Outlook is one of the best productivity apps used in project management. It comes with some cool features including the calendar sync feature. It can be integrated with other apps such as SharePoint Online and Office 365. Other calendar apps available on the market for free include Google Calendar and Teams Calendar.
There are plenty of calendar apps on the market, some free and others premium. When choosing a calendar, most people consider features such as sync and appointment booking. However, having multiple calendars can be very confusing, especially if you’re on more than one project management team.
Here is where the need to combine calendars comes in. If you’re looking for how do I combine calendars in Outlook, read on for more information?
Outlook Calendar Review
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Microsoft Outlook has undergone massive improvements over the years. Initially, it was built for corporate use only and featured some advanced features not necessary for an average user. Outlook is also free and available on different platforms including Android and iOS.
For a basic user, you can get the free version of Outlook. All you need to do to get started is to sign up for an account and you are set to go. You can also access other apps such as Word, OneNote, and Excel on the free tier.
Companies and project managers will need to go for the premium version of Outlook. It doesn’t come with any additional features on the calendar experience but is quite effective for people who mail often. The only pro of getting the Outlook premium version is that you get additional cloud storage.
Features Available On Microsoft Outlook
Outlook comes with some fantastic features that make it stand out from other emailing apps. At the top of the list is event appointment and creation. You can select a future date and select a specific time when you want to set the appointment. You can also set alarms to notify you some hours ahead of the appointment.
Feature number two is the shared group schedules. This feature allows users to combine calendars in Outlook and sync and share group schedules with other team members. The good thing about Outlook is that it will notify you if you have another appointment during sync to avoid conflicts. You can also turn some features off to make the calendar easy to read.
As a product of Microsoft, Outlook can be integrated with other apps such as SharePoint and Office 365. You can view and create events from Outlook and create a list on SharePoint pages. This comes in very handy, especially if you’re working with a team. You can also add permissions on who can view and edit the calendar.
If you and your team work in different time zones, Microsoft Outlook will assist you in setting different time zones to help track your time more efficiently. This option is critical for remote workers or those who manage workers from different continents.
You can also create multiple calendars and use the overlay feature to compare them. The overlay feature allows you to make your calendar more readable with color-coded entries. Once you are done, you can choose which calendar works best for you.
How To Sync Your Outlook Calendars
There are two ways through which you can sync or combine calendars in Outlook. You can manually sync two calendars by copying the events from one calendar to the other. Copying events from one calendar to another is very simple. Open the calendar and select all the events you want to. You can select all events by pressing CTRL+A and CTRL+V to paste them to the other calendar.
The second option is syncing your calendar with that of your team. This is relatively easy, just make sure you adjust your calendar sharing options. You can share your calendar with your team members by sending them the sharing link. However, this feature is only available for people using the premium version of Office 365 or Microsoft Exchange.
To edit the calendar sharing permissions, click on the Share group of the home button. You will get a list of people in your mailing list on the permissions tab that you can share your calendar with. Click on the contact’s name and click Add to add the contact to your calendar’s permission list.
Further, you can grant different levels of permissions to the user. If you want to grant total control, give them the owner-level permission. With this, the contact can view, edit, and delete events on the shared calendar.
Why Choose Outlook?
The features that come with Outlook are pretty simple, but it gets the job done. You can also switch to different screens, monthly or weekly, to get a better view of your events on the calendar. Learning how to use Outlook is also very easy, and this makes it easy for it to be adopted in workplaces.
Another reason you should choose Outlook is because of the fantastic customer support services offered by Microsoft. You will find answers to most questions about Outlook on the internet. If you’re using the premium version, you will get quicker responses from the support team. Lastly, many people use Microsoft products, so it is effortless to get assistance online.
If you get confused about managing multiple calendars when planning your day, you can always color-code each of your events or entries. These color codes can help you read the calendar easily and quickly and ensure that you don’t make any mistakes or miss upcoming events when reading your calendar.
Wrapping Up
Outlook is one of the best calendar apps on the market. The fact that it is available for free and on various platforms is also a plus. You can integrate your Outlook calendar with other Microsoft apps such as SharePoint Online and Office 365.
With Outlook, you can also book appointments. Overall, the Outlook merge calendar makes it easier to share the calendar with other group members and add access control features. You can also combine two or more calendars to have a single and easily readable calendar.
