This guide is divided into two parts, creating a backup and restoring a backup.
Creating a backup
Prerequisites: at least one calendar connected to Microsoft Outlook.
Written instructions
Step 1: Go to web version of Microsoft Outlook Calendar. Your exact URL may very on the type of Microsoft subscription that you use.
Step 2: In the top-right corner, click the gear icon (⚙️) to open Settings. In the settings window, select ‘Calendar’ from the left-hand menu. Then, choose ‘Shared calendars’.
Step 3: Under the ‘Publish a calendar’ section, select the Outlook calendar you want to back up from the first dropdown. In the ‘Select permissions’ dropdown, choose ‘Can view all details’. Click the blue ‘Publish’ button.
Step 4: Copy the ICS link. Two links will appear. You need the ICS link (it usually ends in .ics). Click on the ICS link, then click ‘Copy link’. Do not share this link publicly.
Step 6: Go to your BackupMyCalendar dashboard and add the copied link. Don’t forget to give your backup a name. Save all calendars when done.
Step 7: Sit back and relax. From now on, we will create automated backups of your Outlook Calendar.
Restoring a backup
Prerequisites: at least one backup present in the BackupMyCalendar dashboard.
Written instructions
Step 1: Go to your BackupMyCalendar dashboard.
Step 2: Select the backup that you would like to restore from the dropdown, and press ‘Download Selected’. Download the file to a place on your computer.
Step 3: Go to web version of Microsoft Outlook Calendar. Your exact URL may very on the type of Microsoft subscription that you use.
Step 4: In the left navigation pane, click ‘Add calendar’. Then select ‘Create blank calendar’.
Step 5: Give your calendar a name, such as [old calendar] BACKUP. Press ‘Save’.
It is possible to directly restore a backup to your existing calendar, but this may cause duplicate events. It is safer to create a new calendar and switch your existing and BACKUP calendars entirely – or only manually copy over single events from your BACKUP calendar to your original calendar. The latter is useful if you, e.g., moved one event and forgot the original date/time.
Step 6: In the left settings menu, select ‘Upload from file’.
Step 7: Upload the backup and select the BACKUP calendar as the destination for the backup. Press import.
Step 8: You now have a new calendar with all the events from your backup. With this new calendar, you can do two things:
- If you only deleted or moved one or a couple events from your original calendar, you can use the BACKUP calendar as a source to recreate these events. Afterwards, you can delete the BACKUP calendar.
- You can use the BACKUP calendar as your new calendar. Remove your old calendar and, from now on, add new events to your BACKUP calendar. You may, of course, remove BACKUP from the calendar name to signal that the BACKUP calendar is now your main calendar. Following this path means that your calendar URL will have changed, and you must update this URL in BackupMyCalendar. See the notice below.
Both options are fully supported workflows for the BackupMyCalendar system.
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