Export Outlook calendar data for reporting, analytics, time tracking…

How to export Outlook calendar to Excel for company-wide views, availability reports, timesheets etc.

Updated August 2025 – exporting from New Outlook

As specialists in Outlook integration, Timewatch is often asked how to export Outlook calendar data to Excel or in CSV.

Companies typically want to use this data in calendar analytics and reporting, creating team calendar and multi-employee views, project calendars, and even to use calendar data in timesheets and time tracking. Exporting data is possible from Outlook calendars, but it differs depending upon the version of Outlook you use, and there are issues with the data once exported (which we explain).

Export Outlook Calendars from Outlook Desktop App (Windows or Mac)

1. Open Outlook, and go to the Calendar view.
2. Click File > Menu, and choose Open &. In the “Open” panel, choose the Import / Export Wizard.
3. Choose Export to a file, then select the format you want to export events in: Comma Separated Values (csv file) or .pst.
4. The next step is to enter the file name and location for the export.
5. Now click the Map Custom Fieldsbutton.
6. Once complete, click Finish

Export Outlook Calendars from Outlook Web App (OWA)

Although there is no export facility in New Outlook or Outlook Web, you can export Outlook calendars via OutlookOptics™:

1. Open OutlookOptics™
2. From the “Calendars” Tab, open the “View” that contains the employee calendars you wish to export.
3. Set the date range you wish to view.
4. Click on the “Data View” button, then click the “Export” button and choose the file format you want (XLS, XLSX, CSV or RTF).
5. Your data will load in the application associated with the file format you choose.

Export ICS file from Outlook Web (Outlook.com or Office 365)

CSV export is not available in New Outlook Web or New Outlook for Windows or Mac (yet)
but you can create an ICS file:

1. Although CSV export is not available Outlook.com of Office 365, you can export a ICS file.
2. Go to your calendar.
3. Click on the Gear icon (Settings) and choose View all Outlook Settings.
4. Go to Calendar > Shared Calendars
5. In Publish a calendar, choose calendar an permissions.
6. Click Publish, then copy the ICS link.
7. You can now import this link into various tools.

Issues with exporting Outlook calendar data

Although it is possible to export Outlook calendar data, there are issues:

• Calendars can only be exported person-by-person, so if you have a group of people
• Calendar data for multiple people will need to collated into a single file or database.
• As Outlook calendars are continually being updated by people, the data is out of date the instant it is exported, so if the data is being used in reporting, analytics or other purpose, data will need to deleted then re-exported and imported every time

How to overcome Outlook calendar export issues

The best way to access Outlook calendar data for use reporting, analytics, calendar management or time tracking is to use a system that links with Outlook and can access Outlook calendar data in real-time. The good news is that Timewatch provides tools that seamlessly integrate with Outlook in real-time specifically to provide the reporting, analytics, timesheets, time tracking, resource scheduling and project planning. Timewatch worked with Microsoft to develop these tools, so they work as Outlook itself syncs calendars between various devices.

A better way to view and analyze Outlook calendar data

Exporting and manually reworking Outlook calendar data for employee scheduling, team calendars or time tracking is laborious, time consuming and the data you are viewing instantly out of date. A better approach is to view this data in real-time, and this is exactly what Timewatch’s Outlook Optics™ and Whitespace® systems do, providing:

• Instant visibility of current team / employee activity, availability, utilization and productivity
• More accurate scheduling – ensure sure there is no clashes or double booking
• Analytics and reporting – which is not available in Outlook
• Automated time tracking if needed

No need to export Outlook calendar data, Outlook Optics™ provides real-time analytics and Outlook team calendar views.

A Better way to use Outlook events for Timesheets / Time Tracking

Most if not all of the information in employee Outlook calendars can be used in time tracking. With Timewatch there’s no need to export data and manually manipulate it for timesheets, Timewatch can do all this for you and your users automatically!

Timewatch uses employee Outlook calendar data to automate timesheets, saving employees hours each week, making timesheets more accurate (as it is based on existing data), allows people to do everything from within Outlook, and best of all frees up time that can be better spent on productive / chargeable work.

The screenshots below show an Outlook calendar and how that calendar automatically appears in Timewatch’s timesheet.

