Does zapier offer a syncing software that updates my Outlook calendar when I create events in my google calendar and vice versa? Thanks in advance.
Best answer by Danvers
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3 May 2022
Hi
Good question.
Zapier is not meant for 2-way data syncing between apps: https://zapier.com/help/create/basics/does-zapier-support-two-way-syncing
Check out the available Zap triggers/actions for each app…
GCal: https://zapier.com/apps/google-calendar/integrations#triggers-and-actions
Outlook: https://zapier.com/apps/microsoft-outlook/integrations#triggers-and-actions
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4 May 2022
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Hey
Zapier isn’t set up up for two way syncing. It’s possible to set up a series of Zaps that will do the job, but you run the risk of creating a loop that will add an infinite series of events to your calendar.
Think of Zaps as if/then statements eg if I get a new even in Google Calendar, add it to my outlook calendar. Zapier can do this, but it can’t compare both calendars and make any necessary updates. You could make the following Zaps that would update each calendar:
- A Zap that goes IF I have a new New Google Calendar event THEN create one in Outlook
- A Zap that goes IF I have New Calendar event in outlook THEN create one in Google Calendar
BUT each of these Zaps will trigger the other ie when Zap 1 creates a new outlook event Zap 2 will run and create a new Google Calendar event, which will trigger Zap 1 again, and so on until you have more calendar events than you know what to do with 😬
If you want to try this with Zapier, you’ll need to add a few extra things to your Zaps to prevent this ‘Zap loop’. This troubleshooting guide explains how to do that.
Happy Zapping!
What about a one-way zap that says IF a calendar event is updated in Outlook, update the matching event in Google calendar. Is that a possibility, and if so, how-to? Thanks.
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16 May 2022
You can absolutely do that
First, I’m going to assume that if you add new events to Outlook, you want them in Google Calendar. If you click on the link for this Zap template, it will create a Zap where if a New event is created in Outlook, it will be added to Google Calendar.
To update events in Google Calendar when an event is updated in Outlook, you need an extra step. The Zap would look like this:
- Trigger: Outlook - Updated Calendar Event
- Action: Google Calendar - Find Event
- Action: Google Calendar - Update Event
In this Zap, you need the second step to find the event that needs to be updated so that the third step knows which event to update. The Find Event step will give you an event ID for the relevant event, which you then use as a custom value for the Event in the Update Event step:
I hope that gives you what you need to get started, let me know if you have any questions!
This is exactly what I’d like to accomplish, thank you very much!
I’m new to Zapier and confused about Step 2. In the screen shots, I’m getting Outlook options; do I also select a calendar ID field here? How will Google know the Outlook ID in Step 3?
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16 May 2022
In the Find Event step, search using the fields in Outlook. The most common search to use is the name of the event and this works best if your events are uniquely named.
When you update events in Outlook, will you update the start and end time of the event? If you not, then you can use those fields to search for the event in Google Calendar.
If the Find Event step is able to find a Google Calendar event matching the information you put in the step, it will give you all of the details for it, including the ID. I hope that helps!
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