001

How do I place an "Add to Outlook" function on a website?

I'm looking for a quick & easy way to put a link on a website that will allow Microsoft Outlook users to add a calendar event to Outlook.  I found out how to create an "add to Google Calendar" link, but I haven't yet found a tutorial describing how to do it for Outlook.  

 Thanks!


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Eran
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There is a standard called iCalendar (or iCal for short- just don't mix it with Apple's calendaring software with the same name Wink).

Outlook supports this file format, which means that your web site needs to generate such files. When a user that have outlook installed will click on such a link it will try to download the file and open it. Outlook will pick up this file and it should allow the user to add this event/meeting into the calendar.

You can read more about iCalendar here and also read the RFC here.

Since the iCalendar files are pure text files, it should relatively easy for you to generate them. 
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001
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Hi, Eran - thanks for your answer!

I guess I could simply create specific calendar events on my local copy of Outlook, save the appointments as .ics files, and upload those to my site...  Then I could write something like "Add this to Outlook" next to each event description on my site, and make them hyperlinks to their respective .ics files, right?  Thay's easy enough...  Smile 

 Thanks!

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Eran
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You just need to pay careful attention to compatibility issues, as state in the Wikipedia article about iCalendar. Some versions of Outlook will not read .ics files generated by newer versions.

Other might have a problem with that.

You should know, however, that Outlook 2007 (which was just released for manufacturing) has built in support to view RSS feeds of appointments (like the ones Google Calendar creates). This means that you will just need to export your meetings into such a format (perhaps Outlook 2007 has it built in) and people will be able to see these events and subscribe to them. 
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001
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Yeah, that may be a problem...  The users of the site I want to add these to are not necessarily technically inclined, so compatibility issues may cause more problems than it's worth.  I use Office/Outlook 2007 at work, but I don't use Office at home, so I'm guessing the .ics files I'd create probably wouldn't work with older versions.  RSS is a good idea, but many, if not most, of the users probably have no idea what RSS is, let alone how to use it.

The site is for a charitable organization, and they have fund-raising events every couple of months.  I was hoping I could have an easy way for people to add event information to their copies of Outlook, but with the different compatibility problems between different Outlook versions, this might not be a good idea... 

Thanks, Eran. 
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How about using a site like upcoming. It's a Social Event Calendar that everyone can create a special calendar and put events on it. Then, other people can subscribe to these events and get notifications and all the things that comes with that.

I think they also have this little button that you can put on your site to help other register to that event.

There are a couple of other such sites like ILCU etc. Try checking them out and see if any one of the them fits your needs. 
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