SharePoint is an elaborate collaborative web-based platform designed to work with Microsoft Office applications and other related solutions. Fortunately, SharePoint is also an integrated solution for ecommerce platforms that use Microsoft’s ASP.NET framework. This means that teams in an ecommerce business heavily rely on SharePoint applications to collaborate.
One of the tools in the environment is the SharePoint calendar. It allows sharing scheduling of events and tasks as well as communication through actions. One of the best things about SharePoint calendar is that you can sync it with Outlook calendars because they are both Microsoft products.
This article will look at how to embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint for ease of operations as it helps teams to view all tasks in one dashboard and avoid a lot of unnecessary navigation.
The first step is to create a new calendar in SharePoint, which you probably have if you have been using this solution. From here, you can navigate until you get an option to “sync to Outlook” and then allow. Sometimes, it appears as “connect to Outlook,” which is all the same.
To add Outlook calendar to SharePoint, you need to click the “allow” or “yes” button. Customizing the synchronization by choosing the files and libraries to be shared is also very important. So, ensure that it is done at this point in how to add Outlook calendar to SharePoint.
You can embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint. Virto Calendar is a web part for SharePoint and works perfectly with Office 365.
The Virto Calendar settings will allow you to upload Outlook calendar to SharePoint. But you will have to go through an extra step of adding the emails of people you would like to share the calendar with to correctly add Outlook calendar to SharePoint.
Likewise, you will give permission for what they will see and do with calendars by checking or unchecking the necessary boxes.
Whether you embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint directly or through an ecommerce platform, you will manage the calendars directly on SharePoint, which is easy. First, you will see all your activities on the Outlook calendar on your SharePoint dashboard.
Depending on the permissions and rights that you possess, you can do quite a number of things to the calendar such as editing, adding new calendars, and deleting. Whatever you do on SharePoint will be reflected on the Outlook calendar when you embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint.
Teams are given the right to manage these calendars during the time of sharing. Hence, the team leaders should ensure these rights are well issued to make operations as easy as possible.
You should embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint to enjoy all the benefits we are going to discuss, especially if you are using an ecommerce platform. If you are looking forward to easy team management and collaboration, then this should not be an option for you; just upload Outlook calendar to SharePoint. Here are the benefits and the reasons to embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint.
· Avoid navigation back and forth – Bringing both Outlook and SharePoint calendars to one platform reduces the time wasted navigating back and forth. Additionally, the employees will avoid confusion and time wastage that would be used to look for tasks and events on both calendars if they did not embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint. Lastly, it is easy for leaders and teams to create new tasks and schedules because they can do it on SharePoint and have it reflected on the other side.
· Ease of collaboration – The main purpose of using shared calendars is the ease of collaboration. But if you add Exchange calendar to SharePoint, collaboration becomes even easier. As mentioned, the team members with whom the calendars have been shared are able to see the tasks and schedules that require their action. An advanced way of making things even better is setting reminders on both ends to ensure that employees do not miss any important task or action. For this reason, then you should embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint.
· Enjoy improved features – One other reason to embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint is to enjoy additional features that are in SharePoint and not in Outlook. For instance, the calendar in SharePoint allows the use of color-coding to enhance visibility, which is a pro for many team members. You can check many other features that your team should utilize once you have linked Outlook calendar with SharePoint.
· Get value for the money – Vendors using ecommerce platforms or other solutions pay for them. Hence, it is important to enjoy every feature that comes with them. You should embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint using the process we already shared to enjoy value for the money. The good thing is that you do not need to have an IT expert to do the process; it is a simple and straightforward process to upload Outlook calendar to SharePoint.
Even though this is a great move with the benefits we have just discussed, it might have some challenges. The main challenge many people face is sharing and adding permissions. If you miss sharing with some team members or give the wrong permission, the operations will be jeopardized. Sometimes, it is difficult to go back to the process and repeat it all over again. However, this can be resolved by employing an IT expert or creating time to share and synchronize the calendars again.
Another challenge that companies face is budget constraints. Hence, they do not see the need to use both Outlook and SharePoint in the first place. They always want to stick to one solution, which might be limiting in many other areas. But with a good plan and budget, an ecommerce business can afford to use both Office 365 and an ecommerce platform. Hence, it will be necessary to embed Outlook calendar into SharePoint.
The main reason for reading this post is to know how to link an Outlook calendar to SharePoint. It has been shared clearly, and any team member or entrepreneur can do it successfully. The benefits and reasons for doing this have also been highlighted to encourage those who have not yet taken the step to add Outlook calendar to SharePoint to consider it. With all the information, you can make the right decisions.