During this last week, Microsoft released a new version of its Microsoft Outlook Connector. This happened to add support for the recent update done on Windows Live Calendar which is still in Beta.
With this update you can now sync multiple Windows Live Calendars with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Office Outlook 2007. You can now take advantage of Outlook’s great calendar and time management features and still access your schedule on the web anytime, and anywhere… and always for free (ok you need to buy outlook first… although there are other ways to get outlook… like… maybe some special… very special promotions… 
…!! )
For those that never used the Windows Live Calendar Beta, you can access it on this web address: http://calendar.live.com. It has a fast and functional Ajax user interface providing a rich experience on the web… supporting many new features making Outlook look even better!! For example, if you have multiple calendars (maybe one to use for work, another one for your events) or even shared calendars, each of them will sync with Microsoft Office Outlook always by using the Office Outlook Connector Beta.
Check out the How To? after the break…
First the Requirements… you need to have the following:
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or 2007
- If you’re reading this you must have internet… right!!
- A Windows Live/Hotmail Account (if you don’t have an account, click here to register)
Now the How To? You need to do the following:
- Download the Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta from here
- Close Outlook (if open!!)
- Install the downloaded Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta
- Run Outlook
- Enter your Windows Live/Hotmail account details in the prompt loaded
- Your Windows Live/Hotmail account can be accessed from the Mail Folders List as one of your personal folders
Any appointments you make, they are automatically synced back to your live account and can be accessed from anywhere!! Another important thing is that you can have as many Hotmail accounts as you want synced with your Outlook… Finally The Cost?… No need to worry cause it’s free!!! What can I say??? Thank you Microsoft!!! 
Happy Calendaring!
August 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I tried and it does not really sync. It appears to add your hotmail account to outlook. I was looking to sync my work outlook calendar with my hotmail calendar. Now I can see both calendars in outlook but it does not take appointments from on e and place it in the other. Same goes with mail and contacts.
August 28, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Hi Greg, sorry for the misunderstanding… what the Microsoft Outlook Connector does is that it creates a new ‘Personal Folders’ in your Outlook… which shows you all the mails and calendar events in your hotmail. Then if you add new events or delete any mail, it syncs back to the online hotmail and calendar. I will check if there’s some sync tool that can sync other personal calendars… in your case your work outlook calendar… with your windows live account/hotmail.
September 21, 2008 at 2:46 am
This works for syncing with outlook and homtail / live. Once the info is in outlook, don’t get fooled into thinking that it will sync with an iPhone via iTunes. Apparently the outlook connector stores calendar and such in a new location that iTunes isn’t aware of. It would be nice if Microsoft made stuff work with iphone… heck the only reason i bought outlook was cause that’s the only app iphone would sync with.
September 24, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Hi there
I can sync my live.com account with Outlook 2003.
Now what I want is to use Personal Folders (.pst) so that I can store my e-mails there instead of having them online.
I’ve already added the .pst and set it up to deliver the messages there but it is not working.
Suggestions?
thanks
September 29, 2008 at 8:14 pm
(1) I want to do the same thing that Greg mentioned – I want my current Exchange calendar in Outlook to synchronize with my Windows Live Calendar, so that they both have the same appointments and changes in one are reflected in the other. Anyone know if this is possible?
(2) Larry – I think you have it backwards. Outlook is an established product with an enormous user base. The phone you are talking about is tiny in comparison. Why should Microsoft have to design their software for that small portion of users? Instead I think Apple should make their phone work with the standard e-mail client, i.e. Outlook. If you want things to work together nicely, get a Windows Mobile phone.
October 1, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Is a sharepoint calender at Microsoft Office Live Workspace not the solution to this? I am trying to figure it out… Already have a Calendar folder opened in my Outlook 2003. Now I am messing with access settings… i only have read-only permissions, but I want to have full access and organise meetings from the sharepoint calendar…
October 31, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Clearly, MSN is misleading if it claims that the outlook and MSN live/hotmail calendars. It is just not true. Overlaying two calendars on top of each other is NOT the same as synchronising them.
