Outlook tips, Google Calendar & Gmail synchronization tips and tutorials

2023/07/15

How to sync Outlook.com, Office365 and Exchange Online contacts and calendars with Outlook 2016, 2019 and Office365?

How to sync Outlook.com, Office365, Windows Live Hotmail and Exchange Online with Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019?

Video version of the tutorials: (YouTube)

How to sync outlook.com calendar with Outlook

How to sync outlook.com contacts with Outlook

As we enter the year 2023, an increasing number of occupations necessitate remote work, even in the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Synchronizing calendars, contacts, and tasks from home has become a challenge for individuals unfamiliar with this practice, as it aids in collaboration with colleagues.

While Google provides Gmail, what does Microsoft offer in this regard?

Evolution of MSN

From MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Mail to Outlook.com to Office 365 (cloud service)

To many of you, Hotmail has been an best friend for decades since 1995. After Microsoft merged it back in 1997, it was renamed to MSN Hotmail with several attempts of merging this service under Windows infrastructure. In 2005, in response to the competitive Gmail services offered by Google, MSN Hotmail underwent a transformation and became Windows Live Hotmail, providing faster, easier, and more secure services. In 2012, Outlook.com was introduced and gradually replaced Windows Live Hotmail by 2013. Starting in the middle of 2015, Microsoft began integrating all previous accounts, including Hotmail, MSN Hotmail, Windows Live Hotmail, and Outlook.com, into Office 365 services. Now, you can still download the desktop version of Office software from your Office 365 portal.

Outlook.com contacts and calendars

What is , or Microsoft Graph API?

Many USERS are trying to access their old Hotmail or Outlook.com contacts and calendars within Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. Only Outlook 2013 and 2016 do a good job enabling users to join their Outlook.com accounts via Active Sync, a native Microsoft protocol deployed by Exchange Online service deployed by Office 365. What about Outlook 2007 and 2010? According to research and experiment by many users on Internet community, Outlook 2007 and 2010 have issues accessing Hotmail or Outlook.com data though Microsoft says Outlook 2007 sp3 and 2010 sp2 fix the issues. Yet, Microsoft has already stopped providing mainstream support of Outlook 2007 on 10/9/2012 and will also stop providing mainstream support of Outlook 2010 on 10/13/2015. Consequently, users are looking for a real-working replacement or alternative like the Hotmail connector or Outlook.com connector for Outlook 2007 and 2010. Luckily, third-party Hotmail connector software applications such as EVO Collaborator for Outlook come in rescue by supporting the Graph API that came after both Outlook.com API and Live Connect API. With Graph API, we are able to sync our Outlook.com contacts and calendars.

How to sync Outlook.com contacts and calendars with Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016? (also works with Office 365 and Exchange Online accounts)

Let us try EVO Collaborator for Outlook to see if synchronization works?

Download EVO Collaborator for Outlook and install it
Click on Configure profiles
Select Profile called outlook.com – not configured
Click TEST button at the bottom to proceed entering Outlook e-mail and password in popup window
A list of permissions acknowledgement pops up and click on YES to grant ECO
Click off the window popup to continue
Click on OK in Success box and then Apply to save configuration settings
For existing local items before ECO installation, click on Browse local above CardDAV action for contacts and CalDAV action for calendars and perform O2C action (upload from outlook to microsoft)

As we know, steps are easy and no computer knowledge is involved. Installation and configuration are easy just as if you are adding an Exchange account.

How does EVO Collaborator for Outlook make it happen?

As we mentioned previously, Hotmail.com, Windows Live, and Outlook.com services were merged into Office 365 service collectively. Using Exchange Online service along with Microsoft Graph API, third-party software developers are able to sync a complete set of fields between Office 365 and Outlook 2007/2010, which has issues synchronizing ever since. Other userful information

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2022.12.10

2023/07/09

Sync Android Contacts and Calendars with Outlook 2016,2019 and Office 365

Synchronize Android Calendar with Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and Office365

Someone has recently asked me about "how can he sync his Android c ontacts (Samsung, Mi..) and calendars with Outlook?" Of course, you can do it!

If you are using an Android phone such as Samsung or Xiaomi, it is highly probable that you already have a Gmail account, which is seamlessly integrated with Google's cloud services. Now, what we require is a tool that can carry out comparable functions to Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar Sync.

What is going on now?

So, the concept is that you have both Android and Outlook to synchronize with Google contacts and calendar, and subsequently, your Android and Outlook are also synchronized. Now, let's explore how to accomplish this.

ECO is an Outlook add-in for CalDAV synchronization

EVO Collaborator for Outlook and Outlook work together to perform a two-way sync between your Gmail account and Outlook. Any sync result to your Gmail account will also sync’d with your Android phone.

What are CardDAV and CalDAV?

