Syncing an Outlook Calendar to the Cloud

 

A reader named Todd commented on my post Exporting Email Info for Panic’s StatusBoard saying

David I would love to try something similar to create an iCal export at timed intervals to the cloud and then use that in Google calendar now that the sync function is not supported in google calendar….say from Outlook 2010??

Exporting the calendar info in iCal format is surprisingly easy as long as you have Outlook 2007 or later. The export is all handled via the GetCalendarExporter method of any Outlook Folder object that points to a calendar. In this case, I’m assuming that Todd wants to export his primary (i.e. default) calendar. If he wants a different calendar, then that’s possible too, but will require more code. Since Todd wants to schedule the export, I’ve written the solution in VBScript. This allows Todd to create a scheduled task using Windows Task Scheduler that will run the script at whatever interval he desires. Todd didn’t say where in the cloud the export needs to go, so I wrote the solution under the assumption that Todd can reach the cloud through a normal file share. If that’s not possible and the cloud target is only reachable via FTP or something similar, then the solution would require some additional code. Once the solution runs, Todd can subscribe to the calendar in Gmail just as he could to any other internet calendar.

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Exporting Email Info for Panic’s StatusBoard

 

A reader named Marc contacted me with an interesting request. Marc is a fan of the iPad app Status Board. As the name suggests, the app display a dashboard (status board) composed of panels. Each panel displays a different piece of information, such as a clock, the weather, a news feed, etc. One of the app’s features is the ability to create custom panels containing user-defined information. Custom panels read a file and display its contents. Marc saw my post on exporting data to Excel and asked if I could create a knock-off that would export mailbox details to an HTML file instead of to Excel.

Automated Reminder Email

 

A gent named Joni Räsänen contacted me on Twitter with a question/request. Here’s Joni’s tweet.

@TechnicLee Would be possibe to build script to automatically send meeting memo template by email before appointment starts?

— Joni Räsänen (@rasanenj) December 15, 2013

The solution to Joni’s request is to use Outlook’s built-in appointment reminders to trigger sending the email. To do this, we’ll trap the event that fires each time a reminder goes off. The code will check to see if the item that triggered the reminder is an appointment and if it’s a member of a certain category. Checking the category will allow Joni to set reminders on any appointment, including those he doesn’t want an email sent for. If the appointment is a member of the designated category, then the code will create and send a predefined message. If the appointment is not a member of the designated category, then the code will exit without doing anything.