Add your Outlook Calendar to Windows Live Calendar

Windows Live Calendar is a new service from Windows Live that is currently in Beta (testing).

You can use the calendar to plan events and schedule meetings, but what if I'm already using the calendar in Outlook?  Well, I can import my calendar from Outlook into Windows Live and receive alerts, and updates.

It is expected that a plug-in will be made available soon to handle synchronisation between the two calendars shortly, but in the meantime, this is a great work around.

Firstly, open up Outlook, and go to your calendar.

Click on "File" on the menu bar, and click on "Save As".

Now, pick a location to save your calendar.  You'll be deleting this afterwards, so we're just going to pick the desktop.  Name the file.

You'll also want to click on "More Options" and change the settings...  You will want either "Whole Calendar" or "Next 30 Days".

Click OK and Save.

Now, go to http://calendar.live.com/ (You can also reach the calendar by clicking on the Windows Live Orb on any Windows Live service).

Click on "Import" to bring up the import settings.

Now, find the file you just exported from Outlook.

You can also decide whether to create a new calendar (default option) or import into an existing calendar (useful if you want to do this procedure again and upload changes).

Click on "Import" and wait whilst the calendar is uploaded (this may take a little while for entire calendars).

Once this procedure has done you will see all your Outlook events in your Windows Live Calendar!

If you wish, you can edit events and chose to be alerted through Windows Live Messenger, or by email, when events are due to happen.

You'll also be able to see upcoming events at http://home.live.com