Microsoft is Bringing Support for Google Calendar and Contacts to Outlook 2016 for Mac
- Paul Thurrott
- Mar 01, 2017
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Microsoft announced today that it is adding support for Google Calendar and Contacts to Outlook 2016 for Mac. The functionality is currently available only in limited testing, but will expand over time.
“With these updates, capabilities on Mac now will be on par with the Outlook for iOS and Android apps, providing users with Gmail accounts a more powerful way to stay on track,” a Microsoft representative told me. “Today marks the beginning of the rollout, coming first to the Insiders Fast community and implementing feedback along the way prior to broader availability in the coming months.”
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If you use Outlook 2016 for Mac, you know that the product currently only supports Gmail email, which limits its usefulness to those who use Google cloud services. But your nightmare is ending.
Microsoft says that the experience of using Google Calendar and Contacts in Outlook 2016 will work much like that for other supported account types. That is, it will support core actions like add, delete, edit time and location, and all changes will update back and forth with Gmail/Google Calendar in the cloud. It will even support unique Outlook features like Focused Inbox and rich inbox experiences for travel and package delivery.
The only issue is timing. Right now, this support is available only to some people who have signed up for the Office Insider Fast program. (You can learn more about that here.) Microsoft says it will expand the rollout over the next few weeks, and then release this feature publicly after that.