how to get outlook to sync across computer, phone and ipad

Maureen Herwood 0 Reputation points
2026-09-06T19:51:23.4+00:00

I just bought a new pc and had data transferred but outlook calendar is not syncing across devices, ie on new computer

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-06T19:51:45.84+00:00

    For Outlook calendar, contacts, and mail to sync across a PC, phone, and iPad, the account must be added as an Exchange/Outlook.com account. If it was added as IMAP or POP, only email syncs; calendar and contacts do not.

    For the new PC:

    1. Open Outlook and verify which account type is being used.
    2. If the account is Outlook.com or Microsoft 365, add it as that account type so Outlook can sync calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes automatically.
    3. If the account on the PC is only IMAP/POP, that explains why the calendar is not appearing on the new computer.

    For the phone and iPad:

    1. In the Outlook app, open Calendar and tap the three lines in the upper-left.
    2. Under the email accounts list, make sure Calendar is selected for the account.
    3. If the email address does not appear there, the account is not set up using Exchange ActiveSync. Delete and re-add it, making sure not to use IMAP.

    If using the Outlook mobile app and sync is still failing:

    1. Go to Settings in Outlook mobile.
    2. Tap the account that is not syncing.
    3. Tap Reset Account.
    4. If that does not fix it, go back to the same account and choose Delete Account > Delete From This Device.
    5. Re-add the account in Outlook for iOS or Outlook for Android.

    If the account syncs on mobile but not on the new PC:

    1. Set up the same email account in Outlook on the PC using the Exchange protocol.
    2. Verify it by sending a test email and creating a test calendar event.
    3. Close Outlook.
    4. Restart the PC.
    5. Open Outlook again and confirm the test event appears.
    6. Then check the phone/iPad to confirm the same event syncs there.

    Important limitation:

    • Exchange and Outlook.com accounts sync mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes.
    • IMAP and POP accounts sync email only.

    If calendar events were created only in a local Outlook data file on the old PC, they will not automatically appear on other devices unless they are in an Exchange/Outlook.com mailbox.

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  2. Vikki-T 10,185 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-10T10:24:32.8133333+00:00

    Hi Maureen Herwood,

    Since the issue started after moving to a new PC, the first step is to determine whether the missing calendar entries are stored online or only in the Outlook data transferred from the old computer.

    Please try the following:

    • Sign in to https://outlook.live.com/calendar/ using the same account and check whether the missing events appear there.
    • On the new PC, open Outlook and select Calendar. In the left pane, expand My Calendars and make sure the correct calendar is selected.
    • If the events appear online but not in Classic Outlook, right-click the affected calendar, select Properties > Synchronization, and compare the item counts shown for the server and offline folders.
    • If the counts differ, select the affected calendar, then choose Send/Receive > Update Folder.
    • If the events are missing online but still appear on the old PC, they were likely stored in a local Outlook data file and may need to be imported or moved into the online calendar.

    Could you also let me know what type of account you use and whether the missing events still appear on the old computer? Please do not share your full email address publicly. Thank you so much for your understanding.     

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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