The latest update to the Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging apps on Windows 8 released last week removed the ability for these apps to sync new and old Google Calendar events.
The reason for this being Google’s rash decision to disable ActiveSync support in Windows 8.
But now Microsoft has put up a simple workaround for this little conundrum on its official Windows blog that will allow Windows 8 users to see Google Calendar events in those apps.
And yes, it makes use of Microsoft’s Outlook.com service:
“If your Google calendar can’t be synced with the Windows Calendar app, there’s a workaround. If you have an Outlook.com account, you can move your Google calendar events to your Outlook.com calendar and then connect Outlook.com to the Calendar app.”
Outlook.com users will have to go to their Google account first, then expert and save the events to their PC. These are then imported into the new calendar that launched on Outlook.com very recently.
The Outook.com service then connects to the Windows 8 Calendar app, where the Google Calendar events become visible.
And what about keeping the Google Calendar events updated after they are exported to Outlook.com? Users will have to tell their contacts sending those events to email their Oulook.com address from now on for the changes to reflect.
Tough nut to crack, I know, but that’s the current reality after the ActiveSync support was cut off.
Those of you that just want to use Windows 8 Calendar app to receive Google Calendar notifications, you can find a workaround for that as well on Microsoft’s support forums.
