Sync Outlook with iCal and Apple Mail on your Mac

You can sync your calendar and tasks with iCal, and you can also sync your tasks and notes with Apple Mail. To sync these items, Outlook uses Sync Services, a central database on your computer.

 NOTE    With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple no longer maintains active support for Sync Services. You might experience issues, if you are using Sync Services to sync your Outlook data - calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes - with local applications and smart phones, like iPhone, iCal and RIM.

After synchronizing your Outlook information with Sync Services, the information is also synchronized with iCal and Apple Mail. To sync your e-mail between Outlook and another application or device, you can add the account in both Outlook and the other application. You do not need to turn on Sync Services in Outlook.

 NOTE   Outlook does not currently support CalDAV or CardDAV. This means that it is not possible to synchronize your iCloud calendar or contacts with Outlook for Mac. However, Outlook does support iCloud Mail. For more information, see Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 compatibility with Apple iCloud

1. On the Tools tab, click Sync Services.

2. In the left pane, select the check box for the first item type (such as Calendar or Contacts) that you want to sync.

3. Under Select the accounts to sync, choose the account or accounts that you want to sync for the selected item type.

 NOTE   The On My Computer account includes all Outlook items that are not synchronized with a Microsoft Exchange account.

4. On the Outlook folder to add new items to pop-up menu, choose the location in Outlook where you want new items to be saved. "New" items are those that are added first in a different application or device, and then synced to Outlook.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for any other item types that you want to sync.

 NOTE   For each item type that you want to sync, you must select the accounts and the Outlook folder to add new items to.

6. Close the Sync Services dialog box, and then on the confirmation message, click OK.

Depending on the size of your calendar, the sync might take some time to complete. You can close Outlook and the sync will still complete. For example, it will take time if you have a calendar that spans more than a year.

 NOTES 

• In Apple Mail, tasks and notes appear in the navigation (left pane) under the REMINDERS heading.
• Only fields that exist in both Outlook and the Sync Services database are synchronized.