Forced to use New Outlook wiped my entire calendar, can I get it back? Can the tray icon clock calendar be connected to New Outlook?

It's a pain in the butt, but when you open the new Outlook, if you go to the HELP tab, it gives you the option to go back to the "Classic" Outlook. You then have to close it when it opens back up into the "Classic" calendar and then reopen it and all of your appointments, etc will return, BUT that is a pain in the butt. I am doing it now, and hopeful that these Microsoft idiots will go back to the original calendar where we can scroll down from month to month. One of the stupidest things Microsoft did, stopping the scroll down to see from week to week, month to month, etc. Stupid, stupid fools!

For years I used the tray icon clock to open a calendar. It looked like this (except Save & More Details were not greyed out).

Clicking a date I could fill out "Add an event or reminder", add a time and location.

Jan 10 2024 "New Outlook" auto imposed itself. It insisted I give it an email address or it wouldn't play ball. I gave it my MS-account email (that happen to be an gmail account). I imagined Outlook would copy all the old calendar items. It didn't. New Outlook was blank.

I was going to start using Outlook before it forced me. Not because I wanted to but because it seemed, after searching for years, that is the only possible way to make a calendar backup.

I believe I clicked Add calendar --> edit my calendar (New Outlook) trying to find a way to make my calendar entries appear when suddenly all my calendar entries where gone. They never appeared in New Outlook and were gone from the tray icon clock as well.

I can add new entries to New Outlook and I noticed they appear in my gmail account (calendar) as well.

I've more or less given up retrieving my old calendar entries. Thankfully I don't really need them. Searching this community for tips I looked in New Outlook "Deleted items". It's empty.

Now the tray icon clock calendar isn't only empty, the "Save" and "More details" are both greyed out. Is there a way to restore the convenience of the old functionality. Meaning I can add items via the tray icon clock again? I also have a vague hope if this is restored all my old entries will reappear.

Hi IratherLINUX, the calendar function within New Outlook only supports Microsoft Exchange protocols, i.e. email accounts with a @hotmail.com or @exchange domain name, or google workspace accounts in some commercial settings. It does not support other standards such as IMAP which Gmail and many other mail providers use. New Outlook will allow IMAP accounts to be added however it is intended these be used for sending and receiving email purposes only. This differs from old calendar which did support IMAP accounts, Microsoft say this was an intentional decision aimed at optimising the app for use with email products only.

This means your old Calendar entries have not been wiped; it is just New Outlook is not equipped to read them. I.e. if you were to log into your email account via Gmail directly then navigate to its calendar function your old calendar entries should be there.

I had the same problem as you, however with some help from Microsoft found a workaround that resolved the issue. Essentially, I created a outlook.com alias name for my Gmail account then added that account to New Outlook along with the normal Gmail IMAP account. The alias account migrated my old calendar and contacts entries to New Outlook, and synched across all devices, whilst the IMAP account allowed continued access to email.

The following explains how to create a Gmail alias, https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327?hl=en

I cannot even get the calendar to come up. No calendar. No entries. Nothing but Microsoft mail which I don't use and don't want.

The Calendar function within new Outlook only works with Microsoft native email accounts (i.e. ******@outlook.com or ******@hotmail.com). It does not work with third party email accounts such as those created by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or via Gmail etc. To that end, Calendar and Contacts in new Outlook will appear blank if your email address is not compatible.

NOTE:

* Third party accounts can be set up in new Outlook, but these can only be used for the purpose of sending and receiving email.

* New Outlook does not erase (or wipe) calendar and contact data associated with incompatible email accounts; it just is not capable of displaying it.

There are some options to resolve the issue.

1. Create an email alias

If your calendar entries are linked to a Gmail account, you can setup an alias email address (i.e. ******@outlook.com or ******@hotmail.com) which when logged into via new Outlook should result in calendar entries and contacts appearing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gmail+create+an+alias+email+address&newwindow=1&sca_esv=e5f1e68d7f0e1b16&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-GBAU990AU990&sxsrf=AHTn8zotkQ5SbOybHU3dA1n-zuJUHbYulw%3A1737794445280&ei=jaOUZ4_pEKyhseMP9-nRqQs&oq=gmail+create+an+alias&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFWdtYWlsIGNyZWF0ZSBhbiBhbGlhcyoCCAEyCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFMgsQABiABBiRAhiKBTIGEAAYCBgeMgYQABgIGB4yBhAAGAgYHjIGEAAYCBgeMgYQABgIGB4yCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTILEAAYgAQYhgMYigVIhDBQmgpYsBtwAXgBkAEAmAGeAqABhhSqAQQyLTEwuAEByAEA-AEBmAIFoAKpCMICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIGEAAYBxgewgIIEAAYBxgIGB7CAggQABgIGA0YHsICChAAGAgYChgNGB7CAgUQABiABMICBBAAGB7CAgcQABiABBgNwgIKEAAYBxgIGAoYHsICBhAAGA0YHpgDAIgGAZAGCpIHBTEuMC40oAfJSw&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

2. Create a Microsoft Account

Create a Microsoft email account (@outlook.com or @ hotmail.com), and if your current email account allows it, download (export) calendar entries (and contacts if required) to your computer then upload (import) these to the newly created outlook.com account. Once this account is set up in new Outlook calendar entries should appear.

https://signup.live.com/?lic=1

I decided that I really didn't need or want Outlook, so I began using the Calendar App on my Phone and Uninstalled Outlook. Problem Soled.