Best practices in Outlook Calendar

If you're using Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO) to synchronize Outlook Calendar, here are some best practices to follow.

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Creating events

Tips for creating events

When you create calendar events in Outlook, do not:

• Set optional attendees. They appear as Required to everyone else.
• Attach documents, pictures, or contacts to events because no one else can view them. For documents, you can paste the URL in the event instead.
• Save a calendar event without intending to send it. If you save changes to an event, attendees' calendars are updated whether you send the event or not.

Automatically add invitations to your calendar

To ensure events created by Outlook and Microsoft Exchange users who don’t use Google Workspace appear in your calendar, you should automatically add invitations to Google Calendar.

To turn on automatic additions:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

   You need to open Calendar on the web, not the app.

2. At the top right, click Settings Settings.
3. In the Event settings section under Automatically add invitations, select Yes.

In Outlook 2016 or newer, don’t save a calendar event with HTML format

In Outlook 2016 or newer, calendar events with descriptions that:

• Contain unsupported HTML formatting; or
• Exceed the maximum permitted length for Google Calendar event descriptions

synchronize to Google Calendar as plain text without HTML formatting. (You'll continue to get the HTML format in Outlook but only plain text in Google Calendar.) The first time you lose the HTML format in the event, you'll get an email notification. After that, you'll only get a message in Outlook's Sync Issues folder.

If you don't want to lose the formatting, save your Outlook 2016 or newer calendar events using Rich Text Format (RTF), rather than HTML.

Consult your Microsoft documentation on how to change the calendar event message format to RTF or HTML.

Time zones

Set your time zone in Google Calendar

To ensure events are scheduled correctly in Outlook, set your current time zone in Google Calendar. If you travel to another time zone, you can temporarily update the time zone so events display at the local time.

To set your time zone:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

   You need to open Calendar on the web, not the app.

2. At the top right, click Settings Settings.
3. In the General section under Time zone, select your correct Primary time zone.

You can also set a calendar-specific time zone for any calendar other than your primary calendar. Learn more about how to Use Google Calendar in different time zones.

Sharing and delegation

Delegate a calendar

You can let another person manage your calendar from Outlook by creating events and responding to invitations on your behalf. To work with GWSMO, you set up delegation in Google Calendar, not in Outlook. To learn how, go to Delegate access to your calendar.

Set up calendar sharing

Available with GWSMO version 1.8 and later

If you want to share your calendar with other Google Workspace users, go to Share a calendar using GWSMO.

Improve performance

Sync only your main calendars

You can improve performance in Outlook by syncing only the calendars you're currently using. For details, go to View and manage your calendars.

Using other sync tools

Stop using other calendar-sync tools

If you're syncing calendar events between Outlook and your Google Workspace account using Google Calendar sync, you should stop using that tool when using GWSMO. Using both sync tools with the same Google Workspace account can result in duplication and data corruption. We recommend you sync your calendars only with GWSMO.

If you're using Google Calendar sync or another tool with your personal Google Account (ends with @gmail.com), you shouldn’t encounter any problems with GWSMO.

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