The final screenshot is of Timewatch’s Outlook plugin. With the plugin employees can do everything from within Outlook. Appointments automatically turn into timesheets as soon as employees add a customer / project, and they can even add non appointment time. Timewatch makes Outlook a timesheet system – the best timesheet system possible for organizations that use Outlook.

What if you really need to export Outlook calendar data?

As we’ve shown, you can export from Outlook on a calendar-by-calendar basis, but what if you have 200 calendars to export and consolidate?

“We are often asked if there is a better way to get data out of Outlook,” says Timewatch Product Specialist Anthony Vaccaro. “I explain to potential customers that often you have to export each calendar one-by-one and then import it all and keep it up to date. With Timewatch the data is all online. There’s no export or import needed, our system provides full visibility of calendars, analysis, and time tracking. But even if you want to export Outlook data, our system can export everyone, or a group of people over a date range in one go, and in more formats including PDF, Excel, and Word. Best of all, we do all this out of the box.”

How Timewatch solves your Outlook calendar export needs

Outlook is a great calendar for individual employees. They can manage their own calendars and arrange meetings with others, but it doesn’t always work for management, project collaboration or in using information in other systems. Calendar data can’t be shared or exported to other formats like Excel. There’s no way to enter important company information such as customer, project, task, and type of work, and there is no reporting feature.

“Sure, information can be put into the calendar appointment body, but the data needs to be scraped out of Outlook for use in other systems, reporting or analytics,” explains Timewatch CEO Graeme Wright. “This is problematic, time consuming, costly, prone to error, and in the end, the data exported is out of date.”

How to use Outlook calendar data for Resource Scheduling

Real time display of multiple Outlook calendars in Timewatch’s Whitespace system.

Times have changed

“In the past, businesses were very happy using Calendar software, office meetings, water cooler chats, to review what projects people were working on,” Wright says. “The Covid reset and the pivot to remote working required more online meetings and team calls.”

“Customers tell us they’ve looked at Excel, and project management systems and even resource scheduling systems but it’s either too little or too much. Companies almost have everything they need in Outlook. Everyone schedules and can see their own calendars – but there is nowhere to specify customer or project details and no way for managers to see a team, project or group view.”

Timewatch Whitespace makes company based scheduling accurate and valuable.

Export Outlook Calendar – How not to do it!

“We’ve heard horror stories where companies have paid small fortunes to have data scraped out of their Office 365 calendars so they could analyze it, only to find it unreliable, expensive, and required so much manual manipulation that it was faster to retype all the information!” says Vaccaro.

That’s not a sustainable approach and the customer celebrated discovering that Timewatch synced and provided reporting and analytics in real time. Additionally, Timewatch allows important additional fields such as customer and project work to be attached to appointments. Employees continue on using their calendar as they usually do, but have additional fields on appointments to capture the data needed.

“Timewatch’s Whitespace resource scheduling system does the job,” says Wright, “but it is overkill for companies that don’t need resource scheduling and  just want to gain visibility of their employee’s calendars. To answer this need we created Whitespace for Outlook, a simplified version which provides the Outlook calendar visibility companies are looking for, and there’s not one Excel spreadsheet involved!”

Simpler is easier

Timewatch now also offers a simplified edition of our Whitespace resource scheduling system  which supports self scheduling employees and delivers the visibility and analytics of employee calendars that businesses leaders need.

How does this work? This is a Timewatch product, so it’s really simple and easy:

• Employees use their Outlook calendar as they do normally. Easy.
• As a bonus Timewatch adds extended functionality to Outlook appointments allowing to add customer, project, types of work, and other information to their appointments.  Simple.
• To business leaders, a centralized group view of employee calendars provides visibility of all employee calendars.
• Views can be created to show any mix of employee calendars.
• Employee calendars can be grouped by team, office, skill, or any other definable attribute.
• The number of employee calendars on screen and the date range on display on one screen is configurable.
• You can search and sort employees by availability by date or date range.
• Reporting and analytics is built in. There are even dashboards and report writing features.

This powerful, intuitive, Outlook group calendar allows companies that use Outlook to enhance it with multi-employee views and reporting but – and this is important – also allows for future growth. Equally important? Using Excel and other spreadsheets for employee calendars, resource scheduling or time tracking are a thing of the past.