Microsoft makes it super easy to get your email, calendars, contacts and tasks connected with just a few settings using its proprietary Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) technology. Designed for mobile, EAS works exceptionally well in the iOS native Mail app, Android Gmail, and other popular mobile apps like BlackBerry Hub. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said using EAS in the Outlook desktop client. Initial versions of Outlook bundled with EAS struggled with performance issues ranging from minor glitches to complete synchronization failures that made EAS connections to third party email hosting services unreliable.
Instead of fixing EAS in Outlook, Microsoft discontinued support for third party EAS connections in current releases of the popular desktop client. While the free Windows 10 Mail program does include EAS support, our testing and reports from others show similar weaknesses in Windows Mail. So without support for ActiveSync or CalDAV and CardDAV protocols, getting your calendar and contacts data to synchronize in Outlook is not as easy as it used to be. Fortunately, there is a handy plugin for Outlook called the CalDAV Synchonizer which allows you to get your calendars and contacts connected in a few easy steps.
The CalDAV Synchronizer is a free plugin developed by German based Generalize-IT Solutions OG. The plugin works with any server or provider that uses CalDAV and/or CardDAV standards including SOGo, NextCloud, Google, iCloud etc.
After downloading and installing the plugin on your Outlook PC, a CalDAV Synchronizer menu will appear in the top menu bar in Outlook. In order to add a calendar or contacts connection, you will need to retrieve your CalDAV and CardDAV urls. Most groupware services that support CalDAV and CardDAV standards allow users to retrieve these paths directly from webmail. With these links to your calendar and contacts and your email address and password, the CalDAV Synchronizer brings your groupware calendars, tasks and contacts into Outlook for a fully synchronized experience.
The CalDAV Synchronizer plugin operates separately from your IMAP or POP3 email connections, and this seems to provide a level of operational stability in Outlook where Exchange ActiveSync fell short. Granted there are some extra steps to get it installed and connected but not only is the CalDAV Synchronizer free and open source software (FOSS), but it also works in most versions of Outlook including 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 and 2007.
Learn more about the CalDAV Synchronizer and download the plugin for your desktop PC Outlook.