Windows Experience Blog : Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

New Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Beta Release with Calendar Sync

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:40:00 GMT

UPDATE: You can download the final released version of the Outlook Connector here or through Windows Live Essentials at download.live.com.

The Windows Live Calendar Team has announced the availability of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta - which allows you to sync your calendars on Windows Live Calendar (calendar.live.com).

Download: Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is designed to sync your Windows Live Hotmail mailbox, Windows Live Contacts, and calendars in Windows Live Calendar to Microsoft Office 2007 (or 2003). The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector will work with any Windows Live Hotmail account - as well as Office Live accounts or Windows Live Custom Domain accounts (domains.live.com). Not only do I have a Windows Live Hotmail account - I also have a custom domain that uses Windows Live Hotmail as well.

When I installed the Microsoft Outlook Connector Beta - my calendars that I have in Windows Live Calendar appeared in Outlook 2007 under "My Calendars". I could check each calendar that I want to view (whether it be all or just 3 as you see in my screenshot). I can add and remove events and those changes are then synced back into Windows Live Calendar and then synced to any other machine running Outlook and the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Whether I am offline or online - I can always view my calendars which is really nice.

The current version of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connect 12.1 Beta is 12.0.6237.1003. To find out what version you are running choose "Outlook Connector" in Outlook's menu at the top and then choose "About Outlook Connector". You have to be running this version to get calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar. Previous versions of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector will not sync your calendars.

I'm a little late posting on this - Sarah Perez over on ReadWriteWeb has an excellent post on the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector as well and definitely worth a read. Paul Thurrott (regarding the release of the new Outlook Connector Beta) says "this could be huge". The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta certainly creates a great experience with Windows Live by bringing together email, contacts, and calendaring all in one spot. I know for many people wanting such an experience for a while now - this *is* huge for them and very exciting to see.

The Windows Live Calendar Team also recently made an update to the Windows Live Calendar service introducing some awesome new enhancements such as iCal subscriptions and an automatic Birthday Calendar for all your Windows Live Contacts. Check out my post on last week's Windows Live Calendar update here.

Final Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Now Available

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:06:00 GMT

Today, the Microsoft Office Outlook Team has made the new version of the Microsoft Outlook Connector Beta available for download. That means no more "beta".

UPDATE: You can download the final released version of the Outlook Connector here or through Windows Live Essentials at download.live.com.

With all the responses on my post announcing the beta a few months ago, I figured this announcement will be of interest. The final build number is 12.0.4518.1058. If you don't see that build number in the About window for the Outlook Connector, then you're not yet running the final version.

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector lets you sync your Windows Live Hotmail account up with Outlook 2003 and 2007. Remember, in order to sync your Calendar you need to be a paid subscriber of MSN Premium, Office Live Essentials, or Office Live Premium to get that added functionality with this release. If you are not a paid subscriber of these services, you will see an error in syncing your calendar in Outlook but you will be about to sync up you email messages and contacts just fine.

Be sure to visit the Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog and give them your feedback on the Outlook Connector.

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Beta Now Available

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:36:00 GMT

UPDATE: You can download the final released version of the Outlook Connector here or through Windows Live Essentials at download.live.com.

Today you can now download the beta of the next version of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector.

Download: Microsoft Office Outlook Connector (Beta)

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is designed to let you access your Windows Live Hotmail account through Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. You will be able to download and install the Connector to sync up your email and contacts in Windows Live Hotmail for free. However, if you are a paid subscriber of MSN Premium, Office Live Essentials, or Office Live Premium you will get the added functionality of being able to sync up your calendar, tasks and notes from Outlook to Windows Live Hotmail.

I know many of you probably took note to the statement made on the download page of being able to "synchronize your Windows Live Calendar in Outlook". Windows Live Hotmail currently has a built in calendar service which is essentially your Windows Live Calendar. Your calendar from Outlook is published and viewable through this service in Windows Live Hotmail.

I pinged Jared Brown today who is a Program Manager on the Outlook Connector Team to discuss today's Beta release and the Outlook Connector in general. One of the benefits that Jared highlighted for me was that when the Outlook Connector is installed it does not alter any pre-existing email accounts already setup in Outlook. For example: if you are a user in a Microsoft Exchange environment and want to access your Hotmail account via Outlook, the Connector won't impact the use of being connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server. Both email accounts will work without causing issues. "You'll essentially have two folders for each module, one will sync one won't (just like you'll have two email Inboxes etc.)," Jared explained.

I also asked Jared to talk a little bit about the backend technology that the Outlook Connector uses to sync up email and contacts. The Outlook Connector Beta uses DeltaSync - a brand new protocol for syncing up with web services (such as Hotmail) that is also used extensively in Windows Live Mail. Previous versions of the Outlook Connector employed DAV to sync up email. However, this proved to be expensive and not quite efficient enough especially with Hotmail's extremely large user base. "DeltaSync was created to boost efficiency and finally let us create a version of the connector that we can release for free," Jared said. DeltaSync is one of my favorite backend technologies to come out of Microsoft to-date.

I installed the Outlook Connector Beta on my PC and it works as advertised. It quickly syncs together email from Windows Live Hotmail into Outlook 2007 (note that this beta also works with Outlook 2003 as well!) very nicely.

It also syncs your Windows Live Contacts as well. When installed in Outlook - you will get a new Outlook Connector Toolbar that allows you to view your server status.

Your server status includes how much space you have left in Hotmail and any errors that may have occurred during sync. I am currently not a MSN Premium, Office Live Essentials or Office Live Premium subscriber so I get a red "x" next to calendar which fails to sync since I am not paying for a service that offers that added benefit. However email and contacts sync up great. You can still use Outlook's calendar, it just won't sync to the Windows Live.

You are able to configure calendar sharing and add more accounts to use the Outlook Connector with. If you have multiple Hotmail accounts or Windows Live Custom Domains and Office Live accounts - they all can be configured into a single Outlook profile. I configured up to 4 Hotmail accounts in one Outlook Profile. I saw no decrease in performance in Outlook 2007 either.

In Windows Vista, since Outlook 2007 utilizes the Windows Desktop Search indexer, any email that you sync up from Windows Live Hotmail in Outlook 2007 is easily searchable through Windows Vista's Start Menu.

Special thanks to Jared Brown for taking the time to talk with me today. Remember, this release of the Outlook Connector is a beta. If you have any issues, just go to "Send Feedback" under the Outlook Connector menu in Outlook (see above screenshot). Or leave a comment and I'll be sure to forward the feedback on to the team.