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?

Microsoft motto...."If it ain't broke, f**k with it".

When you are told that something new replaces something old you assume it has all the same functionality. Apparently not. I switched to New Outlook, then removed Mail and Calendar and my agenda completely disappeared from tray. No more calendar entries for easy viewing. This is unacceptable! Will try to go back to old solution, cause the new one does not have all the functionalities. Ridiculous...

The new Outlook Calendar is GARBAGE. Talk about user unfriendly its atrocious why break something that doesn't need fixing coming from someone in IT this literally makes me no longer want to use the Microsoft products

OP here. Reply for everyone interested in this thread.

Where I ended up and why.

Short story: I copy and pasted manually all old entries to Mozilla Thunderbird and then I could finally make a backup file (ics).

A little surprised being timed out for MS attention. Noting this in one reply above: The synchronization is specific to Microsoft services.

I was, halfheartedly, going to ask if using an MS "owned" email would help. I never used the "Mail" app (start menu search "mail") but I also read somewhere giving an email to the app its nearly impossible to "ungive" it. Overall copying manually seemed less hassle.

Since my last post I learned of [ics files](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar "en.wikipedia.org"). ICS goes back to 1998 and is widely supported. By Wiki "[Windows Calendar app](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_%28Windows%29#History "en.wikipedia.org")" in current form go back to Windows Vista (2006) and did support ics files. ICS file support went away with Win 8. Added back with "Windows 10 Anniversary Update"??? I've been told this thread there is no backup option and I never found one, ICS or otherwise.

How did I, step by step, get my entries back?

I found this partially helpful:

>*6. Possible Workaround:*

- *While you can’t directly connect the taskbar calendar to New Outlook, consider using the Windows Calendar app as an intermediary:*

    - *Open the Windows Calendar app (search for it in the Start menu).*
    - *Add your events there, and they should sync with your Gmail account (since you’ve noticed that New Outlook entries appear in your Gmail calendar).*
    - *This way, you can still have a convenient way to add items via the tray icon clock calendar.*

My events came back in the CLOCK TRAY calendar but never showed up in either G-Mail or New Outlook.

  **Steps:** 

\* **** Found and started "Calendar" from the Start menu.

\* Adding an event in "Calendar" app and suddenly all TRAY CLOCK events were back but nota bene, not back in the "Calendar" app. TRAY CLOCK **SAVE**, **MORE DETAILS** buttons also un-greyed and active again.

\* From TRAY CLOCK selecting every date from my last Win 10 reinstall (July 2022 ~600 dates)

\* Clicking on every event in TRAY CLOCK thus starting the "Calendar" app, gave every detail of each event which I then copy pasted, one at a time, into Mozilla ThunderBird.

Note 1, as noted above I found repeating **Right-Arrow + Enter** the fastest way to go through all dates.

Note 2, If multiple events in one day, TRAY CLOCK clicking one event does not copy the others, every event must be individually clicked (opened in Calendar app)

Note 3, Calendar app seems flimsy, going back two weeks later much of Calendar app was empty again *but everything was still available accessing from the TRAY CLOCK*. So I ended up selecting the 600 dates a second time, this time copying each event to Mozilla ThunderBird.

Mozilla Thunderbird looks good for now. What I like about it beyond the immediate need of creating an ics backup:

• free
• Open source = many eyes on code
• local backup support (ics), a deal killer for any app.
• keeping things local, no cloud unless I want to.
• search and list features not present in Win Cal app.

Its very similar to Win Cal app, except better and does not go away December 31 2024.

Hi Irather,

Thanks for writing us here in Microsoft Community.

It's unfortunate that you've lost you important stuff. I understand the frustration you’re experiencing with the transition to New Outlook and the unexpected loss of your old calendar entries. Allow me to help in any way I can. Let's work on this together as a team.

Before we proceed, Irather, it's oimportant to note that Microsoft has limited resources involving data loss because they may be caused by uncontrollable factors such as file corruption. Nevertheless, I will walk you through some steps in potentially locating or recovering the data you are contacting us about. Should they still be present on your machine, I assure you that we can recover them; however, should it be otherwise, the least I could do is to provide you some pieces of advice in preventing such predicament from happening again.

I would like to ask you the following.

1. May I know what version of Outlook do have originally? Was it the one that is part of Microsoft 365 suite, or are you using the Windows Mail app perhaps?

• The reason I ask is that the upgraded version of Mail app is the New Outlook for Windows app, and the interface is completely the same to the new version of Outlook is part of Microsoft 365.

2. To confirm, you are usually putting your calendar entries on the built-in calendar app and not within Outlook app?
3. Can you go to your control panel and check for Microsoft Office installed?

• This is to confirm if you indeed have Microsoft Office installed.
• To access control panel, press Windows key + R*, type* appwizz.cpl then press enter.

Let’s try the following ways to check.

1. Search for Outlook. Seach the word Outlook on your Search menu, and check if you can find 2 results. If you can, try to open each one and head to calendar section to check. See if you can find your calendar there.
2. Roll back to Classic version. This option is available if you are using Outlook that is part of Microsoft 365 suite. If in case you are using the Outlook app from the upgraded version of Mail app, I'm afraid this step I am going to provide is not suitable.

• To roll back to classic Outlook, toggle the "New Outlook" option on the top right-hand corner of Outlook.
• Once reverted, check if you can find your calendar entries.
• Other ways to switch out of Outlook new is illustrated on this thread: Switch from 'new' Outlook (2023) to 'classic' outlook - Microsoft Community

3. Restoring Old Calendar Entries:

• Unfortunately, if your old calendar entries were not synced or backed up before the transition, it might be challenging to retrieve them.
• However, you’ve taken the right steps by checking the Deleted Items in New Outlook and exploring other options.

4. Connecting Tray Icon Clock Calendar to New Outlook:

• The tray icon clock calendar (often associated with the Windows taskbar) is separate from New Outlook.
• As of now, there is no direct way to sync the taskbar calendar with New Outlook.
• The taskbar calendar typically syncs with the Windows Calendar app, not New Outlook.
• The “Save” and “More details” being greyed out might be due to the disconnection between these two systems.

5. Recovering Old Entries:

• If you ever find a way to retrieve your old calendar entries (perhaps through backups or other means), they might reappear in New Outlook once synced.

6. Possible Workaround:

• While you can’t directly connect the taskbar calendar to New Outlook, consider using the Windows Calendar app as an intermediary:
  • Open the Windows Calendar app (search for it in the Start menu).
  • Add your events there, and they should sync with your Gmail account (since you’ve noticed that New Outlook entries appear in your Gmail calendar).
  • This way, you can still have a convenient way to add items via the tray icon clock calendar.

I would also like to tell you that New Outlook is still in its infancy and further development and enhancement of the features, and functions are still on its way based on the initial user's feedback. You are now officially part of those preview testers in New Outlook. We encourage you to share your thoughts and feedback to our developers via the Outlook Feedback Portal · Community (microsoft.com). This way they can be aware on what points that need to be worked on with New Outlook. They might be able to look into it and find ways to include in the next updates.

These are the information and troubleshooting steps we can share with you today, Irather! If you can provide to me some screenshots or answers to our questions, that is much appreciated and a huge help.

Sincerely,

Froilance T.

Microsoft Moderator