Sync Outlook to Android Calendar

Although the big tech companies like Google, Apple, & Microsoft spend a lot of time creating "ecosystems" that integrate all their products and services slickly together, I, like a lot people tend to pick and choose and end up with a conglomeration that doesn't always play nice together.

When I got my Android phone a couple years ago, I discovered Google Calendar Sync, a light utility that can be installed on a Windows Computer and pull calendar events from Outlook and add them to Google Calendar (and therefore your Android), as well as the other way around.

I've been told this also works for iPhone. I don't have one, but as long as you can use Google Calendar on an iPhone I don't see why it wouldn't.

When I recently got a new work laptop and tried to reinstall this handy utility, I discovered this program is no longer available for download from Google.

http://support.google.com/calendar/answer/94020?hl=en

(c'mon, Google, remember, don't be evil...)

I did discover, however, that Google Calendar Sync is still available from this rather sketchy site.

http://google-calendar-sync.m.en.softonic.com/

They force you to install their download manager, which in turn installs the google utility.

Make sure to chose the custom install option, if you don't want a bunch of toolbars and other crap installed on your computer, though.

I was paranoid about a virus, so I scanned the file with Comodo before opening it, as well as did a full system scan afterwards. Everything came up clean, and I haven't had any issues, so I guess its legit.

If you trust me more than 'softonic.com', I posted it here for download.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2LIw_oG8lJkQ3FIYTVfVW5meXM/edit?usp=sharing

Don't take my word for it, make sure you scan it before installing.

Although it worked perfectly before, the new version of this app error'ed out every time it tried to sync when Outlook was running.

To fix this, I went to C:\Users\myusername\Appdata\Local\Google\Google Calendar Sync\

and took the steps below:

1. Renamed the data_files folder something else, like data_files.old.

2. Created a new file named data_files

3. Restarted my computer and logged back into Google Calendar Sync.

Everything synced up great and I'm back in business.



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