New York City-based programmer David Levinson has written an add-in called gSyncit, that synchronizes Google calendars and Microsoft Outlook calendars -- from both applications and in both directions.
Google and Microsoft Outlook do not talk to each other by default. So the gSyncit utility solves a thorny dilemma for users who may have started with a Google calendar and graduated to Microsoft Outlook, or vice versa.
All versions of Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 are supported, as well as Microsoft Exchange calendar accounts. Users can even synchronize with multiple Google calendars if needed. The .NET Framework 2.0 is required, but at this point that's typically available by default in most machines.
Once installed, the program adds a new toolbar to Microsoft Outlook that controls gSyncit's settings and lets you perform a synchronization on demand.
Some noteworthy gSyncit features include:
- Calendar events within a given date range can be synchronized, rather than everything at once. This is useful if, for instance, you inherited a calendar from someone else and only want to synchronize newer items to speed up the process.
- Public calendars can be published one way; private calendars can be synchronized in both directions.
- Free/busy data can be published by itself.
- The program makes a best attempt to avoid duplicate entries during the calendar synchronization process; the first time you sync, it tries to match any existing duplicate entries between both calendars.
- Categories for Google calendar entries can have categories automatically assigned when imported into Microsoft Outlook.
- Full support is offered for proxy servers.
The program can be used indefinitely for free (with a nag screen), or can be registered for a cost of U.S. $9.99.
About the author: Serdar Yegulalp is editor of Windows Insight, a newsletter devoted to hints, tips, tricks, news and goodies for all flavors of Windows users.
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