Sync calendars between iOS and Outlook

Question

I need to sync two calendars, one being local on an iPhone and one being local on Outlook 2010. So how do I get them synced, so I can look at the Outlook Calendar from the iPhone and vice versa?

I've tried doing this through the CalDAV approach but I don't know if it's viable: We're talking about two different people who need the calendar of one another to determine whether a new appointment would fit into the schedule of the other person.

So both of them need some kind of read/write to each other's calendar. That's where I', stuck. iOS calendar is local, so I can't make it shareable with Outlook through CalDAV. But the other way around is simpler, since I can connect my Google CalDAV account with iOS and create a whole new calendar.

Solution

You can get away with letting iTunes sync the calendars if both of these apply:

• You sync the iPhone with the computer running Outlook
• It is acceptable for the calendars to only synchronize when you sync the iPhone

If you need over-the-air synchronizing, then the best option is likely a calendar server that both the iPhone and Outlook connect to. I use a Google Calendar account for this purpose, but you can also use other services like Hotmail. Both of these services are set up on the iPhone as an Exchange server, and each has a program that synchronizes with Outlook (Google Calendar Sync or Outlook Hotmail Connector.

Comments

[slhck]

No, it's alright! I've made your comments an edit to the question. That way it's easier to get all the info. Welcome to Super User, by the way!

[blacksmth]

thanks for your answer stephen :) do you know whether its possible to hook up a local ios calendar to the google calendar account?

[Stephen Jennings]

If you just need to upload a local iOS calendar so you can start using the Google version, then I don't know. I would try syncing iOS directly to Outlook first, then I would use Outlook to copy all my appointments to the new calendar.