Sync outlook.com calendar with Lightning in Thunderbird

Hi.

I am looking to sync the calendar in Outlook.com with that available in Lightning, a calendar add-on available for Thunderbird.

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, as everyone here has discovered, Microsoft, true to their 'closed' view of the world, does not support a bi-directional sync between the Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) Calendar with any other software other than their own (such as Outlook desktop or the Windows 8 Calendar.)

One option would be to migrate everyone to Google Calendar, as most of us know, DOES support bi-directional sync with Lightning and other clients.

But, I am like you.  I put all my family on Outlook.com for e-mail and calendar.  It's just an easier interface for them and they all use MS Office (like 90% of everyone else in the world - this and Xbox are all that are keeping Microsoft's profits from plummeting IMHO) combined with SkyDrive, so for the novice user it's best to keep them in one ecosystem.  I personally use both Google and MS WebApps and Cloud Storage.

So here's the best solution I've found.  Download and install the WebApp Tabs add-on for Thunderbird available here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/webapp-tabs/?src=search

Then go into the options for the add-on and remove/add whatever tabs you want.  Add a tab, call it 'Outlook Calendar' or whatever.  Paste in the URL of your Outlook Calendar.  Now you can easily access your Outlook Calendar from within Thunderbird.  I still do the one-way read only sync from Outlook.com to Thunderbird Lightning just so I have one master calendar where I can see ALL my calendars.

You can go into Outlook.com and 'subscribe' to your Google calendars and then you can see them (read only) in your Outlook.com calendar so when you are adding things to your Outlook.com calendar you can make sure it doesn't conflict with your other calendars.  Strangely though, although the same ICS URL allows bi-directional sync in Lightning with Google Calendars, the Outlook.com Calendar client is too 'stupid' to take advantage of it.  The main reason is if Microsoft built-in too many features into their free software, there would be less incentive to purchase their for-fee software and also, obviously they don't want to give incentive to use Google software.

Hi DavidBurdess,

 

We understand your frustration not being able to import your calendar from Outlook.com to Mozilla Thunderbird. Your query is already beyond our scope of support. We request you to post this in the Mozilla Thunderbird forum for better assistance.

Thanks!

Dear Microsoft representative,

Background: We have a shared family calendar on Outlook.com. I have a MS Surface Pro and use Office 365 (hurray) at work. However, "Outlook 2013" doesn't perform very well and in particular bad on MS Surface Pro where the window management (=bug?) just sucks and make it unusable for me. THEREFORE I had to look for alternatives and I have for a while used Mozilla Thunderbird 24 with Lightning calendar add on (that works very well in every other respect!). On your Outlook.com/Calendar help you actually give TB+Lightning as an example where you can use the calendar (.ics) feed. However, as the thread starter also has noticed, this doesn't work! Of course, the ultimate would be a two way calendar sync but a one way sync is better than none. (If this isn't solved very soon we will have to move our family calendar to another webservice.)

Now I wonder;

Can you clarify that Outlook.com actually produces a verified and correct .ics feed according to current standard?

Best regards/Carl

Hi dinisbrazão and UrsRudszuck,

We understand that you want to synchronize your Outlook.com Calendar to your Thunderbird Calendar to be able to use it in your Lumia phone.

If this is the case, since you can sync your Outlook.com Calendar in your Lumia phone, you need to subscribe or import your Thunderbird calendar to Outlook.com. You need to contact Thunderbird support if their calendar can be exported as .ICS file and import it to other calendar or if your email client can provide and a subscribed link.

If your Thunderbird calendar can be exported, follow the steps below on how to import calendar in Outlook.com:

1. Go to https://calendar.live.com.
2. Click Import from the Menu bar.
3. Choose Import to a new calendar.
4. Click Choose File to locate where you saved your exported .ICS file of your Thunderbird calendar.
5. Fill out the other details such as calendar name and color.
6. Click Import.

If Thunderbird can produce a subscribe link, here are the steps:

1. Go to https://calendar.live.com.
2. Click Import from the Menu bar.
3. Click Subscribe.
4. Enter the Calendar URL and name.
5. Choose a calendar color and charm.
6. Click Subscribe.

Once done and you sync your Outlook.com account in your Lumia phone, you will be able to access your Thunderbird calendar as well.

Get back to us with the results.

Thank you.

I also need a direct sycronisation for Thunderbird and outlook.com . In my opinion it is a no go that there ist no easy way for a both way sicronisation. I want to buy a lumia device so i want to use windosphone 8 to support me having a a productive day. Please help me to do this in combination with outlook.com and Thunderbird!!