How do I see my Outlook (WORK) calendar on Google Calendar (PERSONAL)?

July 15, 2019 7:24 PM

I would like to see all of my calendars -- including work's Outlook 2016 calendar and home's Google Calendars -- at a glance in Google. How do I do this?

Here are the details:

• I just started working for a large company that is standardized on Microsoft Office 2016. I have Outlook 2016 installed on my PC laptop running Windows 10 Enterprise. The PC is locked down pretty heavily and I have pretty much zero admin privileges.
• In my personal life, I use Google Calendar. A LOT. I have several calendars to keep my life in order with different people.
• I'd like to view my Outlook calendar from within Google. When I add a Google Calendar, it's just a matter of hitting the plus sign and entering the URL. No fuss, no muss. Not so much with viewing Outlook on Google.

I've tried searching around for the answer, but everyone just keeps talking about sync. I really don't need any kind of extensive, fancy 2-way synchronization. All I really want to do is be able to see all of my calendars -- both home and work -- at a glance in Google.

I don't even need to edit the Outlook calendar in Google. I just want to be able to see everything in one place at a glance so I don't schedule an evening conference call at the same time I'm supposed to be looking after my son.

For reference, all this happens on three devices I use:

• The PC running Outlook 2016 on Win10 Enterprise. Again, I have pretty much zero admin privileges on this.
• A PC laptop running Win10 Home that functions as my home computer.
• An iPhone running iOS 12. I currently have both Google Calendar and Outlook installed. But it's a pain in the ass to switch back and forth between the two. That's why I want to see everything at a glance.

Of course, I'd really like not to have to pay to do this. But if I have to, I have to. I understand that.

Please help. :) Thank you!

posted by zooropa to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

The one place I can see all my calendars together is on my phone. Does your work account calendar show up as an option to turn on in the iPhone’s calendar app? And then it’s easy to add your personal Google calendar accounts there.
posted by stefnet at 4:43 AM on July 16, 2019

I really don't need any kind of extensive, fancy 2-way synchronization.

You do need sync, just one way. It should be as simple as "Share Calendar" in Outlook. BUT, you'll need proper permissions to do it fully.

Other than that, you can email a copy of the calendar, or save the calendar to a file each month and import it to Google that way.

This is trivial with IT support; is that just not an option? If it truly isn't, you may be stepping afoul of policy by trying to work around it. I am explicitly forbidden from sharing my Outlook calendar outside the organization.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:13 AM on July 16, 2019

It's likely that your org has set the Outlook permissions to make this impossible. I know my org has. However - it's trivial to share my personal Gmail calendar into my work Outlook. Have you tried going that direction?
posted by brainmouse at 7:16 AM on July 16, 2019

The tool I recommend for my clients for this kind of problem is GSyncIt.

It will let you set up a one-way sync from Outlook to Google Calendars.
posted by JDHarper at 10:15 AM on July 16, 2019

It’s very much worth talking to your IT department about this.

• If it’s allowed, they very likely know how to do it in the most straightforward way possible.
• If it’s not allowed, it’s good to know that to avoid horrid consequences.

That probably sounds incredibly officious and formal. But I have literally seen more than one person fired for doing this at my company. (For one it was Google; the other found some way to hook into Alexa.) My employer may be extra-paranoid, but.
posted by a device for making your enemy change his mind at 11:55 PM on July 16, 2019

The easiest thing to do is to share your Outlook calendar (hit Share Calendar in the ribbon, then the Permissions tab, and add your gmail account). This will send an email to your gmail account "inviting" you to the Outlook calendar. Don't hit Add this Calendar! That just sends you to Microsoft's Office 365 purchasing page. Instead, there's a tiny line of text at the bottom of the email with the calendar URL, which you can add directly to Google Calendar. I think it pushes updates on a daily basis. It's definitely not in real time.

Alternatively, you could share your google calendar with outlook, which should allow you to check just one place for scheduling conflicts. I don't think this would let everyone else in your organization view your personal stuff, but honestly I'm not sure.

Agree that you should run this by your IT department to make sure you aren't violating any privacy policies.
posted by basalganglia at 3:11 PM on July 17, 2019