Microsoft SharePoint is a service that hosts web sites for shared workspace and documents. It connects people with a common interest, such as employees of a company. SharePoint provides a platform to set up meetings, company blogs, messaging, forums and documents. It is similar to a business intranet or private company computer network. Publishing and synchronizing your Outlook calendar makes that information public to everyone who has access to the SharePoint site. It is a convenient way to keep your business partners abreast of your schedule. To do this, you can either synchronize the calendar or upload it to SharePoint Services.

Synchronizing with SharePoint

Open the SharePoint Services site on your web browser.

Move to the “Site Action” section and click “Create.”

Navigate to the “Tracking” section of the dialog box. Select “Calendar.”

Provide a name for your calendar in the “Name” text box.

Enter a description for the calendar in the “Description” text box. For example, if this is a calendar to arrange meetings for the sales department, you might type Sales Dept. Meeting Schedule.

Click on the “Create” button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Select “Actions” from the main screen menu.

Click “Connect to Outlook.” You will receive a prompt from Outlook to confirm, select “Yes” from the prompt. This synchronizes the two calendars. This calendar can be view from either program. Changes you make to your Outlook calendar will be reflected in SharePoint.

Uploading to SharePoint

Open Outlook on your computer.

Select “Go” from the program menu and click on “Calendar.”

Move to the “File” menu at the top of the screen, select “Save As.”

Enter a name for your calendar in the text box and click “Save.” This will save the calendar in the correct format (.ics).

Open the SharePoint Services site in your web browser.

Click “Shared Documents” from the program menu.

Press the “Upload” button on the screen.

Click “Browse” and locate your calendar file then select “Open.” Click “Ok” to upload the file. The file listing will appear in the shared documents window.

Navigate the where your calendar file is listed. Look for the file with the .ics extension. Right-click on the file name and select “Copy Shortcut” from the menu.

Move back to Outlook. Click on “Tools” at the top of the screen and select “Account Settings.”

Click the “Internet Calendars tab and select “New.”

Press CTRL +V on your keyboard, this will paste the shortcut to the SharePoint calendar you uploaded.

Click the “Add” button. The subscription options dialog box will pop up on your screen. Select any options you wish to include and click “Ok” then “Close.” You calendar is published on SharePoint.