CardDAV and CalDAV are standard protocol API by IETF’s RFC for contacts and calendars. Google is using contacts api and calendar api to take care of contacts and calendars at the backend to service their customers’ needs on such information.

How do I do it?

It is easier than a breeze with ECO. Simply:

Download ECO from EVO Official Site and install it with admin’s privilege on your Outlook.
Open Outlook and click on EVO ribbon at the top banner, click on Configure profile
Select Profile #6. Fill in your Gmail account under Full e-mail address or Username and click on TEST to proceed Google's OAuth 2.0
Upon sync completion, your Android smartphone and Outlook are sync’d.

What version of Outlook do I have?

ECO works with all versions of Outlook after 2007, including versions 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and Office 365 (Microsoft 365). However, if you want to know what version of Outlook you have, you can check this help page.

A program is trying to access email address information stored in Outlook

This error message can appear in Outlook if you are using another sync plugin for Outlook, which means that the plugin cannot bypass Outlook's security checks and this is really annoying and unusable, luckily there is no such problem in ECO.

Import ICS from Google Calendar

Some sites also recommend to export the ICS URL of the calendar from Google Calendar and log into Outlook, I don't recommend it because it's only one way, so Outlook can't edit the event in Google Calendar.

Additional tools for synchronization

Besides ECO, there are other ways to sync Outlook with Google, such as GSYNCIT and SYNC2, but I still recommend ECO.

Build your own Cloud!

Gmail is a great tool for individuals, but it may not be suitable when it comes down to a company-size scale where lots of information scatters around. Why not build one for your company itself?

EVO Mail Server

Download and install EVO Mail Server along with CardDAV and CalDAV addon (ECA). Once ready, all Outlook’s contacts, calendars and tasks can all go sync’d. Again, this solution I just mentioned is not a bad choice to choose from.

2022.12.27

2023/07/04

Sync Google calendar with Outlook 2016-2021 and Office 365

Synchronizing Gmail Contacts and Calendars with Outlook 2016-2021

Is it possible to synchronize Google Calendar with Outlook? Absolutely, it can be done!

Considering that Gmail is a complimentary service offered by Google, we should examine whether Google's Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook includes this functionality. However, there are still certain restrictions on Google's tools when it comes to integrating with Outlook:

Google only provides Google Apps Sync for its Google Apps customers rather than its free gmail accounts.

What if you want to effortlessly sync Microsoft Office 365 with Google Calendar and contacts, without any complications? However, for both Google and Microsoft, this is where the financial opportunity lies. How can they allow you to do it so effortlessly without generating any profit?

Let's look at a solution from third-party. EVO Collaborator for Outlook is an outlook plugin for CardDAV and CalDAV.

sync google calendar to outlook

Let’s look at its size, which is only 8MB. Amazingly, when Outlook and ECO work together, Outlook can break the barrier of both Microsoft and Google to sync both contacts and calendars with Google’s CardDAV and CalDAV bi-directionally.

What are CardDAV and CalDAV?

CardDAV &CalDAV are standard protocol API by IETF's RFC for contacts and calendars. Google is using those APIs at the backend to service they customers' needs for such information retrieval.

How do I Sync Google calendar with Outlook 2016-2019

It is easier than a ever with ECO:

Download ECO from ECO's download. (run setup.exe as administrator)
Open Outlook 2013/2016/2019 and click on EVO's ribbon at the top banner.
Click on Configure profile(s)and click Profile #6 with filling in your Gmail email account in space below Full e-mail address or username. Then click on TEST at the bottom.
Because GMail uses OAUTH 2, you'll see an OAUTH authentication dialog during the account detection, just authorize it and continue. (if you can not click the authorize button, please check if your IE is updated to latest available)
When finished, click on Apply and Quit. Then, any newly added contacts, calendar under Gmail folder will be syncing in a bi-directional fashion. Any items that were added on your Android phone will be synced into Outlook.

Besides what we just talked about, as you know that CardDAV and CalDAV are written according to industrial standards, therefore you can expect ECO to work with any other CardDAV/CalDAV services for the same tasks.. There is also a video tutorial which can be found here: Sync Google calendar with Outlook

After all your Outlook calendar, contact and task entries are synchronized with Google's services, it will be very convenient to have one single master copy on Google cloud and distribute them across all your other PC, laptop, ipad, and iphones in a breeze.

Build your own Calendar and Contact Cloud service!

Gmail is a great tool for individuals, but it may not be suitable when it comes down to a company-size environment where lots of information and users are involved. Thus, why not build one for your company itself? Mail Server Free (Email & Contact & Calendar server) One of the easiest way is your download and install free mail server along with CardDAV and CalDAV addon (EVO Collboration Add-on). Once we have our own cloud environment ready, all Outlook's address book, calendars and reminders can be stored on cloud and shared with others. The solution and software I have just mentioned is not a bad choice for small and medium companies who like to run their own services rather than putting their business confidential information on the cloud.

