Transfer Your Outlook Calendar to the Cloud
This how-to is part of a larger series that I will be publishing in the coming weeks covering my switch from Outlook to Google’s online services. The intent of this series is to help others who have found themselves wanting more out of their email and calendar applications. This guide specifically covers the transfer of Outlook events to Google Calendar online. There are quite a few steps in this process so take your time and make sure that you follow it closely, this will ensure a successful transfer. If you know of an easier way to transfer your calendar information to Google or have any questions, please post them below.
Note: I used Outlook 2007 for this guide.
1. Open Outlook. Click on File > Import and Export…
2. Click on Export to a file from the list and click Next
Note: I chose this option instead of iCal/vCal due to some errors I’ve received in the past. The CVS route is a sure thing.
3. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows) from the menu, click Next.
Note: Make sure to select the file type for Windows
4. Select the folder to export from, in this case we will be exporting from the Calendar. Click the Calendar icon and click Next.
5. Click on Browse to select the directory where you would like to save the file.
6. Name the file (export-google) and click OK.
Note: You can name the file whatever you like. I named it this way because it makes it easier to find.
7. Click Next to proceed.
8. Make sure that Export "Appointments" from folder: Calendar is selected. Click Finish.
9. Enter the date range that you would like to include with this export and click OK when you’re ready to proceed.
10. When the export is complete you should find a .CSV file in the location you indicated.
11. Log in to your Google Calendar and click on the Settings link on the top right corner.
12. Click on the Calendars tab and click on the Import calendar link.
13. Click on the Browse button to locate your .CSV file we exported in the previous steps.
14. Locate the .CSV file and click Open.
15. Choose a Calendar from the drop-down menu and click on the Import button.
16. Depending on the number of events and the speed of your connection, the import can take seconds or a couple of minutes. When completed you should see the message above. Processed X events.
17. Return to your calendar and you should now see the events you just imported. Welcome to Google Calendar.
[...] Clean calendar and contacts migration can be tricky. For calendaring and contacts, after many experiments we found that doing .csv-based uploads was also cleanest (and yes we tried Google Apps sync). As hard as Google engineers have tried to make this easy, Outlook/Exchanged based mailbox data structures can get screwed up over time, especially if users have ever had any kind of plugins involved, or have ever used 3rd party synchronization tools. I found that using .csv was fast and accurate with the least amount of heartache. There are some short coming to this (recurring meetings will get replicated, rather than retain their recurrence), but I’m not sorry we did it this way. If you decide to do the the .csv thing, make sure your users specify a wide data range if they want to preserve past and future calendar entries (e.g. we chose 2/1/2006 – 2/1/2012). If you’ve never done this before, you can try this recipe [...]
Gil, will your process automatically update the Google Calendar when changes are made in outlook or do I have to follow this process everyday?
Steve
Steve – Nope this process will not sync your calendar everyday…if you wish to sync your calendars automatically you should try out Calendar Sync from Google – http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer...
I've used this software for about a year and have no major issues. The only thing you should keep in mind is that the Outlook Calendar will only sync with the Default calendar in GCal…if you have any questions about its use or are looking for tips…let me know, I'll be more than happy to help.
Gil, you rock! This is by far the most easy to understand & idoit proff ‘how to’ i have seen online!
This feature comes in very handy. I can suggest another another topic – how about top 5 Outlook addins. I like OutTwit for Outlook twittering & WinCalendar for outlook printing!
@Sandra Yalip – Thanks for the encouraging feedback, glad you find it useful. I hope you continue finding future articles as useful.