Adding a Google Calendar to Outlook Desktop Application

Please first view this video to get your Secret iCal link from Google Calendar. If you are unfamiliar with Google Calendar in general and want to learn more, please view the video from the beginning.

Using some techniques learned from the above video, we will add the Google Calendar to our desktop Outlook application.

Before beginning, note:

  • It may take up to 24 hours (more often than not, it takes under an hour) for Outlook to populate information from your Google Calendar when you initially set it up in Outlook.
  • If the Google Calendar you are setting up is being used for appointment slots, keep in mind that Outlook may take 5-10 minutes to update. 
    • In effect, if a student books an appointment for an appointment slot that will start soon, Outlook may not notify you immediately.
  • You cannot make any edits to your Google Calendar from Outlook. If you wish to make edits to your Google Calendar, you will have to access your Google Calendar from Google Drive.
    • If you want to edit the appointment (i.e., change the time, add a Zoom/Video Conferencing link, add a location, etc.), you will have to do that from Google Calendar.

  

1

Get your Secret iCal link from your Google Calendar. If you already have/know how to get your Secret iCal link, go to the next step (Step 2) below.

  1. Hover over the Google Calendar that you want to share to your Outlook Calendars. Click on the three dots to the right and choose Settings and Sharing. Be careful to not click the X button-- this will give you a pop-up asking if you want to un-subscribe/delete the calendar.
  2. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page. You should then see "Secret Address in iCal format", above the Remove Calendar section.
  3. To the right of an eye with a slash through it, you should see the Copy icon (it looks like one page in front of another). Click on that to copy your Secret iCal address.

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2Open the Outlook Desktop Application, if it is not already open.


3Select the Calendar Icon in the lower left or use CTRL+2 (Windows) or CMD+2 (Mac) to access your Outlook calendar(s).

4Click on Open Calendar in the Manage Calendars section.

5Choose From Internet... in the dropdown.

6Paste in your Secret iCal link and hit OK. You may get some more dialogue (i.e., give this Calendar a title), but they are self-explanatory.

7Your calendar should appear within 24 hours, but if not, you can check to see if it is deselected under Other Calendars and then select it.



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