Outlook 2011 for Mac - subscribe to iCalendar feed?

Similar to the question Add ics file to outlook 2011 (Mac) as new calendar, but rather than importing a static ICS file, I'd like to subscribe to an ICS feed (like iCal can). Is this possible with Outlook 2011 for the Mac?

In help I only see the note about "drag the .ics file to the Outlook Calendar grid or list", but that's going to be a one-time snapshot of the ICS file, rather than a dynamic polling of an iCalendar/ics feed.

I found this article for Outlook 2007, but I imagine it is specific to the Windows version as I don't have an 'Internet Calendar Tabs' under Accounts: View and subscribe to Internet Calendars.

Mark Nadig

Posted 2011-10-14T21:53:13.163

Reputation: 273

Answers

Assuming your organization uses an Exchange 2010 Server, you can subscribe to '.ics' feeds using OWA:

Login to Outlook Web Access
Go to 'Calendar'
Right click 'My Calendars', then left-click 'Add Calendars'
Supply the URL to the '.ics' feed

Outlook for Mac will sync the calendar automatically.

sean

Posted 2011-10-14T21:53:13.163

Reputation: 196

1link is broken @sean – Mick – 2015-11-28T00:49:36.100

Exchange 2013 and 2016 have different interfaces, so these instructions may need to be updated. – Foo Bar – 2016-03-29T18:19:36.257

1Thanks! As you point out, it does require Exchange server and publishing the OWA. Thankfully, I have access to that. – Mark Nadig – 2013-05-20T14:39:51.197

You can sync Outlook with a CalDav-calendar using iCal (Outlook <--> iCal <--> CalDav Share).

Here's some tutorial by Microsoft on how to sync Outlook and iCal. Syncing iCal and a CardDav share (called iCal by Apple) is really easy.

Jens Erat

Posted 2011-10-14T21:53:13.163

Reputation: 14 141

1This works for appointments that are entered directly into iCal, but isn't what I'm looking for. What I have is an .ics file that's generated dynamically by a web URL. I can "subscribe" to this in iCal and the appointments show up in iCal. But if I sync Outlook to iCal, Sync Services doesn't recognize those subscribed appointments -- only appointments that were actually entered into iCal. – Michael Ames – 2011-10-24T00:18:18.520

Not a Mac user, but perhaps the last entries from this thread can help :
Outlook 2011 Mac (beta5); how to sync with Google Calendar?

Firstly you need to sync google calendar and contacts with ical and 'contacts' (apple's product). Then you sync outlook with these. Simply add a contact in outlook and see it appear in you google contacts and the same with the calendar.

The way to sync Outlook 2011 is via Mac's built-in apps, Address Book and iCal, and then create a sync service between Outlook 2011 and the two. Address Book and iCal connect very nicely to Google Contacts and Calendar - and do so very reliably. I doubt anyone will create a sync directly with Outlook 2011 because the Mac OSX architecture allows for Address Book and iCal to be the primarily sync points for contacts and calendar.

The problem I have is that sync adds all outlook contact folders. I have contact folders on Outlook that I want to keep separate, but sync joins all Outlook folders and puts them in the selected sync folder on outlook and my apple address book.

I sync Google Calendar with Ical and then I sync I cal with Outlook 2011 for Mac. Any events which I have created in Ical show up in outlook but any events which have been synced into ical from Google Calendar which show up in ical do not show up in Outlook unless I change each one to a category of work or home.

harrymc

Posted 2011-10-14T21:53:13.163

Reputation: 306 093

See my comment on Ranon's answer below. Similar problem. Your solution will sync items that I manually enter into Google to Outlook via iCal just fine. By that doesn't solve the problem. I can subscribe to the iCal feed and see those items in my Google calendar, but the subscribed items don't flow into iCal itself. – Michael Ames – 2011-10-24T00:42:39.767

Example: Look at the "Moon" calendar link on this page: http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php. It's a live .ics feed. In iCal as well as Outlook for Windows, it's trivial to "subscribe" to this feed and have the calendar items show up within Outlook. If the items in the feed change, Outlook is automatically updated. But Outlook for Mac doesn't seem to have the same capability, and Sync Services in Outlook doesn't seem to recognize the items from the calendar subscription in iCal.

– Michael Ames – 2011-10-24T00:49:11.657

See this answer of mine, which may also apply here.

– harrymc – 2011-10-24T06:27:15.350