Microsoft does only provide this very half-hearted function overlay function so that I-Phones cannot be synchronised with hotmail accounts. Shame- the outlook connector adds only very little by doing this.
If anyone knows of a solution to true synchronisation of hotmail and outlook, it would be greatly appreciated. Outlook connector is NOT the answer.
November 2, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I’ve been messing with this all morning, this is NOT syncing as others have appropriately alluded above. All this does is allow you to view your Windows Live Calendar within Outlook and manage it. Any editing to your original Outlook calendar is not reflected or synced in any manner with your Live Calendar and vice-versa.
Furthermore, as far as I can tell, this does not allow any additional capability to sync your Live Calendar with a Windows Mobile Device (ie there is still no capability to do this).
TRUE syncing (IMO) would be ONE calendar shared between all three of these platforms. That is my pipe dream…
This goes exactly the same for contacts as well (ie not really “syncing”). However, I do see you could just import your entire contact list from Outlook, and then with using Windows Live Mobile, sync contacts to your WM device; this seems mostly convenient (sometimes I just need to manually sync the WM Device – Outlook syncs when you “Send/Receive”).
November 5, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Would it really be so hard to offer free syncing between outlook and windows live? I’m able to view/edit my outlook calendar via google calendar perfectly right now, but windows live is so much cooler
November 10, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I will just stick to google sync. It works as it is supposed to work. The windows live connector is not doing what it says it can do. Microsoft always has to make it hard. What a racket!
December 7, 2008 at 12:56 am
thank you!
vajinismus
January 31, 2009 at 12:20 am
I have to agree with James, I read the info and worked diligently to get this thing to supposedly sync using my Live ID which is my gmail account and another account not hotmail. only to discover that there is no unity sync as stated. Very frustrating and complete waste of my time. I do not like the false or half truths espoused by Microsoft and their products. Someone please free me from the tyranny!
February 3, 2009 at 8:45 am
I hate to rupture the bubble that any aforementioned people have stated above, but Outlook Connector since September of 2008 has had support for syncing calendar data FROM outlook back to the service on the web. I have been using this to track my Bills, School Work, and other social activities. The only shortcoming I have found is the inability to have it syncronize to my blackberry without any third party intervention. A minor complaint at best.
You have to ensure that you are working on the tabs, or calendars, that outlook connector brings to Outlook. IE: My bills calendar is a red tab at the top. If i want to add my Electric Bill to the bills calendar, i simply right click and add the event. When i do my next send/receive sync, it automagically pops up in the calendar and with a simple refresh, its also been placed on my online calendar, not just the local Outlook Calendar. Now I’m not sure if this works with the “default” calendar setup, your mileage may vary.
July 18, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Finally someone who knows what they are talking about.
Way to go Chuck.
You have to make the account the default account or it will not work.
Chuck if I update the Live Caledar (edit it there)
when I do a send/recieve will it sync back to Outlook?
MTF
February 6, 2009 at 11:18 am
I got the solution. You can sync the outlook with live calendar using the connector. All you have to do after you installed the connector and configured the live account is to tell outlook to use the live folder as you default folder (in outllok 2007: tools> account settings>data files tab>select hotmail account and click “set as default”)
Now, use the live calendar at your office (every invitation will go to the live calendar) and you will have access at the web.
If you already have many appointments in you local calendar, just copy them manually (only one time) to the live calendar.
May 31, 2009 at 6:27 pm
how does this work with outlook 2003? Please your advise……………..
regards, martin
June 1, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Have done it like Nimrod said but with Outlook 2003. Sync) for Calendar and Contacts works. They only items which are not synced are “Task Items”. Any hints how to sync them also or even how to sync Notes?
