Combining calendars

In my book GRIP I walk you through why your calendar is sacred: It’s the rock you build your week on (and your life). Being able to see at a glance how you spend your time—during the workday and beyond—can give you both fresh insight and peace of mind.

One question I get a lot is How do I combine my own personal calendar with the one for work? This is my answer:

• Combining two Google Calendars
• Combining Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook
• Combining iCloud Calendar with Microsoft Outlook
• Combining calendars in the Windows 10 Calendar app

Last updated: september 2020

My requirements for a clear calendar are as follows:

• I want to see an up-to-date version of my calendar on all my devices. Reading is more important than writing, as I rarely add new appointments using my phone. If that’s possible, it’s a bonus.
• I like using two separate calendars for work and my private life. The people I work with have access to my work calendar, but they don’t see my personal plans.

Combining two Google Calendars

This is also my situation. I use two different Google accounts to make sharing easy. I share my personal calendar with my work account and vice versa. That means I can call up a full overview of all my plans from either one. But because they’re separate accounts, I can then close off my work calendar when I’m on vacation, for instance.

Combining Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook

Something I get asked a lot: How can I combine my own Google calendar with the Microsoft Outlook one we use for work? Combining these two worlds doesn’t work perfectly, but there are certainly options:

• Make your personal calendar visible in Outlook. It can be handy on the job to be able to consult your personal plans. Here’s how that works (follow the steps under “Subscribe to your Google Calendar”). It’s not possible to add appointments to your personal calendar when using this setup.
• Make your work calendar visible in Google Calendar. As above, but the other way around: follow these instructions to add your Outlook calendar to Google Calendar. Here, too, it’s not possible to add appointments to your work calendar using Google Calendar.

Do you use the Agenda app on your Mac, iPhone, or Android? Then you can also simply add different accounts to your device. That gives you a single overview, and you can edit both calendars at the same place. The downside is that you’ll have to forgo the familiar interface of Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.

Combining iCloud Calendar with Microsoft Outlook

You can add your iCloud calendar to Outlook using this manual, but it will be read-only. For many, that’s the setup you need: making your personal calendar visible at work.

Combining calendars in the Windows 10 Calendar app

I found these handy instructions for combining calendars in the Windows 10 Calendar app.