Randy
Pearson

    blueboy@bamafolks.com

Original author
Klaus
Stärk

    staerk@kde.org

Additionals texts
Eric
Bischoff

    e.bischoff@noos.fr

Editor

This version of the &korganizer; workshop Outlook to vCalendar was released on October 17, 2002. See the `ChangeLog` for details.

Please note that the descriptions and screenshots refer to version 3.1 of &korganizer;.

kdepim
KOrganizer
KOrganizer workshop
Outlook
vCalendar
Outlook2VCal
2002-10-17
3.1

# KOrganizer workshop: Outlook to vCalendar

## Overview

When moving from &Microsoft; Outlook® to using &kde;'s &korganizer; to manage schedules and appointments, you will probably wish to export your scheduling data from Outlook® and import it into &korganizer;. &Microsoft;'s Outlook® program does provide an export option that can save an appointment to the industry standard vCalendar format.

Unfortunately, Outlook® will only export the appointment you have selected, one at a time. This is fine if you only wish to transfer a few appointments, but transferring the 200-300 appointments you may have in your Outlook® folder would not be much fun. Therefore, Randy Pearson created a small application named Outlook2VCal that can scan and export all the appointments to a vCalendar file at one time.

## Installation

The Outlook2VCal 2.0 program is delivered as a compress ZIP file, which contains a SETUP.EXE application. Merely extract the files using your favorite utility, such as WinZip and run the SETUP.EXE program to install the program on your Windows computer. This should be the same computer where you normally run &Microsoft; Outlook 97®, 2000® or 2002®.

Depending on how up to date your system is, you may or may not be prompted to reboot during the installation.

## Export Usage

After the program is installed, you can run it by accessing Start Programs Outlook2vCal Outlook2vCal. You should see this screen appear:

Outlook2VCal main window
Outlook2VCal main window

Outlook2VCal main window

The program automatically attempts to communicate with Outlook® using OLE Automation. If an error is reported, this probably means you do not have Outlook® installed.

You should first decide if you want to include information about holidays in the exported file or not. Normally you will probably not wish to do this, so the Skip Holidays box is checked by default. Next, click the Export button, which will display a standard File Save dialog box. Browse to the desired folder and enter the filename where you wish to create the new vCalendar data file.

Outlook2VCal Save File dialog
Outlook2VCal Save File dialog

Outlook2VCal Save File dialog

Depending on the security settings in Outlook®, you may see this screen next. If so, be sure to allow access for a minute or two.

Outlook2VCal Warning message
Outlook2VCal Warning message

Outlook2VCal Warning message

The program will display progress messages in its main window as it loads, converts and saves your appointments. Here is a final shot of what a successful run looks like:

Outlook2VCal Progress message
Outlook2VCal Progress message

Outlook2VCal Progress message

## Import Usage

Now that you have exported Outlook's® appointments, the final step is to load the appointments into &korganizer;. Transfer the file over to the computer running &korganizer; (via network, floppy disk, whatever). Now, run &korganizer;. If desired, you can create a new calendar, or open an existing one.

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #1
Outlook2VCal Importing Data #1

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #1

Now, choose the File Import Import Calendar menu item. Browse and/or enter the name of the vCalendar file you just transferred to this computer.

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #2
Outlook2VCal Importing Data #2

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #2

&korganizer; will ask you if you want to Add as new calendar, which adds the calendar file as a new local file resource, Merge into existing calendar, which merges the calendar items into an existing resource or Open in separate window, which will allow you to view and edit the calendar, but will not add to its default view. To add the calendar items, select one of the two first options, and press OK.

After you select the OK button, &korganizer; will load the appointments from the file and update its calendar.

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #3
Outlook2VCal Importing Data #3

Outlook2VCal Importing Data #3

Save your modified calendar and enjoy using &korganizer;!

## Limitations

The first version of this program (1.0) was tested on &Microsoft; Windows 2000 Server® and Professional® running &Microsoft; Outlook 2000®. When attempting to use &Microsoft; Outlook 97®, the program failed miserably.

The second (2.0) version, is reported to work (at least) with &Microsoft; Outlook 97®, 2000®, and 2002®.

If anyone has a work around for this problem, feel free to send a note to Randy Pearson (blueboy@bamafolks.com).

## Credits and license

Contributors:

Original author

  Randy Pearson blueboy@bamafolks.com

Additionals texts

  Klaus Stärk staerk@kde.org

Conversion to DocBook

  Eric Bischoff e.bischoff@noos.fr