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I want my wife and I to share a private calendar of family events, which we can access and edit in Outlook and on an iPhone or Android phone.

As a legacy free Google apps user, my first thought was to make my wife a Google account (within my app domain), create a calendar and share it between us. Having done so (using the "Share with specific people" calendar setting), I tried to then sync the calendar using the popular instructions for this process. It failed with the error:

Cannot verify or add the Internet Calendar in Outlook. Verify the link is a valid calendar link:

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/<snip>/public/basic.ics

The Google calendar settings page warns me:

This is the address for your calendar. No one can use this link unless you have made your calendar public.

Presumably this may be the source of my error – Outlook can't find anything at the URL since it's not public. However, I don't want to make the calendar public because it contains private information.

How do I access this calendar from Outlook? Am I misunderstanding the implications of making my calendar public?

Alternatively, is there a different approach I can take to share any type of calendar between those three targets (Android, iPhone and Outlook), accessible to two different people?

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Duncan Jones
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  • If you are truly a grandfathered Google Apps free user, you can just use the sync app Google provides: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync What happens when you create a second Google Calendar? Does it sync to your Outlook automatically? – Sun Oct 27 '14 at 18:51
  • @sunk818 Yes, I held a free Google apps account prior to the closure of that scheme. AFAICT, the sync app requires one of the non-free variants (either Google Apps for Work, Education, or Government). I've tried to follow the instructions to enable it and found parts of my admin pages to be lacking the necessary sections. – Duncan Jones Oct 29 '14 at 08:14
  • I use a pay software called sync2. Works well for multiple calendars. I sync my work, personal, and shared calendar with my wife. – Sun Oct 29 '14 at 08:24
  • @sunk818 I realised my question was a bit of an XY problem. I've tried to explain the full goal I have, which I think rules out sync2. – Duncan Jones Oct 29 '14 at 08:42
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    Sync2 is for outlook and google calendar. Android would tie in directly to google calendar. Google calendar has a private calendar you share and have access to. I don't see why you couldn't access that on android. iPhone also has direct connection to google calendar via the native calendar app. – Sun Oct 29 '14 at 08:45
  • @sunk818 Yes, Android is not a problem if I use a Google calendar. I've struggled to connect my wife's iPhone to the calendar, but I'm happy to continue attacking that problem. So yes, you're right - Sync2 may be the final piece of the puzzle. But if possible, I'd prefer to avoid paying for something that seems like it should be achievable for free. But it's a good backup option, thank you. – Duncan Jones Oct 29 '14 at 08:47
  • You can add your google account to her iPhone and only sync the calendar if you're having issues sharing the calendar. I've looked for a google to outlook desktop way to sync... I haven't found a good solution that is free. Some do exist, but they are either very limited or somewhat buggy. If you find on that works well for free, let me know! – Sun Oct 29 '14 at 08:50

2 Answers2

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While an old question, it's still relevant today
The best way I've found to sync calendars and other data to/from Outlook is via [paid software] CompaionLink, which offers multiple solutions:

Google used to offer a free tool to sync to Outlook, but discontinued it ~2015ish, and while there are other software solutions, I've never come across one that is as functional, customizable, and seamless as CompanionLink.

  • I'm not a fan of their DejaOffice/DejaCloud service/app and configuring the CompanionLink sync profile to push any changes will result in auto-sync between Outlook and Google
JW0914
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Calendar can be displayed in Outlook, but not edited when adding a new Internet calendar to Outlook. What most people stumble across: Google blocks the initial access due to default safety settings. I am not sure any more where, but there are some security settings which you need to change/ give "your" Outlook access so that Google allows it to access the data.

user86405
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