Q: Is iCloud compatible with Outlook 2016?

I am using MS Office 2016 and Apple iCloud 4.1 (or, at least that is the number that is displayed on the screen - Apple doesn't actually offer findable version numbers per se for iCloud.

I have installed in both orders and experience no problems with Outlook either way.  I have a synced address book, calendar and email, all working fine from iPhone to Mac to Windows 10.

Every couple of days, I get the message that there is an upgrade for iCloud on the Apple updater.  I give it the go-ahead to install, and it will inevitably report back that it couldn't complete the installation, after which I say okay.  I could of course, refuse the upgrade; but figure that eventually Apple will get it straight, so I may as well give it a chance.  For the moment, I can't see that I am losing anything.

My Outlook 2016 / Windows 10 computer where iCloud doesn't work reports 4.0.2 in the iCloud desktop app.  It is interesting that 4.1 works.

The fact that some combinations work and others don't work suggests that the tweak needed to fix this is relatively simple, but it seems to be a low priority for Apple.  And Microsoft seems busy with its own ecosystem of Phone Companion and the Outlook app and doesn't seemed to have done anything to overcome Apple's lethargy / incompetence.

This is now even more irritating as I am getting nagged by MS to upgrade my 2013 Office (yellow bar on every window!) , which took me a week to reinstall after going brainlessly to 2016.  Maybe this is their way to get all the screwed users to push apple to fix iCloud (which is the real problem- I assume you have seem the disclaimer on their 5.0 readme).

When I had 2016 installed Outlook worked a lot better and I could use the collaboration features of Word, so I want back ASAP.

A plague on both their houses. 

Don't blame MS for this one (they have their own issues).

Win 8 + MS Office 2013 + iCloud 4.1 played well together.

Then MS released Win 10.

Win 10 + MS Office 2013 + iCloud 4.1 also played well together.

Then MS release Office 2016 (in all its manifestations).

Win 10 + MS Office 2016 + iCloud 4.1 also played well together.

Then Apple released iCloud 5 for the Win 10 platform.

And iCloud 5 wouldn't play well with Win 10.

That was an Apple decision; not a Microsoft decision.

Microsoft cannot fix a bad release from Apple -- that's up to Apple.

Don't revert to Office 2013 (or whatever your previous version was).

Instead, uninstall iCloud and revert to version 4.1.  It will work and give you all the functionality you need.

Of course, you will then get the regular nag pop-up from Apple to upgrade to the latest (nonfunctional) iCloud.

Oit of mere curiosity has anyone tried to install manually an iCloud IMAP e-mail account to Outlook 2013 (which allegedly syncs fine with iCloud), using the guidelines as provided by Apple, (incoming, outgoing mail server, user name, pass, etc, etc)? I am not talking about syncing calendars and addresses here, I am talking about the simplest thing of installing an IMAP iCloud e-mail account on Outlook (choose the version you prefer). Has anyone ever tried that? What were the results? I am curious to know... 'Cause you are heading for a big surprise, here...

How does one move to iCloud 4.1?

I have one computer with Windows 10 + Outlook 2016 + iCloud 4.0.2 in which iCloud doesn't work.

I have new computer with Windows 10 + Outlook 2016 that has never had iCloud and is waiting for some good version of iCloud to install.  

Dear loyal Apple customers.

Thank you for continuing to use our products and subscribe to our services however we are too busy making things thinner and reducing battery life to address your issues of not being able to run your businesses. Nor do we have time to acknowledge your problems as that would imply that we cared. Please join us when we announce our new iPhone Razor, so thin you can shave with it! (External battery pack available at extra cost).

Thank you for your continued support

I wish I knew a safe way to get the installer.  I checked the Apple site and -- of course -- they offer only the current broken version.  If you don't actually have the installer for iCloud 4.1 left, then I can't think of any way of getting one.  I don't have one of my own, or I would offer a link to collecting it.

You could check on-line, but all the sites I've seen offering the installer seemed kind of iffy to me.