Outlook 2021 or Office 365? What is my Outlook version?

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2022.11.30

2023/06/30

How does Synology sync Outlook Calendar and Contact?

How does Synology sync Outlook 2019/2021 Calendar and Contact?

2022-11 UPDATE: NEWEST WORKING METHOD, WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO

In this year of 2023, an increasing number of jobs necessitate remote work as a result of the persistent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Synchronizing calendars, contacts, and tasks from home to effectively collaborate with colleagues has become a challenge, particularly when utilizing Synology services. Let's explore how to overcome this hurdle:

Note: This has been an old article for few years. Due to some major changes on DSM's new version, I have posted another article in courtesy of EVO software production for year of 2019 with additional configuration know-how on iPhone, macOS, Thunderbird other than Outlook for your reference. Here is the article link: https://outlookandmacosxserver.blogspot.com/2019/03/sync-with-synology-caldav-and-carddav-url.html (outdated) Recently, more and more of my viewers have been discussing that if it is possiblle to synchronize Synology DSM NAS (such as Synology diskstation DS218+) server’s CalDAV service with Outlook? It looks like this sort of NAS device or router is somehow popular in home and medium-size companies especially where no IT crews are always around. Why? I guess it is because Google Calendar Sync service was terminated 6 years ago and these users have to find another solution.

synology calendar sync outlook

Again, I took this issue to my developer friend in EVO software because their famous EVO Collaborator for Outlook does the Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 sync thing for living. After some sync simulations, he managed to sync it. Here is what I am allowed to share with you guys if you like to do the same task.

Before we start, there are two points for your reference:

For Synology instruction of setting up webdav, please refer to the following link:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/tutorials/463
For CardDAV addressbook, it is by default not available in the current version of Synology DSM.
For installing and configuring a third-party CardDAV solution for Synology DSM, please refer to the following link:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/baikalforsynology/

Steps to access Synology DSM 6.2 server’s default CalDAV and CardDAV services with Outlook:

Configure properly in Synology DSM server according to the instruction link shown previoiusly..
Download EVO Collaborator for Outlook from EVO’s Official Site and Install it.
Run Microsoft Outlook 2016/2019 and open Configure Profile(s) at top left within Outlook.
Choose a vacant profile starting with Profile 21 – not configured.
Fill in your Synology server hostname in Hostname (CardDAV/CalDAV) or webcal:// URL. Formats are as the following:

non-SSL: http://<server_name/ip>:8008
SSL: https://<server_name/ip>:8443

Fill in Full e-mail address or Username and Password.
Click TEST and Apply at the bottom.
Exit the Configure Profile(s) and synchronization will take place in a few seconds.

How to manually configure profile if ports are different than Synology's default values?

For contact URL, the syntax is as below:http(s)://<server_name>:port/addressbooks/users/<username>/addressbook/ Example: (assuming you use 9876 for non-SSL and 6789 for SSL) non-SSL: http://davserver.yourdomain.com:9876/addressbooks/users/johnny/addressbook/SSL: https://davserver.yourdomain.com:6789/addressbooks/users/johnny/addressbook/
For calendar URL, the syntax is as below: https://<server_name>:port/homes/<username>/<folder_name>/ Example: (assuming you use 1357 for non-SSL and 2468 for SSL) non-SSL: http://davserver.yourdomain.com:1357/homes/johnny/work/ SSL: https://davserver.yourdomain.com:2468/homes/johnny/work/

Steps to access Baikal server on Synology device with Outlook:

By the way, some smart developer put Baikal server on Synology units and use it instead of factory default server. ECO staff thinks some Synology users preferring Baikal server may need it. So, they also make ECO being able to communicate with Baikal server. Here is how: Enter server host name or IP address in space under Hostname (CardDAV/CalDAV) or webcall:// URL:

https://<server_hostname_or_ip>:<port>/baikal/ Then, enter username and password. Last, click on TEST button to authenticate.

Implementing a server backup strategy

One last thing and the most important task about running a server of any sort is the backup scheme that you use. A backup service that is specifically designed for Synology DSM server is hardly found. https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/Tutorial/backup_backup https://www.cloudwards.net/best-cloud-backup-for-synology/ DS218+

If you are not going to use Synology but want to use a cloud solution instead, check this post: sync google calendar to outlook

2022.11.25

2022/09/14

How to Install Google Chrome on Android TV from USB

How to sideload install google chrome browser apk from usb drive to your mibox s or android tv or nvidia shield? You can't do it by default but with necessary tools you can totally do it, check this new 2021-2022 method .