…from Outlook 2010/2013 to Outlook.com

This article details how to transfer your Contacts and Calendars from your desktop to the Cloud, and is part of our series exploring Windows 8. Read the previous article here.

If you already use Outlook on your desktop  you will need to transfer your Contacts and Calendar from your local data to the online Contacts and Calendar. These step-by-step instructions assume you have already imported your outlook.pst file into Outlook on your laptop, or desktop. See these links for help with .pst files:

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287070
• http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/outlook-help/import-outlook-items-from-an-outlook-data-file-pst-HA102919679.aspx

Transferring  Contacts

1. Launch Outlook on your desktop
2. View your Contacts
   For Outlook 2010: Contacts – Personal Folders
3. Change the view to a list
   For Outlook 2010: click the View tab, then select change view on the far left, then select list
4. Select all Contacts
5. Drag & Drop them to your online Contacts (in the left-hand pane)
   For Outlook 2010: Contacts – yourname@outlook.com (or you@hotmail.co.uk)
6. Send & Receive to all accounts to update the data online

TOP TIP
If you want to keep a ‘backup’ copy of your contacts on your local machine, after selecting all contacts, right drag & drop, & select Copy

Transferring Calendar Entries

1. Launch Outlook on your desktop
2. View your Calendar
   For Outlook 2010: Calendar – Personal Folders
3. Change the view to a list
   For Outlook 2010: click the View tab, then select change view on the far left, then select list
4. Select all Calendar entries
5. Drag & Drop them to your online Calendar (in the left-hand pane)
   For Outlook 2010: Live Calendar – yourname@outlook.com (or you@hotmail.co.uk)
6. Send & Receive to all accounts to update the data online

GOTCHA
During testing, the entries did not sync to Calendar on SkyDrive without opening & closing them on the Live Calendar in Outlook on the desktop.
Rather than selecting and opening ALL your entries at once (likely to run out of memory), open (& close)  a few at a time (fewer than 100, perhaps).
Click into the Search field at the right of the ribbon, then select the Search Tools tab that appears
You are looking for Advanced Find, possibly under Search Tools button
You may choose to open & close entries month by month, or quarter by quarter — it depends on how busy your schedule is!

TOP TIP
when adding/editing Contacts/Calendar entries make sure you are doing so on the online version

Useful Links

• http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-outlook/sync-outlook-2013-with-outlookcom/18f653a4-d745-46d4-90fc-0a3b30e68012

In our next  article we will cover the simplest method of syncing all your online Contacts with Outlook.com.

All methods are accurate at the time of writing for the configuration tested: Office 2010 on Windows 7; Chrome  v27; iPad 1; Nokia Lumia 710.