Direct Sync with your Outlook Calendar
About a year ago we released direct sync functionality with Google Calendar. When we did I figured requests would start rolling in for a more direct sync with other calendar systems, but to my surprise (and kinda delight, I guess!) having just Google Calendar seemed to cover the needs of the vast majority of CA users, so I was content to leave it at that and focus on other projects.
But last month I got a nice bit of perspective in a conversation with Martin in Australia. I may not have it word for word, but it was something to the effect of “There are two types of software out there: those that integrate fully with Microsoft products, and those we don’t use”.
What a succinct and compelling case for adding such support to CoachAccountable.
Two productive weeks later CoachAccountable now supports full synchronization with Outlook calendars.
To set this up as a coach, go to Settings >> Appointment Config >> Calendar Sync.
Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple iCal? Either way you’re a few clicks away from full synchronization.
Clicking the “Sync with Outlook!” button takes you to the login screen with your Microsoft account. Once logged in, you’re presented with the ask to give CoachAccountable permission to sync with your calendar:
Two permissions: (1) access that lasts more than an hour and (2) access to your calendar.
Assuming you click “Yes”, you’ll be bounced back to CoachAccountable for the final step: choosing which (if any) calendar you’d like CA to publish your coaching appointments to, and which calendar CA should read from to determine your precise availability.
Easy choices: which calendar should CA publish too, which calendars should CA read from.
And that’s it! With just a few clicks you can be fully synced with your Outlook calendar in under a minute, and this includes accounts with Outlook.com, Office 365, and Outlook Exchange.
Don’t forget your clients!
This one-time setup to sync with your calendar is easy and useful for you as coach, AND is similarly available to your coaching clients. They’ll find the same controls to sync with their calendar system of choice (Google, Outlook, or iCal) in their My Account page, so let them know this is available as a quick one-time setup.
Their setup is a little easier: just choose which calendar to publish to.
And you might go one step further to actually sell them on doing this. Because when they do it, their appointments with you will automatically appear in their calendar. It’s a great way to make the process of working with you even more frictionless, and easier to fit into their busy lives. (This one is so good that it might well be a worthy Action item for you to make part of the standard getting started routine for new clients!)
If you or your clients use Apple iCal, CoachAccountable directly syncs with that, too. Find the instructions here (spoiler alert: it’s pretty similar to the other two).
Enjoy!
More recently: A CoachAccountable Story
Previously: Team account or Two single accounts?
Awesome. I’ve been waiting for this! Thank you
February 25, 2019 @ 12:37 am
I am a very happy bunny. done with syncing outlook to google to CA.
You are just awesome :-)
February 25, 2019 @ 8:39 pm
We have multiple coaches. Can CA sync with multiple calendars? Two cases:
1. A client is assigned to a particular coach, it syncs with that coach only.
2. A client can schedule with any coach, can CA sync calendars in such a way that the client can schedule with one coach if another coach is not available?
May 8, 2020 @ 2:56 pm
Hi Gary,
Great questions. Yes, each coach will sync with his/her own calendar.
1) Yes, you’ll want to check out the pairing and permissions article – simply pair that client with just one coach.
2) Seems like in this case you’ll either want to set up Offerings to include each coach (more here) or in pairing as mentioned in #1 pair that client with all coaches to allow the selection of all coaches in the client’s scheduling dropdown.
Have emailed you as well!
May 14, 2020 @ 1:07 am
Hi Team,
Outlook integration, Yay!
Can I have more than one Outlook account simultaneously syncing?
USE CASE: I currently live off two separate Outlook calendars each associated with separate Microsoft accounts/email addresses (one personal, the other business) which I can view simultaneously on my desktop Outlook and BlackBerry (not Android) to avoid scheduling conflicts.
I’d like CA to check against and publish to both accounts.
Is this possible? Do I just follow the above process a second time, logging in with the other MS account?
Thanks,
Jonn
August 17, 2020 @ 6:07 pm
Hi Jonn,
I’m afraid not: you can only sync with one single calendar, because it is generally the case that you’ve setup your life to have some single calendar be the comprehensive “source of truth” for when you’re busy and when you’re free.
Though I can’t say for sure about your configuration, it’s generally the case that if one lives out of two calendars (like personal and business, as you describe), one is able to sync one to the other, and thus, by a certain logic of daisy-chaining, one calendar can be synced with CoachAccountable to give CA the full picture.
August 18, 2020 @ 10:20 am