The busier my life gets, the more I depend on my calendar to keep everything straight. I have used Google Calendar for years, but recently decided to give Microsoft Outlook another try. It turned out to be one of my smartest decisions, so I’m sticking with Outlook to manage my calendars now. Here’s why.

5 Stronger privacy and security protections

No worries about accidentally making your calendar appear in search results

Privacy and security are important to me, and I’m sure they are for you, too. While Google pledges it will never sell the data associated with your calendar or use it to target advertisements, some concerns keep popping up. For one thing, a simple and easy-to-make sharing misconfiguration can lead your Google Calendar to unexpectedly appear in search results.

This problem has previously led to some rather embarrassing leaked information. One team of researchers discovered several Shopify employees with public calendars on Google Calendar. They could access sensitive information, including new hire details, an internal presentation, and links to internal Zoom meetings.

Outlook, on the other hand, uses Microsoft’s enterprise-level security protocols. This is typically more secure than Google’s protection, and you will never accidentally make your shared calendar appear in search engine results pages using Microsoft Outlook.

4 Better and more robust scheduling features

Google has improved, but still lags behind Outlook in its scheduling options

Google Calendar offers a few key options for advanced scheduling and customizing the calendar view, but Outlook is far superior in terms of how much I can customize my calendar.

I can create a custom calendar view in Outlook that only shows my working days and hours. It also includes a Schedule View, allowing me to see my upcoming events in a linear list. I can also color-code event categories for easy visualization of the different types of events I’ve got coming up. With Google Calendar, I can set custom colors for individual events, but categorization is really only attainable by creating multiple calendars.

With Microsoft Outlook, I can also poll potential meeting attendees for the best time to hold the meeting. This is very helpful when collaborating with people spread across different time zones. Outlook also allows me to see multiple time zones in my calendar.

Google Calendar has implemented a way to see your invitees’ free time slots, but not to ask them to suggest or vote on a time for the meeting.

3 Ability to edit and create new events even offline

Yes, there are still times when I’ve got no internet access and need to add an event to my calendar

One of the most significant drawbacks to me is that Google Calendar remains largely a web-based service. While calendar apps that work with Google Calendar usually let you view your appointments offline, it doesn’t always work. Furthermore, Google Calendar offers limited offline access for viewing items, but it doesn’t include creating new events or managing existing appointments.

Outlook is much more robust. I can easily create, edit, and delete events, even when I can’t connect to the internet. Furthermore, the desktop Outlook app allows me to manage my calendar even from my laptop. Google Calendar lacks a native app for desktop computers, only allowing offline web access to your calendar.

For anyone traveling frequently or in a region with spotty internet access, Microsoft Outlook is vastly superior to Google Calendar for offline use.

2 Superior search functionality

Sure, Google Calendar offers faster search, but Outlook’s is more powerful

I often need to search for past or upcoming appointments, and you’d think Google Calendar would excel at that. After all, it’s using Google’s robust, powerful search engine. Surprisingly, Microsoft Outlook provides a more advanced and powerful search functionality.

When you search through your Outlook calendars, the app allows you to use multiple filters, category-based searching, and much tighter integration with shared calendars and attachments. If you’ve got a complex schedule, this is highly beneficial.

Google Calendar’s own search is more appropriate for quick, straightforward search queries. It also doesn’t support searching based on attachments or offer a built-in category search. If you’ve got many shared calendars, the lack of these critical functions will make searching for a particular event difficult, if not impossible.

1 Integration with the Microsoft Office Suite

Because juggling documents, video call links, and project management is essential in a calendar app

Both Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook allow integration with other apps, but the integration targets different user bases. If I regularly used Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or other Google Workplace apps, Google Calendar might be a better option for me. But I don't.

If I’m using a full-fledged word processor or other productivity app, it’s usually part of the Microsoft Office suite. Outlook offers excellent integration with Microsoft’s entire ecosystem, making it simple to share documents straight from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for collaboration.

Outlook also integrates better with Zoom, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams. While Google Calendar offers excellent support for managing Google Meet video calls, its support for other platforms isn’t as seamless. Microsoft Outlook handles all of them easily.

Finally, Outlook integrates better with project and task management systems. It works well with Microsoft To-Do and many other task management services and project management software. Google Calendar only supports to-do lists and reminders in Google Tasks.

The right calendar app for my use

I know everyone has different needs for their calendar app. Both Google Calendar and Outlook are certainly more robust options than a simple paper calendar, but the game is all about finding the solution that works best for your needs. If your own requirements are similar to mine, you might be better off using Outlook instead of Google Calendar.