Managing multiple calendars can be time consuming and frustrating. Not only do you have to check multiple sources when all you want to do is schedule a simple appointment, but you also have to make sure that you schedule your event on the correct calendar, or all your efforts could be for not. Additionally, if you have a smart phone, you may have to download multiple apps to manage all these different calendars.
This sounds like a lot of work, but some of this work can be simplified if the calendars involved happen to be Outlook 2010 and a Google Calendar.
Note: There are other solutions when it comes to managing multiple calendars; however this solution specifically focuses on syncing Google and Outlook 2010 calendars, only.
There are two main ways for opening and syncing your Google calendar with Outlook.
Opening An Internet Calendar
The first way to sync your Outlook and Google Calendars involves opening your Google Calendar in Outlook. Outlook allows you to open any internet calendar you want, as long as you know the web address for the calendar.
To obtain the web address for your Google Calendar, go to your Calendar, then from the menu on the left side of the screen, click on the down arrow next to “My Calendar” and select “Settings.”
On the Calendar Settings screen, click on the name of your calendar to go to the Details screen. On the Details Screen, toward the bottom, you will find a section titled “Calendar Address” with three colored buttons. Click on the green “ICAL” button. When the popup appears, copy the web address given.
Then, go into Outlook, and click on the Calendar button. At the top of the ribbon select “Open Calendar > From Internet” and when the pop-up appears, paste the web address for your calendar, and then say okay.
Now your calendars are linked, and you should be able to view both calendars from your Outlook screen.
Google Sync Tool
If opening an Internet Calendar in Outlook doesn’t work for you for any reason, you can always download the Google Sync Tool, a small utility which quickly and painlessly links your two accounts.
Download the Google Calendar Sync installer form this link: http://dl.google.com/dl/googlecalendarsync/googlecalendarsync_installer.exe
Note: a webpage will not appear; instead the download will just start. How the download appears depends on which browser you are using.
Once downloaded, make sure Outlook, OneNote, and any other program that uses Outlook is closed, and then install the Google Calendar Sync program. Once setup, it will ask you for your Google email address and password. From this screen you can also setup how often you want the two calendars to sync.
That’s it. Once setup, you never have to bop from calendar to calendar again. Instead, you can see both schedules right there in your Outlook calendar, making it much easier to plan and schedule appointments.
If you use multiple calendars, leave us a comment telling us what tricks you use to successfully manage more than one calendar.
Julie Strier is a freelance writer who delights in helping fix your technology frustrations. Email: [email protected]. Website:www.mybusinesswriter.com.
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