Syncing calendars on your Android device
GET YOUR DATES ON ANDROID.
TODAY WE ANSWER one of the most asked questions: How can I sync my computer’s Outlook or Windows 10 Calendar and Contacts with my Android smartphone calendar?
Your computer may have come with a pre-installed version of Microsoft Office that suits your purpose just fine, or you may be using the Windows 10 Mail and Calendar apps. Most likely you don’t need Word or Excel on your smartphone, just your email, contacts and calendar. And of course, you want these to sync so they are always up to date on all devices.
This is a particularly big need for selfemployed freelancers and small business operators, yet the only official way to do it seems to be with an Office 365 subscription. Office 365 provides the entire Office suite, but there are many people who just want some simple synchronisation.
Convinced that there must be a way, we persevered and found a solution. In keeping with our usual policy, it’s free and uses mainstream software. It’s also not difficult to do.
So if you want cloud-synced Outlook calendars and contacts across all your devices, this is how we did it...
THE OBJECTIVE
We set out to synchronise calendar and contacts across: Windows 10 desktop using Outlook email and calendar software, Windows 10 notebook using the pre-installed Mail and Calendar apps, Lenovo tablet and a Samsung smartphone running Android. We opted for an Outlook.com account as the cloud link. So, if you don’t already have one, go to Outlook.com, click on “Create free account” and choose an email address.
Note that you can receive emails from multiple email accounts via Outlook.com, but you can’t send from those accounts through it. You can set up aliases, but they will still be Outlook.com addresses. This is not an issue if you are only using it for the calendar function, but it makes sense to choose an email address that would be suitable for further use if needed.
Note too that you can choose an @outlook. com.au email address, which may give you more choices.
SET UP YOUR ANDROID DEVICES
Outlook for Android was our top pick when we reviewed a number of Android email apps, and in this case we make use of its excellent calendar function. Go to the Google Play Store on your Android device and search for the Outlook for Android app. Install it, and use your Outlook. com email address and password to set up the primary account. You can then add other email addresses to Outlook for Android.
Outlook for Android opens on the email screen, so tap on the icon at the bottom right to go into calendar view. You can choose to display a list, one day, three days, or a month by tapping the icon at the top right.
SET UP YOUR COMPUTERS
Most computers have email client software, such as Mail or Outlook, that includes a locally installed calendar. Syncing with these calendars directly can be difficult, but the simple solution is to use a cloud-based calendar rather than a local one. There are many such calendars available, but to integrate with Microsoft apps we chose Outlook.com.
WINDOWS 10 MAIL AND CALENDAR ON YOUR COMPUTER
If you use the Windows 10 default Mail and Calendar apps, simply add your Outlook.com account to the Calendar app (make it the primary account if you have others set up).
That’s it, you now have a Windows 10 calendar that syncs with your Android device calendars! Any appointments you or anyone else add, change or delete on any device will be synced across all devices when they are online.
OUTLOOK ON YOUR COMPUTER
As long as you are running Outlook 2010 or later, and Windows 7 or later, you can synchronise your calendars and contacts this way.
Start by opening Outlook and going to the File menu, then click on the “Add Account” button. Add your Outlook.com account – it is an Exchange account so just put in the email address and Outlook will prompt you for what it needs to set it up.
Note that these steps are for Outlook 2016, and might vary a little in the 2010 and 2013 versions.
Return to the File menu and click on the “Account Settings” box - a dialog box will open. Your newly added Outlook.com account will appear in the list of email accounts on the first tab, and may be set as the default account, which you may not want. Highlight the email address that you would prefer to be displayed when Outlook opens, and click “Set as Default”.
Then click on the “Data Files” tab and make sure your newly added Outlook.com account is set as the default data file location.
Close the dialog box, and you will be back in your default email inbox. You can drag the email accounts up or down the left sidebar to put them in your preferred order.
OUTLOOK CALENDAR
Switch to calendar view and you will probably find your Outlook.com calendar displayed alongside your original Outlook calendar. You can tick and untick boxes on the left hand sidebar to control what is displayed, even making your online Outlook.com calendar the only one visible. It is also possible to delete your original calendar.
If you have more than one calendar displayed there will be a small arrow at the top left of the second calendar. Click on this to overlay the two calendars, showing all items in one combined calendar.
If you accept an emailed appointment invitation it should appear in your Outlook. com calendar, and will then sync to any other computer or device that is logged in to your Outlook.com account.
To update your new calendar with your old calendar’s appointments and notes, you can import (move) them into the Outlook.com calendar. The simplest way is to click on the “View” tab, then “Change View” and select “List”. This will display all entries as a list.
Select your old calendar (probably called “Outlook Data File”) on the sidebar and highlight all or selected entries in its list, then drag them to your outlook.com calendar title in the sidebar. Those items will now be in the new calendar and will sync to all other devices that are logged in to Outlook.com.
CONTACTS
To sync your Outlook Contacts across all your devices the simplest way is again to go into Contacts, click on the “View” tab, then “Change View” and select “List”. This will display all contacts as a list.
Highlight all or selected contacts in the list, then copy them (Ctrl C works), click on your Outlook.com Contacts file in the sidebar and paste them (Ctrl V) into the Contacts area. To move contacts rather than create a copy, drag them to your outlook.com Contacts file in the sidebar. Either way, those Contacts will now sync to all other devices that are logged in to Outlook.com, and will be available when composing emails on those devices.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Every installation will be a little different, so some experimentation may be required to get it just right. You need to have an Outlook.com email address, and if you have a Microsoft.com account you may need to add your Outlook.com email to it and set it as the Primary address.