Green: Today
• Grey: Future

5.7. Calendar Integration

Scheduled meetings automatically appear in the Calendar view if the Calendar module is installed.

6. Email Integration

Email Integration in Odoo CRM Community Edition allows businesses to send, receive, and track email communications directly from within the CRM interface. Though more basic than in the Enterprise version, it is functional, reliable, and sufficient for managing client communication in most small-to-medium sales environments.

6.1. Send Emails from CRM Records

Users can send emails directly from any lead, opportunity, or customer contact using the Chatter section on the form.

6.2. Incoming Email (Lead Creation via Email Alias)

Odoo can automatically create leads from incoming emails using email aliases:

• Set up an alias like sales@yourcompany.com.
• Link it to the CRM pipeline.
• When someone sends an email to that address, a new lead is created in Odoo with the email content included.

6.3. Email Logging 

Every email sent or received is logged automatically in the Chatter of the related record, providing:

• A clear communication trail
• Time-stamped history
• Quick context for follow-ups

6.4. CC, BCC & Reply Management

• You can CC or BCC other team members or external contacts.
• Replies to sent emails are tracked and threaded back into the related record.
• This ensures a full email conversation history is stored and viewable inside the CRM.

6.5. Track Delivery & Status

Basic status updates like:

• Sent
• Failed delivery

7. Reporting & Analysis

Reporting and analysis in Odoo CRM Community Edition provide sales teams with basic yet powerful tools to monitor the status and progress of leads and opportunities. While advanced reporting features are reserved for the Enterprise Edition, the Community Edition still offers essential insights into the sales pipeline.

7.1. Pipeline View

The Pipeline view is a powerful feature that allows sales teams to visualize the flow of leads and opportunities across various stages of the sales process.

• Kanban View: The main feature for monitoring opportunities in the Kanban format. Each column represents a stage of the sales pipeline (e.g., New Lead, Negotiation, Closed Won, Closed Lost). Salespeople can move opportunities between columns by dragging and dropping them, providing a clear and interactive view of the sales process.
• Customizable Stages: You can customize the stages in the pipeline to reflect your business processes (e.g., Prospecting, Qualified, Proposal Sent, Closed).

This visual organization helps sales teams prioritize their work and stay on top of opportunities.

7.2. Filters & Search

Odoo CRM Community Edition allows users to filter and search for leads, opportunities, and customers based on various parameters.

• Custom Filters: Create and save custom filters to view specific data. For example, you could filter opportunities by salesperson, stage, or due date.
• Advanced Search: Utilize Odoo’s advanced search functionality to combine multiple filters or search criteria, helping salespeople quickly access the information they need.

Filters and searches can be applied in the List View and Kanban View to make the data more accessible.

7.3. Lead/Opportunity Reports

Although advanced reporting tools are limited in the Community Edition, users can still generate basic reports by exporting data.

• Export Leads and Opportunities: You can export lead and opportunity data into formats like Excel (XLSX) or CSV.
• Custom Data Export: Export the data as a report by selecting fields such as opportunity stage, sales team, lead source, and more.

This feature is especially useful for teams needing offline analysis or further processing in other tools like Excel.

7.4. Activity Tracking

Activity tracking is built into Odoo CRM, and users can track tasks like calls, meetings, and emails directly related to leads or opportunities.

• Activity View: The My Activities view helps salespeople see what’s due today, upcoming tasks, or overdue activities.
• Activity Reporting: While there’s no advanced activity report generator in the Community Edition, users can monitor activity trends through manual filters and the My Activities dashboard.

For further analysis, activity data can be exported or reviewed in relation to specific leads or opportunities.

7.5. User Performance Tracking

Odoo CRM allows managers to track the performance of salespeople and teams by analyzing their activities and opportunity status.

• Lead Conversion: Track how many leads are converted to opportunities and how many opportunities are won.
• Salesperson Workload: Filter opportunities by salespeople to analyze their workload and how many opportunities they’re managing at any given time.

Although detailed performance reports are unavailable in Community, this simple tracking mechanism helps keep salespeople accountable.

7.6. Dashboard Overview

The dashboard feature in Odoo CRM gives a quick overview of the sales process, though it is more basic compared to the Enterprise Edition.

• Basic Dashboard: Displays summary information such as the number of active opportunities, upcoming activities, and recent communications.
• Customizable Views: Users can create custom dashboards with widgets to reflect their specific needs.

Final Thoughts

Odoo CRM Community Edition offers a versatile and cost-effective solution for businesses seeking to streamline their sales and customer relationship processes. With features like Lead and Opportunity Management, Customer Interaction Tracking, Activity Scheduling, Sales Team Management, Reporting, and Customisation Options, it empowers small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to effectively manage their sales pipeline and customer relationships without incurring additional software costs.

While it may lack some advanced features of the Enterprise Edition, the Community Edition shines with its open-source flexibility, allowing users to customize and adapt the platform to their unique needs. This makes it an ideal choice for companies looking for affordability, scalability, and a tailored CRM experience.

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