Picture this: You're sitting at your computer, deeply engrossed in a project, and suddenly up pops a warning that you have a meeting in five minutes. Worse still, you've forgotten that you needed to do a bit of prep time beforehand, but now you've got zero time to switch focus. Or, perhaps you're wondering if your team has been caught equally unawares. 

To avoid wasting everybody's time, you'll want a fully organized calendar. Fortunately, with Zapier, you can turn your calendar into an organized and efficient super machine. That way, when you get a calendar notification, you don't have to panic. 

With our automatic workflows (called Zaps), you can supercharge your Microsoft Outlook calendar, so it effortlessly manages all of your meetings, reminders, and agendas. Here's how.

Table of contents

• Cross-post between your calendars

• Prep for future meetings and events

• Automatically track your time

• Keep your team in the loop

• Create events from tasks and deals

Cross-post between your calendars

In this day and age, you're inevitably managing a ton of personal and family calendars—on top of your already busy work calendars. But no worries, you can set up automatic workflows to make sure all your calendars cross-post so you never have to miss a life or work event. 

The Zaps below are a few ways you can make sure your Microsoft Outlook calendar is up-to-date across all your different calendars and video meeting tools

Effortlessly prep for future meetings and events

If you're like me, being over prepared is how you manage stress. But weekly schedules get busy, and it can feel nearly impossible to prepare for every single meeting. 

Fortunately, you can set up Zaps that automatically create agenda docs in any app for new calendar events, so you and your team can pitch in on the move. This is particularly handy if you're in charge of running meetings, and don't have the time to create a new agenda on a recurring basis. 

Need to create tasks out of new calendar events? With Zapier, you can easily turn Microsoft Outlook calendar events into tasks in your task management tool of choice. This way, you'll be reminded to put in some time on meeting prep alongside the rest of your daily to-do list, rather than being constantly surprised by your calendar.

Automatically track your time

I always thought time tracking was for lawyers or hourly workers—but it's so much more than that. Time tracking your day helps you discover how long certain tasks take so you can better manage your time. 

You can create automatic workflows that sync your time-tracking app of choice with your calendar. For example, when a blocked-off time in your calendar begins, you can automatically start tracking your time. Then, you can figure out which projects take the most time and which tasks only need a 30-minute window.

Keep your team in the loop

We all know the phrase, "you're only as strong as your team." Keeping your team as informed and prepared as you are is vital for company success. But that can be easier said than done. 

To take some of the manual burdens off your plate, you can automatically send messages in your chat app of choice when there's an upcoming Microsoft Outlook calendar event. That way, no one misses a meeting.

Plus, you can keep projects running smoothly by connecting your project management tool and Microsoft Outlook calendar. The next time you or a teammate have a due date on a project task, automatically block time on your calendars so nothing slips through the cracks. 

Create events from tasks and deals

There are plenty of events that aren't easy to plan manually. For example, you might want to block off time in your calendar to complete a task that's added to your task management tool. Or, maybe you want to set up meetings when something gets updated in your CRM (like a deal reaches a new stage). 

Thankfully, you can automatically create events in your Microsoft Outlook calendar whenever you get a new task or something changes in your CRM. 

Take your Microsoft Outlook calendar to the next level

With Zapier, you can easily manage your Microsoft Outlook calendar—that way, you never have to get a calendar notification and think "well, darn" again. 

This is just the start of all that you can do with Outlook and Zapier. Zapier supports thousands of apps, so you can automate almost any task at work. Start building your Zap now and see what you can create!

This article was originally published in April 2021. It was most recently updated in August 2023 by Elena Alston.