June 20, 2009 at 4:53 am
Nimrod, do you know if this works if my Live ID is a gmail address, not hotmail? My current outlook is syn with gmail. For calendar, i like the Live calendar so much more than the Google calenar. So I am trying to syn my Live calendar to my Outlook 2007. Any advice??? Thx!
August 31, 2009 at 6:05 pm
In outlook, when I try to set my hotmail account as default it gives me an error message “The personal Folders file (.pst) you selected does not match the format of your offline folder file (.ost). To correct this, select a personal folders file that supports unicode or disable the use of offline folders”. Is this because I use outlook in cached exchange mode? Do I have to use outlook strictly in online mode to be able to take advantage of your solution?
September 7, 2009 at 5:49 am
Nimrod, I’m not sure how your suggestion works. When you set up a live account using outlook connector there is no associated data file. In fact, under “account settings”, “Data Files”, the filename for the live account says “Not available”, so when you click on “set as default” it errors out. Any suggestions.
September 25, 2009 at 4:11 am
Can you be more specific on how you do this in outlook 2003?
After I installed Connector I ended up with 2 main folders – “Personal Folders” which contains the calandar, address book, etc which sync with my WM device (WM can only sync to this location) and a “hotmail” folder which contains my windows live calander, contacts etc.
I’m looking to get to one calander which is syncronised across live, outlook and my WM phone.
February 11, 2009 at 1:35 am
OL 2003 default PST synchs Contacts and Clalendar only when GMAIL IMAP account is used. When someone sends a sch+ to my hotmail account, it will not synch the calendar in the defalut PST. GMAIL works fine, Hotmail does not. I need to synch the default so that my WM6 Phone gets Contacts and Calendar synched – which will only work on the Defalut PST. I do not want Hotmail or GMAIL PSTs to be the defalut because I don’t want all my contacts on the Server. I want them locally only. Active Synch can’t split where it synchs the Calendar and contacts. XPSP3, OL 2003 OL connector 12.06 Any ideas?? I want both gamil and Hotmail calendars synched on the Phone from the Default PST.
March 24, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Using Outlook Connector for a while but there are three major drawbacks for me at the moment:
1. It creates a own .pst file (so having a second calendar, contacts etc.) and it won’t sync with my PDAs. OK, I know there is “Live Mobile” that does this but I’d like to use ActiveSync / WMDC for some reason – so I need an application (outlook add-in) which is able to sync the two .pst files
2. Sync with TaskItem does not work:
The following issues occurred while synchronizing with the server:
Folder Collection Sync Key: 0
Error synchronizing changes to appointment find a solution that works “task item name” in folder MyName’s calendar
Server Id: 8447a212-ed3f-4a00-8244-f927845e869c
Unable to synchronize item : find a solution that works “task item name”
Change : Update
SSE Error : (8004a164)
It is confusing that log message says appointment but it is a task item (really!!)
3. Photos in contacts are not synchronized
Any suggestions? A sync utility (Outlook add-in) which is able to sync Contacts, TaskItems, Calendar etc. betwee the two .pst files would be helpful (freeware). Does Microsoft offer something?
March 24, 2009 at 8:28 pm
@Nimrod Says:
February 6, 2009 at 11:18 am
Oh …. I have seen your post to late
Sounds good and I’ll try it!! Many thanks!!
–hfr
PS: how can I force synchronization? Sometimes it takes some minutes until the sync is started … e.g. if I create an appointment and close Outlook and shut down the PC the appointment would’nt be synced …
March 29, 2009 at 1:15 am
Connector 12.1 now doesn’t sync Tasks and Notes. And Windows Live Calendar has a “To-do list” that doesn’t sync anywhere in Outlook 2003???
You’d think that all the INTERNAL Microsoft departments would try to make their products work TOGETHER better instead of SEPERATING them or breaking them apart???
Any word if this will be fixed or if Live Calendar will ever incorporate Tasks and Notes again??
