Google Mail-Calendar In Outlook On Surface RT/2

In my last post, see Windows 8.1 Breaks Google Calendar Sync on Surface RT, I covered the options you have left for syncing Google Calendar to your Surface RT/2.

The one that I chose and recommend is using the newly rolled out Outlook 2013 RT that came free with the upgrade. It is not a perfect solution but it does allow you to view everything in one spot. You can set Outlook to view and edit your Gmail and to view your Google Calendar.

Note 1: to edit Google Calendar on your Surface RT/2 you still need to use the Google web interface.
Note 2: you can use the same instructions for Surface Pros but there is a Google Apps Sync for Outlook that’s supposed to do a two way sync on the Pros – more on that in later posts.

So, here is how you do it:

Google Mail-Calendar in Outlook for Surface RT/2 Setup Instructions:

I. Set up your Gmail account in Outlook 2013 RT

This allows you to manage your Gmail in Outlook 2013 RT. You can also set up other types of accounts in a similar way.

1. Open Outlook 2013 for 1st time, it will launch the setup wizard, then skip to step4.
2. OR if you already set up other accounts Open Outlook and choose the File tab.
3. In the File window, click the Add Account button.
   
4. In the Add Account window, choose the option “Manual setup or additional server types.” Click the Next button. 
   
5. Choose the POP or IMAP option. Click Next.
   
6. On the Internet E-mail settings windows, enter the following information, see image below:
   • Name: Enter your first and last name.
   • E-mail Address: username@gmail.com
   • Account Type: IMAP
   • Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com
   • Outgoing mail server: smtp.gmail.com
   • User Name: username@gmail.com
   • Password: your Gmail password
   • Click More settings.
     
   1. On the Advanced tab, in the  Incoming server (IMAP) section, choose SSL from the drop-down list. The port number will change to 993.
      
   2. In the Outgoing server (SMTP) section, choose TLS from the drop-down list. Change the port number to 587.
   3. Select the Outgoing Server tab.
      
   4. Select the box My outgoing SMTP server (SMTP) requires authentication. Leave the Use same settings as my incoming mail server option selected.

   7. Click OK.
   8. Click Next. Outlook will send a test message to verify your account settings.

   
   
   9. Click Close.
   10. Outlook id now happy. Click Finish.

II. Setup Outlook Internet Calendar for your Google Calendar

An Internet Calendar keeps a copy of your Google Calendar in Outlook. Outlook periodically checks the Google Calendar for updates. If it finds updates, they are downloaded to this calendar copy in Outlook. As I said before, the catch here is that to make changes, you must use the Google Calendar web application. If you make changes in Outlook they will not be synced with your Google Calendar. I want to be clear about this because you could end up with 2 different versions of your calendar, if you’re not careful.

1. Log on to your Google Calendar account.
2. In the left column, under Calendars, click the arrow button next to the calendar that you want to add to Outlook.
   
3. Select Calendar settings.
4. Under Private Address, click ICAL.
5. Select the Internet Web address that appears, and then press CTRL+C to copy the selected text to the Windows clipboard. Click OK.
   

Note 3: Do not click the link. If you do, the calendar will open in Outlook as a Calendar Snapshot which will not sync or update.

6. In Outlook, click File tab, on the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
   
7. On the Internet Calendars tab, click New.
   
8. Paste the Internet Web address you copied in step 5, by pressing CTRL+V.
9. Click Add.
10. In the Folder Name box, type the name of the calendar as you want it to appear in Outlook, and then click OK.
    
11. You are done! You can now go to Outlook Calendar and view your Google Calendar.

That’s it for setting Google Mail-Calendar in Outlook sync for your Surface RT/2. You can now use Outlook on your Surface RT to manage all your email accounts (including Gmail) and to view your Google Calendar. This is not a perfect solution but I believe it’s better than having to check it all separately.

You may also like our posts on Freeing up Space on the Surface, Part 1 and Freeing up Space on the Surface, Part 2.

Joanna-