Sync Outlook 365 (email, contacts, calendar and notes) with android phone

 My regret is that Microsoft and the Android clan haven't been able to do what Apple did--make it easy for people to accomplish something that most of us would like to be able to do--which is sync their calendars across platforms.

Just for the sake of accuracy - Apple provided a solution for Outlook to connect to iCloud (their proprietary service).

Android is a "platform" - not an <email account> type - in other words, there's no such thing as an <Android> email account. The <email client> used by any Android device connects to an <email account> using a specific protocol which governs what is and isn't sync'd. 

Additionally, if all you have is a POP or IMAP account, then there is no universal sync protocol for contacts/calendar regardless of vendor/device. Or to put this another way, contact/calendar data is governed by the email service provider - not the <email client> vendor whether that's Apple or Microsoft - in short, what you want is a universal standard for ALL email providers in terms of contact/calendar data which doesn't exist. Android (the platform) was purchased by Google in 2007, however, Android is "open source" so any manufacturer running Android on their device can modify it to taste (which has nothing to do with having a universal contact/calendar protocol that is email provider agnostic).

I still stand by the 4 Team product "Sync2" 

Sync2 is also an excellent option (just overlooked it in my previous post) - comes down to preference and approach. Not sure I'd let the $10 price difference be the deciding factor. Any program of interest should be tried and tested before any purchase.

I still stand by the 4 Team product "Sync2" Syncs calendars and address book seamlessly. It's $39.95/year vs. $49.95 for Companionlink.

I've used it for 2 years having XP and Win 8. The current version works on win10, although I'm slow to migrate to that.

Karl, I think your reply sort of proves my point.

You're obviously very knowledgeable and can figure it out. But most people aren't. And even those who have *some* knowledge are still stumped.

As much as I hate to say this (being a PC person from way back), Apple at least had the right idea on this particular point. My regret is that Microsoft and the Android clan haven't been able to do what Apple did--make it easy for people to accomplish something that most of us would like to be able to do--which is sync their calendars across platforms.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

Wouldn't it just be more honest to say to people who are in good faith researching an issue before making a big purchase (or a big switch) to say "sorry, Outlook calendar won't sync with an Android phone"?

Nothing about being honest or not - it's a fact of people understanding how the sync process works which is:

<Email Clients> (such as Outlook) connect and sync with <Email Accounts> based on the capabilities used by a given protocol which can be summarized as follows for Windows based Outlook (desktop) 

#1 - POP3 - one way uni-directional "download" of the <Inbox> and what happens at the server level depends on the option setting for "Leave Messages on Server" + "for ## days".

#2 - IMAP - bi-directional sync of email folders. 

#3 - Exchange ActiveSync/Excxhange - bi-directional sync of all items

#4 - iCloud (Apple) - requires the Apple Icloud addin

#5 - Gmail - can be configured as either a POP or IMAP account and Google App Sync is required contacts/calendar

#6 - Yahoo - can be configured as either  a POP or Imap account - have no idea what, if anything, exists out there anymore to connect to Yahoo Contacts/Calendar

In a nutshell, if the <Email Client> on any device (and don't care who the provider of the <Email Client> is) connects directly to any account type (i.e. iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo etc) with a full bi-directional sync, it means that extensions have been incorporated into the particular <email client>

In your earlier scenario where you had an iPhone - if you were sync'ing your contacts/calendar, just means you were using an Outlook addin provided by Apple to accomplish that. For your Android phone, what you can and can't do depends on what type email account you connect with.

The main take-away is that "email clients (don't care on the device involved) don't sync with other devices - these <clients> sync with <Email accounts>". If you want to sync Outlook "data" with another device <directly" - you'll need 3rd party software. The top product in the that world is Companionlink.