Best of luck,

We should be careful not to try things to fix the iCloud problem that might mess up our computers.  If Apple offered an iCloud 4.1 link, and someone tried it and said it worked, I'd probably try it.  But I've seen advice on other issues in forums such as this that caused a cascade of major problems as a result of trying to fix a minor problem; I was able to recover by restoring from a System Image.

We should be particularly careful here; this is such a complicated problem that all the best engineers at Apple have been unable to solve it in 4 months.

@segalsegal

Which is why I didn't link to any iffy websites.

However, you might not have noticed, but in general Apple does not talk to us; nor, apparently, listen to us.  There hasn't been even an acknowledgement of this problem from Apple; nor has there been the slightest indication that they are working on a solution.  At the very least, they could offer a link to download iCloud 4.1.

Yeah, right.

If you want Apple's ear, then it appears the only way to get it is to pay for it; and then only if you own something sufficiently up-to-date to get a warranty on it.

You know that most of Apple's equipment is made in China.  Perhaps that is where they get their coding down now, which would explain a lot.  In fact, that even may be who runs the corporation now.  Who knows?  Heaven knows we would never be told.

As I said a few days ago, I called Apple support and asked. She said there had been many complaints and that a new version of iCloud would be released in December. She didn't know when this month but that she assumed it would address this issue.

That's good.  But, two things:

First, do you have paid support; because I can't seem to reach them unless I do -- but, admittedly, I haven't tried on this issue.

And second, I ask rhetorically, if they had an answer for you, why haven't they had the courtesy to post that answer for the rest of us, as well as to turn off the nag to get an update not supported by our operating system.

Still, thank you, personally, for reminding me of the information you were given.  Might fingers are crossed ...

Best,

No paid support; found a number, called it, fought through the automation and got a person. I asked her, she said she had personally been asked the same question a few times. She looked up the latest info and told me about the December release.

I can't answer your rhetorical question; I hope you will accept that my answer came from the horses mouth. I too will be patient and keep my fingers crossed.

Have a good evening.

ALABAMA591,

I had iCloud EMAIL setup as an account in Outlook 2010, 2013 and now in 2016. The IMAP mail works, downloaded and syncs with the email records just as GMAIL does. I can find the server name if you need it for the IMAP server for Apple email. It has a po# prefix or something unusual looking in the mail server name, different from what we would expect it to look like.There is not calendar or contact folder embedded like a POP3 folder set has for a PST file type. The IMAP's are OST file types, see the data files in Outlook's settings.

Now, I will find it if you want it. It does work just find. Now, in exchange please tell me what the surprise is that I would find if I set this up. It has worked just smoothly for the email.

Paulfromindio

You will not get a continual sync as long as there is no bridge (iCloud for Windows) to do this. For desktop bound calendar and contacts you can export a file to Outlook or even iCloud. Or use the import feature from one of them. I have done this to get my calendar that had been syncing just fine into iCloud calendar and merged to avoid duplicates. Then I committed myself to only st and change calendar and contact information from the iPhone or iPad. By using Outlook app for iOS on my phone, I transferred all my POP3 email to my IMAP email (Outlook.com for one and Gmail for a couple others). I set up Outlook app for iOS so that I can see a unified email set and calendar and contacts in one place, albeit not in my Outlook 2016 desktop. The email is fine on the desktop. The calendars and contacts in Outlook 2016 are not out of date. I will not bother to import / export this stuff again until there is a fix from Apple. If there is not fix, I will likely go back to Office / Outlook 2013 (Office 365 can do this if you are very careful in how you install Office 365 for Home and Business. we have that working on one company PC that was installed with Office 365 using the options to upgrade 2013 vs install a new clean 2016.

I am getting too old to remember how I do some of this stuff and it takes a lot of time to figure out my steps and work through them. So, I am waiting to hopefully do this just one time and also stop the email transfers of my POP3 mail into IMAP accounts.