Use cases
There are three free ways to get Google Calendar and Outlook to show each other's events, and each one does something different. This guide covers Google's and Microsoft's own options first, with their real limits, and then what to do if the actual problem is getting double-booked. Meetingpad's founder wrote it.
Most people searching for this want one of three things: to see their Google events inside Outlook, to see their Outlook events inside Google Calendar, or to stop people booking them on one calendar when they're already busy on the other. The first two are free and built in. The third is where a plain sync falls short.
| Option | Direction | How fresh | Can you edit? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscribe to your Google calendar in Outlook | Google to Outlook | Outlook.com about every 3 hours, Outlook on the web about every 6 | Read-only view | Free |
| Publish your Outlook calendar and add it in Google Calendar | Outlook to Google | Depends on Google; no official figure | Read-only | Free |
| Add your Google account to Outlook for Mac | Both ways, on a Mac | Synced account | Yes | Free |
| Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook | Both ways, in Microsoft Outlook, not on a Mac | Synced account | Yes | Needs a work or school Google account and an administrator |
| Meetingpad calendar blocking | Blocks time both ways | Automatic, on Meetingpad's server | Adds private Blocked events | Free for every calendar |
Refresh times are Microsoft's own estimates; Microsoft also says updates can sometimes take more than 24 hours.
This gives Outlook a read-only copy of one Google calendar that refreshes every few hours. Start in Google Calendar on a computer.
Keep the secret address to yourself: anyone who has it can see that calendar. If it leaks, Google lets you click Reset to invalidate the old address and create a new one.
In classic Outlook for Windows, Microsoft's Google Calendar page only describes a one-time import, which it calls a static snapshot that does not update. Subscribing in Outlook on the web instead keeps it current.
This goes the other way: you publish your Outlook calendar as a link, and Google Calendar subscribes to it.
Microsoft says HTML and ICS calendars are read-only, and that anyone with the link can view a published calendar. With a work account, your organisation may switch publishing off or limit sharing to people inside it.
Neither company offers a free two-way sync between a personal Google calendar and a separate Outlook calendar. There are two partial routes.
Adding a Gmail account to Outlook for Windows is documented by Microsoft for email; its page doesn't say your Google calendar comes with it.
If you just want to see everything in one place, Apple Calendar can hold both. Choose Calendar, then Add Account, and add your Google account and your Microsoft Exchange account. This changes only your own view.
Subscribed calendars are a picture for you. They refresh every few hours, only you see them, and they don't change what anyone else sees. A colleague booking you in Outlook still sees you as free during a meeting that lives in your Google calendar, and a booking link from one side doesn't know about meetings on the other.
To stop double bookings, each calendar has to show you as busy when you're busy on the other one, for everyone who looks at it, as soon as a meeting is booked.
Meetingpad connects Google and Microsoft calendars, in any mix. Turn on calendar blocking and a meeting on one calendar adds a private event titled Blocked to your others, so colleagues on either side see you're busy. The Blocked event doesn't show the meeting's title, and blocking runs on Meetingpad's server, so it keeps working while your computer is asleep.
Every calendar also gets a booking link that only offers times you're free on all of them, and your combined calendar shows every meeting in one place. You can subscribe to it in Mac Calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar on iPhone. It's free for every calendar you connect.
Not between a personal Google calendar and a separate Outlook calendar. Outlook for Mac can edit a Google calendar once you add the account, and Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook syncs work or school accounts in Microsoft Outlook. Subscriptions in either direction are read-only.
Microsoft says about every 3 hours on Outlook.com and about every 6 hours on Outlook on the web, and that it can sometimes take more than 24 hours.
Subscribed calendars only refresh every few hours. In classic Outlook for Windows, an imported calendar is a one-time snapshot, so subscribe in Outlook on the web instead.
Anyone with a published Outlook link or your Google secret address can view that calendar. When you publish from Outlook, choose Can view when I'm busy to show only busy times.
No. It adds a private Blocked event to your other calendars, which doesn't show the meeting's title, and shows every meeting in your own combined calendar.
Connect every Google and Microsoft calendar for free. A meeting on one blocks the time on the others, and your booking links only offer times you're free.
