You can sync your FacileThings Calendar with your Outlook calendars. To do this, go to Account → Integration → Calendars, and connect your Google account.

Note: If you work with different Google and Outlook (e.g. personal vs. work), you can aggregate them all in your FacileThings calendar. You may connect as many calendars as you like.

Once you grant FacileThings permission to access your Outlook Calendar data, a window will appear allowing you to choose which calendar you want to sync:

The main (default) calendar is the one connected calendar without an assigned tag — and there can only be one. Any FacileThings item without a calendar tag will be sent to that default Outlook calendar.

When you first connect an Outlook calendar, FacileThings will perform an initial sync — it may take a little while if there are many items. After that, only changes will be synced.

You can add as many calendars as you like. Once the default calendar is connected, add as many as you need.

Unlike the default calendar, each additional calendar must have a tag so FacileThings knows where to send its events.

For example, if you have an Outlook calendar for your running training and tag it running , events from that calendar show up in FacileThings with the #running tag:

Likewise, if you create an event in FacileThings and tag it #running, it will be added to your “Running” calendar in Outlook.

If you add a tag to a Calendar item, the event will be moved to the corresponding Outlook calendar. If you remove the tag, it will return to the default calendar.

Automatic synchronization

In practice:

• *Whenever you create or edit an event in a connected Outlook calendar, it will appear in FacileThings within seconds with the same details.

• *Similarly, when you create or modify an event in FacileThings, it will appear in the corresponding Outlook calendar within seconds.

The synchronization is bidirectional

This means that any change you make in the FacileThings or Outlook Calendars is reflected in the other.

If you move an item out of the FacileThings Calendar list to another list, the event will be removed from the Outlook Calendar. If you move the item back to the Calendar list, the event will reappear in the Outlook Calendar.

If you move an item to the Done list, you can decide what happens to the corresponding event in Outlook. You have three options:

• Do nothing: The Outlook Calendar event remains unchanged.
• Modify text: The event stays in the Outlook Calendar, but its title is prefixed with “* [text]”, to indicate it has been completed.
• Delete event: The event is removed from the Outlook Calendar when the action is marked Done, keeping both calendars fully aligned.

All upcoming events are synced

When you connect a calendar, every event from yesterday onward will be copied, with no end-date limit. Hidden items in the Tickler File are included too.

This ensures that all future events show up in both calendars — so nothing slips through the cracks.

Recurring Events

Recurring events from Outlook Calendars are handled in a way that fits naturally with the GTD® methodology.

When you create a recurring event in Outlook, the occurrences of the next three months are synchronized with FacileThings. The first occurrence becomes a live action — following GTD® — while the rest remain visible in special calendar views so you get a comprehensive view of your upcoming schedule.

In FacileThings, only the first occurrence can be edited. To modify a future occurrence, you’ll need to do so in Outlook; the update will sync back to FacileThings.

Just like with FacileThings Routines, when you mark the first occurrence as Done (or delete it), the next one automatically becomes active and Outlook’s occurrence list is updated — so you always keep a three-month planning window.

If you assign a Goal or Area of Focus to the active occurrence, the next occurrences generated by the system inherit the same Goal and Area of Focus.

Management of private events

Sometimes you may not want certain events you have in FacileThings to be seen in the Outlook calendar, and vice versa. You can control this through a simple tag:

If you prefer that certain events remain private, use the #private tag. Events tagged #private in FacileThings will not synchronize to Outlook — and similarly, Outlook events tagged #private will not sync to FacileThings.

Things to have in mind

• Before connecting any calendar, make sure it uses the same time zone as the one set in FacileThings (in the Account section). If the time zones differ, event times will shift in the destination calendar and your schedule may become inaccurate.
• If you update something in FacileThings while Outlook is open, the Outlook Calendar events will update within a few seconds. But if you update the Outlook Calendar while keeping the FacileThings Calendar open, you’ll need to refresh that page to see the changes. The page doesn’t refresh automatically.
• When you disconnect a calendar, nothing is deleted — but syncing stops. If you reconnect it later (after external changes), you may see inconsistencies that you’ll need to adjust manually.