How can I synchronise my Outlook Calendar with Google Calendar (preferably using a free/open source tool)? [closed]

Solution 1:

The synchronisation is sort of no longer needed. You can simply open your Google calendar in Outlook and overlay it. To do this, go to the calendar settings in Google and click on the ICAL button. Copy the URL.

Then go to Outlook and select the "Open Calendar" button from the Ribbon, then "From Internet". Enter the URL you copied above. It now displays your Google calendar next to your Outlook calendar. Click the little arrow next to the Google Calendar name to overlay it.

Google seems to be deliberately not providing these instructions next to the instructions for other OSes and applications. They must have fallen out with Microsoft, very childish!

I am not sure how to make it work in reverse though (add the Outlet calendar to Google) - I expect this is possible if you know the URL of your calendar on the Exchange server.

Solution 2:

If you're still looking, I recently found an open source project to do this on CodePlex, OutlookGoogleSync. I haven't tried it yet though.

A small tool to keep the Google calendar in sync with the Outlook calendar (one way: Outlook -> Google). Doesn't need admin rights and works behind a proxy. Works with Outlook 2003 and newer.

For future reference, this seems to a a fork with a lot of recent activity, however it is still Alpha at this time: outlookgooglesyncbidirectional

An even more active project (at this time): Outlook Google Calendar Sync which moved, after the closing of codeplex, to here (github).

Solution 3:

I downloaded the free version of gsyncit at: http://www.fieldstonsoftware.com/software/gsyncit3/ If you just need to sync your Outlook calendar to your Google calendar it is FREE*. It took a couple of syncs to get everything up to date.

*Update:

As of November 2014 the unregistered version of GSyncIt has some limitations:

The unregistered version is limited to synchronizing one Google and Outlook calendar, synchronizing 50 contacts/note/tasks entries and does not sync deletes for contacts/notes/tasks entries. Registration will remove these limitations and remove any registration/nag dialogs from the application.

Solution 4:

See this Microsoft KB article: Transfer calendars between Outlook and Google Calendar:

By using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, you can import and export calendars from Google Calendar as Calendar Snapshots in the iCalendar format. This functionality enables you to transfer calendars between Outlook and Google Calendar.

So long as you have Outlook installed and a Google account, this requires no additional software tools. This is probably a better method, as it doesn't use the Exchange ActiveSync protocol, which has been depreciated by Google in favour of CalDAV.

Now, back to Google. From that article you posted regarding Sync's end-of-life:

Google Calendar Sync: The Google Calendar Sync download link will be removed on December 14, 2012. Existing users can continue to use it to sync with Microsoft Outlook Calendar, but it will no longer be supported by Google as of December 14, 2012. Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government customers can still use Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®.

I know they said the download link would be removed, but as of writing this, you can still download it here.

Unfortunately, Google and Microsoft aren't exactly "friends" with this respect (fair enough, they're competing companies after all). From this article regarding Google Calendar synchronization with desktop applications, they've removed any mention to Microsoft software - the closest being to use Mozilla Sunbird as an alternative!

Again, unofficially, you can continue to synchronize as you used to in the past - Google's articles above state you can do so. However, I would try to transition to the process outlined by Microsoft's KB article at the top of this answer, or wait until Microsoft releases support for the CalDAV format.