Echo Appointments in G-Cal from Outlook

I’ve been wanting to make the leap to Google calendar for a few months. It’s so wonderful to have your electronic life in one little organized space and Google is making it possible. Here’s what I did to make the break from my organization’s use of Outlook Calendar–which by the way, has a lousy web interface. Now I can view all my personal and work appointments from home or via text messages on demand through Google Calendar. The best part is that I can send events to short code GVENTS and they are added to G-cal automatically.

Like I said, the thing that has kept me from taking the plunge is that I’m tethered to Outlook Calendar because of work events. Now they are echoed to G-cal when I get invited to something so I can just add personal events to Gcal and all my stuff stays in one, internet/mobile phone accessible place. Here’s how I did it:

1. Set up a rule in Outlook that forwards all emails that are calendar invitations or updates. This rule sends those messages to my Gmail account.
2. Set up a rule in Gmail that immediately archives any messages with the conspicuous text in it. For me, it was the time zone stamp from Outlook. It might be different for you. This step just keeps my gmail inbox clean and makes sure the process is invisible to me.
3. Set up your preferences in Google calendar to automatically add invitations to your calendar.

Depending on how much use your calendar gets already, your mileage may vary. Since my calendar is brand new, this basic set up is perfect for me. And I’m not sure how meeting updates will process in G-cal, but as of today, it’s pretty sweet. I’ll post an update soon.

technorati tags: google, ical, outlook, lifehacks, calendar

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