Google and Microsoft have come a step closer to becoming amicable with the announcement that their respective calendar apps will become a whole lot more interoperable in a bid to keep users organized whichever service they decide to use.
A support page (opens in new tab) details how “users in both systems share their availability status so everyone can view each others’ schedules.”
Furthermore, changes are being rolled out to how invitations are managed between the two rival companies.
Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook interoperability
In its announcement (opens in new tab), Google explains that “Calendar Interoperability is the critical component to help ensure events created in one calendar system are accurately propagated for guests using different calendar systems.”
Taking a move to recognize and support third-party services will inevitably work in favor of the company, with many individuals and businesses preferring to split their digital footprint between multiple companies, all of whom have their own merits and preferred use cases.
As part of the update, Outlook users who also have a Google Calendar with the same email address can receive Google Calendar invitations and RSVPs directly in Outlook without having to be in the Google ecosystem (which incidentally doesn’t have a dedicated desktop client). As standard, default reminders will also be created for Google Calendar invitations in Outlook.
On the flip side, non-Google Calendar recurring events are now hoped to be more “systematically and accurately” reflected in Google’s portal.
Unlike some changes, this is a Google-wide feature that applies to both business and individual customers, and is already available.
Having already announced other interoperability missions, like Meet and Zoom, it’s clear that Google is trying to broaden its appeal by more subtly integrating into third-party platforms, in turn giving customers a central ecosystem that they can work from with fewer limitations.
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