Q: Is iCloud compatible with Outlook 2016?

Looks like only a short time to wait now, and meanwhile I'm using the Windows 10 calendar, not ideal but bearable for now. The fact that they are fixing this relativley quickly after we've all made a big fuss leads me to think this is something that just fell through the cracks at Apple. I had been worried there was never any intention to fix it (for some unfathomable commercial reason). Either way, it appears they've had a change of heart or else had an 'oops we overlooked this' moment.

Maybe it is getting fixed because this discussion board as of now has 46,606 views.  I think that has drawn some attention.  Looking forward to this fix in December from Apple.

I opened a ticket on 8-21-15; thus not a quick fix.  I believe the 46,600+ posts and calls made to support and Tim Cook from around the world got the attention. 

The saddest part, and the least favorite of Apple's policies is the fact that they wait so long and refuse to even acknowledge problems till long after many customers are upset.  I don't understand why a major company has a hard time saying, yes there is this bug and we are working on it.  Are they so afraid of bugs and mistakes that EVERY DEVELOPER MAKES, that they have to try to hide or ignore its existence until it's fixed?  Start being more transparent Apple, without doing that your growth in today's times will end.  Transparency is what it is all about today, customers are tired of being kept in the dark and being fed like mushrooms, and tired of the secrecy when it comes to bugs.  We don't mind the secrecy around new features until they are released, but NOT BUGS.  I also have had a ticket in since September.

Maybe apple could hire a 3rd party to solve the issue. Apple is not known for their competence in sw development.

I have to say that between using http://sourceforge.net/projects/googlesyncmod/  to sync contacts and calendar (with contact photos) and Windows 10 phone companion I don't miss iTunes at all.

Bump to keep this discussion going....

But WHEN in December is the update going to be released? Surely Apple has a roll ou date by now, as its nearly the start of the month.

Is It décember 2016 or 2017 ?

Here's something I really don't understand.  I have a new desktop and anew laptop.  Both running identical OS and software - Windows 10 and Office 2016.  Until today, both machines worked perfectly with iCloud 5.0.  My calendars and contacts have been syncing perfectly for quite a while.  Today, I upgraded to a 950 Pro SSD and did a clean installation on my desktop.  I installed everything just like it was before on the desktop and just like it is on the laptop.  Now, I can't set up my Outlook with iCloud, yet the exact same setup worked perfectly yesterday.  The version of iCloud on the laptop is 5.0.2.61 and that's what I'm trying to reinstall on the desktop.  Very strange.

I'll put $5 USD on September 2017 to coincide with iPhone 7.

Alex_h1 and others here,

I have been in contact with a Sr Adviser at Apple, iCloud Team and she reported to me on Wednesday "...I just got notice that there will be support for Outlook 2016 soon so they are working on something."

I think we have their attention and something is going to get done. I cannot tell you how long 'soon' is but I will continue to bird dog this until we get this problem solved.

Has anyone been given an promising response like this from an official source at Apple? It would be good that we keep the contact information for these people handy should this mess go south.

update: Ranmonddenit, no. I have someone at Apple who will let me know and I'll post as soon as I hear from her. Note: the message in the iCloud page for how o use iCloud for Windows, has an updated message saying a release will fix this but no timeframe is in it but 'soon'. I am checking that page every 2 days. Weekly I wrote the Sr Adviser asking for an update. I think the follow up has helped to get Movement on this.

To: sandy7862:

Look at the version on the Office 2016 you now have on the laptop or desktop that you did the reinstall of Windows 10 on. If you had to reinstall Windows you would have had to reinstall Office 2016. The version on the machine before the reinstall was most likely Office 365 (2013). Open any office component and find the ABOUT page or the File Tab in Outlook and see how your Office 365 is described. See the same thing on your other machine. They are not likely the same. I have gone through this with my sister's laptop and help her get the sync to work with iCloud. I did not know until I reading some of the comments in this discussion that everything went to mush when people installed a complete Office 365 (2015 or 2016). The ones that are working and we are not hearing from here are folks who did a Office 365 with the 2013 in place. There is an option for the download of the Office 365 to select upgrade 2013. When this is done, the sync has to be reset but it will work as it always did in Outlook 2013 and earlier. What happened is Microsoft did not include the file types used by Apple for Calendar and Contacts, and task, and maybe notes in the 2016 version of Office Outlook. There is nothing wrong with your Windows and nothing wrong with your Outlook 2016 except that Apple did not accommodate the change MS made in 2016 and or Microsoft did not accommodate these file type and the reason is only known to MS why they left these file types out. We can speculate but that is spilled milk that these two corps need to settle.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful to you.

BWWIGGS

Hey BWWIGGS,

I sincerely appreciate your attempt to help.  It's well thought out and obviously well intentioned.  However, all of your assumptions are incorrect.  First, I am a network engineer and also a beta tester for Windows 10 and Office 2016 on the PC and the Mac side.  Having experienced too many failures during upgrades, I almost never do in-place upgrades.  Once the final versions of Windows 10 and Office 2016 were released, I wiped my computers and did a full reinstall of everything.  I did it on my laptop and my desktop.  Oddly, as soon as iCloud 5.0 was released, both computers began syncing perfectly.  BTW, this issue was apparent throughout beta testing.  The odd part is, a couple days ago, I upgraded the SSD in my desktop and once again did a full install of everything.  I wish I'd cloned the disk, but old habit ruled.  One of your assumptions is that I'm installing Office 365.  All my installations use volume licensing.  The actual version I installed is Office 2016 Pro +.  I don't believe it's available in retail.  And, as I said above, my laptop and desktop are identical as far as OS and Office.  The only thing I can figure out is that since my initial installation, Apple has updated iCloud and that version is the problem.  I checked to see if I had kept a copy of the iCloud installation file I used the first time, but no luck.  I'm sure it will be resolved by MS and Apple, soon.  There are too many angry customers to ignore it.  You sound like a good brother, taking the time to fix your sister's computer.  Thanks again for the reply

Sandy

I checked the page today to see if anything better than December would be posted by Apple. To my dismay I found the vague language has returned. Here is sniplet from a few minutes ago. Time: 5:44PM, CST, Nov 30, 2015.

I think someone is playing games with us. I think it is time we submit some feedback questions about this change from "..in December ..." to "...in an updated release soon." I am so sick of this mess. I have ten months left on my contract and I will be looking at other OS for my smartphone. It will be hard to go to an Android but what other alternatives do we have that give the functionality we need. That's not one smartphone by a family's load of iOS devices on which we all use MS Outlook for Windows.

BWWIGGS

Another choice would be a Windows phone.  I may do that when updating.  Already switched to a Surface Pro to end the problem on that device.

Looking at switching myself.  No support...