Connect Outlook Calendar

MySummitKeep can keep your unit’s events in step with Microsoft Outlook (Microsoft 365) so you see troop meetings, campouts, and deadlines right alongside the rest of your life. You have two ways to do it: a full two-way OAuth sync that pushes and pulls events automatically, or a lightweight iCal feed you can subscribe to from any calendar app with no sign-in.

Everything described here lives on one page: Settings → Calendar Integrations (/settings/calendar).

Who can set this up

Calendar integration is gated by the Update Settings permission (the CanUpdateSettings policy). That permission travels with your role rather than a specific job title, so most unit leaders, committee chairs, and admins have it — but if an action (connect, sync, disconnect, or any iCal feed change) returns a “not authorized” error when you click it, ask whoever manages your unit’s roles to grant you settings access. The buttons stay clickable regardless; the permission is enforced when the action runs.

Note

The Outlook two-way sync also requires a one-time platform setup by the MySummitKeep team. If the Outlook card shows the “Outlook Calendar sync is available for your unit” setup notice and the Connect Outlook Calendar button is greyed out, the connection isn’t enabled yet — the iCal feed below works regardless and needs no setup.

Option 1 — Two-way Outlook sync (recommended)

This connects your own Microsoft account so MySummitKeep can push unit events into Outlook and pull your Outlook events back in.

Connect your account

1. Open Settings → Calendar Integrations and find the Outlook Calendar card.
2. Click Connect Outlook Calendar. You’ll be sent to Microsoft’s sign-in page to approve calendar access.
3. After you approve, Microsoft returns you to MySummitKeep at the handoff page /settings/calendar/outlook/callback. You’ll briefly see “Connecting Outlook Calendar — Exchanging authorization code…” while we finish securely exchanging the code for an access token.
4. When it succeeds you’ll see “Connected!” and be returned to the Calendar Integrations page. The Outlook card now shows a green Connected badge along with your account email and sync status.

Caution

If the handoff page shows “Connection Failed,” click Back to Settings and try Connect Outlook Calendar again. The most common cause is declining the Microsoft permission prompt or letting the sign-in window time out.

Sync to Outlook vs. Pull from Outlook

Once connected, the Outlook card gives you two sync directions plus a disconnect option.

• Sync to Outlook — pushes your MySummitKeep unit events into Outlook. After it runs, you’ll see a short report such as “Sync complete — 5 created, 2 updated.” Run this after adding or editing events in MySummitKeep.
• Pull from Outlook — imports events from your connected Outlook calendar back into MySummitKeep. The report shows how many were imported and how many were skipped because they were already synced.
• Disconnect — removes the Outlook connection and stops syncing. Events already copied in either direction stay where they are; only the link is broken.

The card also shows the last synced time and the current sync status (Idle, Syncing, Completed, Failed, or Pending Authorization). If a sync fails, the most recent error message appears in red on the card so you can see what went wrong.

Tip

Think of the two buttons as direction-of-travel. Sync to Outlook = “publish my troop’s plan.” Pull from Outlook = “bring my personal scheduling back into the unit calendar.” You can run them as often as you like.

Option 2 — Subscribe to the iCal feed (no sign-in)

If your unit’s Outlook sync isn’t enabled, or members just want a read-only copy in whatever app they already use (Apple Calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar, and more), use the iCal Feed card. It produces a single subscription link that any iCal/ICS-aware app can follow.

1. On the iCal Feed card, click Generate iCal Feed if you don’t have one yet.
2. Copy the Feed URL with the Copy button. It is a token-signed address — not a guessable public link — shaped like:

   https://app.mysummitkeep.com/api/v1/calendar-integration/ical/<feedToken>

   The <feedToken> is a private signature unique to your unit; treat the whole URL as a shared secret.
3. Share that URL with members, or subscribe yourself:
   • Outlook on the web — go to outlook.office.com, open Calendar, then Add calendar → Subscribe from web, paste the URL, name it (for example “Troop 42 Events”), and click Import.
   • Outlook desktop — File → Account Settings → Internet Calendars → New, then paste the URL.
   • Apple or Google Calendar — use their “subscribe by URL” option and paste the same link.

The card also tracks the feed name, whether it’s active, an approximate subscriber count, and when it was last accessed.

Enable, disable, or regenerate the feed

• Enable Feed / Disable Feed turns the link on or off. While disabled, the URL stops returning events but is not deleted, so you can re-enable it later without resharing.
• Regenerate URL issues a brand-new token. This is your “reset” button if a link leaks. After regenerating, the old URL stops working immediately, so you’ll need to share the new one and ask members to re-subscribe.

Caution

Regenerating the feed token invalidates every existing subscription. Only do it when you intend for current subscribers to lose access, then redistribute the new URL.

Prefer Google?

If your unit lives in Google instead of Microsoft, the same Calendar Integrations page has a Google Calendar card with the same Connect / Sync / Disconnect flow. See Connect Google Calendar for the step-by-step.

Troubleshooting

The Connect button is greyed out — Outlook two-way sync hasn’t been enabled for your unit yet (the platform-side setup is still pending). Use the iCal feed in the meantime. (Note: a missing Update Settings permission does not grey out the button — instead the action fails with a “not authorized” error when you click it.)

Events aren’t showing up after a “Sync to Outlook” — give it a couple of minutes, then check the card’s last-synced time and sync status. If the status is Failed, read the error message shown on the card.

A subscribed iCal calendar looks stale — calendar apps refresh subscriptions on their own schedule (often hours apart), so new events can lag. Removing and re-adding the subscription forces a refresh.

Members get an error opening the feed URL — confirm the feed is Active on the iCal card and that they’re using the full token-signed URL. If you recently clicked Regenerate URL, the old link no longer works; share the new one.

Still stuck? Contact support with your unit name and which option (Outlook sync or iCal feed) you’re using.