Click Here to view this article as a PDF.
Author: Joel Kristenson
Last Updated: 2015-12-04
Overview
This article walks through the steps to share your Trail Blazer iCalendar (.ics file) with Microsoft Outlook’s calendar. I used the *installed* desktop version for this example. If you use your Outlook calendar on your mobile device, then this allows for you to quickly see what items are on your Trail Blazer calendar while you’re on the go.
Note: As of the time this article was written, syncing calendars is a one-way street where the appointments created in your database will display in Outlook, but calendar items created in Outlook will not sync back into the database.
Steps to Add the .ics File to Microsoft Outlook (Installed Version)
Navigate to your calendar under the Application Menu. This requires appropriate security clearance, if you don’t see it you’ll need to request that feature from one of the database administrators.
Click the [Share My Calendar…] button near the top-middle of the screen.
Select which user’s calendar you want to share (in my example I selected myself “Joel Kristenson”), choose to share the *Private* calendar, and set the date range (I left mine with the default previous 30 days/through next 60 days).
Important: Choosing to share your *Private* calendar will already share both Private and Public calendars at the same time – if you only want your ‘Public’ appointments to sync than you can certainly choose that option.
These are the final settings I used for this example:
Next you’ll need to click on the [Clipboard] button to copy the .ics file to your clipboard, and click [OK] to finish the steps for the database side of things.
Open up a Web Browser, paste in the URL string that’s currently in your Clipboard, and hit ‘Go’. In my example I used Internet Explorer, but Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox or most other popular browsers should work fine.
This will prompt you with options to Open, Save, or Save-As. All 3 options will work, but I selected to Save-As which can be useful if you would like to provide a custom name for the .ics file, as well as choose the directory to save it . If you just click [Open] it will open the new calendar in MS Outlook automatically, bypassing the steps to save the file, which may not be ideal.
Navigate to the location on your machine where you would like to save the .ics calendar file, create a name, and click [Save]. I saved mine in my Temp folder with the name of “trail-blazer-calendar-joel-kristenson” as shown in the image below.
Next, launch Microsoft Outlook (installed version).
Navigate to [File] in the upper-left > Open > Import
Locate, and select the .ics file you saved in the previous steps, and then click [OK].
Choose how you want to import the new calendar. If you choose to Open as New (as I did) it will conveniently add the calendar as a new one (which can easily be renamed/deleted). If you choose to simply Import it, it will merge the new iCal into your existing Outlook calendar which may or may not be ideal.
If everything worked correctly you’ll now have a new calendar add to Outlook. My example is below.
Here’s an example of how my new shared calendar looks in the full screen view:
Tip: If you ever need to rename/delete your calendar you can simply right-click on it and select your options from the context menu, as shown in the example below:
That concludes the steps to add the Trail Blazer calendar to Outlook. Continue reading to learn about adding a calendar to your iDevice, and take a look at the Related Resources below for quick links to other helpful articles and videos related to this topic.
Example Steps to Add an ‘Exchange’ aka MS Outlook Calendar too an iDevice (iPod touch 4g)
If you add your Outlook calendar to your mobile device such as Android, Apple, or Windows phones you’ll be able to quickly pull up your appointments on the go. These quick links show how to add an Outlook calendar for each respective OS:
- Android Devices 3rd party article (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Set-up-email-on-an-Android-phone-or-tablet-886db551-8dfa-4fd5-b835-f8e532091872)
- Apple Devices 3rd party article (http://www.imore.com/how-to-add-delete-calendars-your-iphone-and-ipad)
- Windows Devices (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Set-up-email-on-an-Android-phone-or-tablet-886db551-8dfa-4fd5-b835-f8e532091872)
My example is below where I can now view my calendar on my iPod touch 4g.
Step 1 – Open the Settings app
Step 2 – Navigate to the Calendar settings area
Step 3 – Add your Exchange (Outlook) account
Step 4 – Example of how my shared calendar looks
Related Resources
Article: Google Calendar – ical sync problems
Article: Reminders
Article: Outlook Internet Calendar Sync Help
Article: Adding Log Notes, Mass Log Notes & Reminders
3rd Party Article: How to import an iCalendar (.ics) file to Outlook
3rd Party Article: How do I import ics/ical/csv files into Google Calendar?
3rd Party Article: How to Add an iCal or .ICS Calendar to Google Calendar
3rd Party Article: Sync your Outlook calendar to Windows Phone
3rd Party Article: How to Add Outlook Calendar to Your Android
3rd Party Article: Synchronize Outlook and Apple iPhone or iPod touch calendars
Video: Scheduled Emails
Video: Getting Started 101 – Orientation to the screen
3rd Party Video: How to: Import an ICS Calendar File to Google Calendar
Trail Blazer Live Support
Phone: 1-866-909-8700
Email: support@trailblz.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trail-Blazer-Software/64872951180
Twitter: https://twitter.com/trailblazersoft
* As a policy we require that you have taken our intro training class before calling or emailing our live support team.
Click here to view our calendar for upcoming classes and events. Feel free to sign up other members on your team for the same training.
* After registering you’ll receive a confirmation email with the instructions for how to log into the GoToMeeting session where we host our live interactive trainings.
* This service is included in your contract.
