Three useful rules for Google and Outlook

Connect your Outlook work calendar and your Google personal calendar, set the sync to Mirror, and use rules to decide what each copy says. Three rules cover most of a work-on-Outlook, life-on-Google week: the join link goes into Location, the organizer and guests go into the description, and personal events show as Busy at work. If-this-then-that rules need Plus. Writing your own title, description or location text works on every plan.

If your work Microsoft account asks for admin approval when you connect it, your IT admin has to allow it; My Workspace admin blocked SYNCDATE explains what to send them.

This guide is about what the copies say. For the different ways to connect the two calendars at all, including what Outlook and Google can do without a sync tool, start with the Outlook and Google two-way recipe.

The arrangementCopy Anchor Link

One sync, two calendars, Mirror: a work meeting in Outlook gets a copy in Google, and a dentist visit in Google gets a copy in Outlook. Each copy follows the rules below. New syncs copy events as Busy. A two-way Mirror between calendars you own keeps the real titles. You can change either before you start. A work calendar your employer manages may not count as yours, so check the title on the copy that lands in Google before you rely on the default. The rules below set both sides on purpose. Why Mirror and not Push is in Mirror or Push.

Rule 1: the join link goes into LocationCopy Anchor Link

A copy of a Teams meeting in Google is easier to use when the join link sits in Location, where your phone shows it.

1. Open the sync and go to What copies look like.
2. On the Location row, pick Custom, then press If.
3. For the check, choose Meeting link, then is not empty.
4. Set the rule's result to the Meeting link variable, using Insert variable.
5. Set Otherwise to the Location variable, so meetings without a link keep their real location.

A Teams meeting with a join link arrives with the link as its location. A lunch at "Café Nero, 12 High St" keeps its address. The link comes from an Outlook meeting's join link or Google's Meet data. It is blank for CalDAV, iCloud and iCal feed events.

Rule 2: organizer and guests in the descriptionCopy Anchor Link

1. On the Description row, pick Custom.
2. Type "Organizer: ", insert the Organizer variable, add a line break, type "Guests: " and insert the Guests variable.
3. Check Result with Example event before you save.

The copy's description then lists who organised the meeting and who was invited. Guests shows up to 10 lines and then "+N more". On Outlook, Organizer is filled only when you are the organizer, so for meetings other people organise it is blank. Organizer and Guests can only go in a description. Add the Description variable too if you want the original text to stay.

Rule 3: Busy for the work sideCopy Anchor Link

You want colleagues to see that you are busy, not what you are doing. Rules can make that depend on where an event comes from.

1. On the Title row, pick Custom and press If.
2. For the check, choose Source calendar, is, and pick your Google calendar.
3. Set the result to the word "Busy".
4. Set Otherwise to the Title variable.

Personal events from Google then reach Outlook titled "Busy". Work meetings keep their titles in both calendars. A title and availability are separate settings. To make sure the copy also blocks your time, set Free or busy to Always busy or use a rule there. There is no way to mark a copy Free. Hide details only for some events has the privacy version of this rule, and Show Busy one way, full detail the other covers separate settings for each destination calendar. Plus rules can branch on the source calendar, but every destination in the sync gets the same result; Pro gives each destination calendar its own rule.

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

• If-this-then-that rules, and the Meeting link, Organizer and Guests variables, need Plus. On Free you can still write custom title, description and location text with the Title, Description, Location and Calendar name variables.
• Meeting link is blank for CalDAV, iCloud and iCal feeds. A link someone pasted into a description is not the meeting link.
• Organizer is blank on Outlook unless you organise the meeting.
• Titles and locations over 255 characters are not written. That one event is skipped and shows under Issues. The rest keep syncing.
• Changes on Google and Outlook usually reach the other calendar in under a minute.

See pricing for which plan has rules and how many accounts each plan connects.

Related

Custom text and rules: decide what each copy says

Write a copy's title, description or location yourself with pieces of the original dropped in, and use if-this-then-that rules for text, privacy and free or busy.

Hide details only for some events

Use a rule to show Busy or Private for the events you pick, such as big meetings or one source calendar, and leave every other copy as it is, on Plus.

Show Busy to clients, full details to you

Work shows Busy, personal keeps every detail. A rule per calendar needs Pro; a rule by source calendar needs Plus.

Mirror or Push: which one do you need

Push feeds one calendar from another and never touches the source. Mirror goes both ways. How to choose, and what switching later deletes.

Your work account needs admin approval

What to send your IT admin when your organisation blocks third-party calendar apps, and why only they can unblock it.

Personal → Work, shown as Busy

Your work calendar shows "Busy" when you have a personal appointment, and nobody at work sees what it is. Nothing is written to your personal calendar.

Outlook ↔ Google, both directions

Book in Outlook or Google and the other one agrees, with real titles and locations. Works with Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com. Works on the Free plan.

Put the video-meeting link in the location

Online meetings copy with their join link as the location, so you can join in one tap. Events without a link keep their location. Needs Plus.

Add the organizer and guest list to the description

Meetings with guests copy with Organizer and Guests lines above their description. The rule is already written. You pick the calendars. Needs Plus.