March 30, 2009 at 6:21 am
@Nimrod: Wow, it works. I am now able to sync my default .pst with OL
) Thank you for your idea setting the “default folder”. In reality it does not sync with the local .pst … In reality now the OL is the default calendar (OL using a .ost file). But it simply works and now I am able to sync: OL Outlook PDA(s) and only need to change e.g. a contact, appointment once!!
@Evillama: Still having the same problem. I think task item should sync but there are error message when OC tries to sync them … I “heard somewhere” that this will work with Outlook 2007 … Don’t know if this is true.
Hase someone experience with Outlook 2007 + synching task items with Live?
–hfr
March 31, 2009 at 12:27 am
I am using Outlook 2007 and still having the same problem syncing task items with Live! Installed Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta and only get calendar, mail and contact synced up!
March 31, 2009 at 10:43 am
Thanks for prompt your reply.
When use use OL About menu item, what version does it display!? I also downloaded and installed 12.1 Beta but it shows 12.0 in the About box *confused*
April 2, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Under OL About menu item, my show 12.0.6414.100
April 11, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Hi, Nimrod, it worked very smoothly, thanks so much!
April 19, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Would love to be able to sync Windows Live Hotmail – especialy calendar and contacts with Outlook2007 so I can sync with iPod Touch. Did the mBox app through Apple – does the e-mail fine – no contacts or calendar. Ended up setting up a separate user file and installing google calendar and sync application to sync data properly with Outlook 2007 on laptop and Outlook 2003 on office computer…..only solution – now just have to make sure everything syncs properly between the two since Yahoo Intellisync not configured for Outlook 2007 yet.
June 10, 2009 at 2:56 am
You can sync Windows Live Calendar with Windows Mobile by way of a third party program. Once such program is Sianix Calendar Sync. In order to sync with Pocket Outlook, you need to share your Windows Live Calendar. Then use the ICS share address to import your Live Calendar.
June 10, 2009 at 9:50 am
@Jeff: Thank you for that hint.
But FF3 reports “The server at sianix.com is taking too long to respond.” for http://sianix.com/products/pocketpc/sianix-calendar-sync/
Is it free? Is it able to sync “Task Items” and “Contacts” also?
July 27, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I’m using the Outlook Connector versión 12.0.6423.1000 and have a Passport.net acccount (myname@myweb.com) created. I tryed to syncronize the calendar and the contacts book with the Outlook 2007, but didm’t work.
It would be very useful if Microsoft could sync the calendar, task, contacts and notes between Outlook and the Live account, isn’t it?
July 27, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I forgot: I returned to the Google Calendar Sync. Sorry Clive.
August 25, 2009 at 12:13 am
I use outlook 2007 and windows live calendar – works great with outlook connector 12.1 – BUT how do you sync TASKs and Notes ??? Does anyoneknow if this is possible? Thanks
August 26, 2009 at 7:11 am
I tried to sync Outlook with tasks and notes but can’t do it. I had to change to Windows Live Mail to sync tasks but doesn’t have a notes option. Regards.
September 1, 2009 at 8:45 am
Outlook Connector 12.1 does not seem to sync tasks and notes between Outlook and Windows Live Calendar.
This is actually a LOSS of functionality for me as I used to be able to sync e-mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes perfectly between Outlook and my MSN Premium account online. After the switch over to Live, tasks and notes syncing was lost.
I’ve seen some mention on other sites of tasks and notes syncing being an available feature with “paid subscriptions,” but don’t know how reliable this is, nor do they go into much detail. Paid subscription to what, exactly? Does or will Windows Live Hotmail/Calendar implement a subscription model in addition to the free services? And what became of my MSN Premium account?
I don’t imagine there are too many people in this boat–i.e., former MSN Premium subscribers–but seriously, what gives? This latest Outlook Connector “upgrade” has been nothing but a step backwards for me. Ughh.
September 1, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I am in this boat too ….
Previously I thought only Outlook 2007 is able to sync tasks. I am using Outlook 2003 (sync Contacts and Calendar works fine).
When I tried to sync tasks with my Hotmail and Outlook 2003 I got errors like this:
“Unable to synchronize item” Change : Update SSE Error (8004a164)
Anybody else got this?
Maybe it is a technical problem: http://ask.officelive.com/workspace/qna/p/734/2922.aspx#2922
September 2, 2009 at 7:01 pm
If you use a Free Hotmail account you will only be able to sync Contacs and Calendar this is not posible if you use a Passport.net account. Only if you use a Premium account (how much it costs?) will sync contacts, calendar, notes and tasks. Why don’t we write to MS and ask for it?
September 26, 2009 at 3:48 am
I have a premium MSN account and you can’t sync tasks, notes and on some systems the calendar. I have spent hours getting the run around on the telephone. Without any luck. This used to work fine before th migration. Also I used to be able to sync colored coded (labeled) appts and that functionality was lost as well. My MSN Premium account for all appearances is now a Hotmail Plus account. Definately a headache and a downgrade with this migration.
September 26, 2009 at 9:19 am
How can I get such a premium MSN account and where are the differences to a “normal account”!? How much to you pay for your premium MSN account?
It should (it was) possible to sync “tasks”. Someone sayd that it only works with Outlook 2007. This may explain why I got error messages when syncing tasks (so Outlook connector tried to sync task but failed).
The message(s) I got:
“Unable to synchronize item” Change : Update SSE Error (8004a164)
Others claim that only using a premium account it is possible to sync tasks (I don’t believe that because I see no reason why Microsoft should to that)
I think it is a technical problem. I am also able to sync tasks using OL (OfficeLive which seems to based on SharePoint technology) with Outlook 2003.
October 13, 2009 at 7:24 am
Nena seems to be in the same boat as me with a former MSN Premium account that no longer syncs tasks and notes between Outlook and Live.
However, I have no idea what a “Hotmail Plus” account is. Based on Nena’s reply, Hotmail Plus still doesn’t restore the lost functionality.
Hfrmobile, I have no idea how to get an MSN Premium account. Mine was simply part of a Verizon DSL package. I don’t think Microsoft even offers MSN Premium anymore. As far as I can tell, my former “MSN Premium” account is no different from any free Hotmail or Live account. (Before the migration, there used to be differences.)
I think Microsoft simply dropped the ball in terms of carrying over the extra features of MSN Premium during its migration to Live. So basically they’ve stripped my MSN Premium account of any advantages it once had over the freebie accounts. Fortunately I’m not paying for it (directly anyway).
And echoing Nena’s experience, troubleshooting with MS is typically a pretty hopeless task, especially when the solution to the problem simply does not exist. I can only hope that MS is at least aware of the issue. That they’ll fix it is more than I’d hope for, however.
October 16, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Does the Connector force Blackberry users to use gmail?
Since upgrading to Connector, when I receive an appointment request which is sent to “myname@msn.com” it goes into my Windows Live Calendar and not my “Outlook Calendar” as it used to.
There does not appear to be any way to sync my “Windows Live Calendar” and my “Outlook Calendar”
As my Blackberry will only sync with my “Outlook Calendar” this is not helpful. It is vital to me that my appointments show up on my Blackberry.
The only but simple solution seems to be to completely ignore the “Windows Live Calendar”, exclusively use my “Outlook Calendar” but send and receive meeting requests using my Gmail account (myname@gmail.com). When I do this the appoints go straight into my “Outlook Calendar” and my Blackberry syncs fine with it. All seems to be fine.
1. Is this really the case, the Connector forces anyone using a Blackberry to use Gmail if they want their calendar items to show up on their Blackberry?
2. Is there any way to solve this using msn/hotmail email?
3. How do I sync my outlook calendar with my live calendar and should I try to?
4. Am I missing something or is this crazy?