ClientHours

Outlook on the web calendar to hours

In short: Microsoft's Save Calendar steps are written for Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2024 and Outlook 2021, not for Outlook on the web. For Outlook on the web, Microsoft's help describes publishing a calendar: you get an HTML link and an ICS link, and the ICS file can be downloaded. Download it, drop it below, and you get hours per client per day.

Outlook on the web calendar to hours

.ics, .zip or Outlook CSV

An .ics file from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, Google's .zip of all calendars, or Outlook's calendar CSV. Several files at once are fine.

Your calendar stays on this device

The file is read and added up by this page, inside your browser. Nothing from it is uploaded. Your keyword table and rates are saved only in this browser.

No calendar export handy? or download the sample to look at it first.

The freelancer, clients and meetings in the sample are invented. It is read on this device, like your own file.

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How to do it

  1. In Outlook on the web, go to Calendar and select Settings.
  2. Select Shared calendars. Under Publish a calendar, choose the calendar and how much detail people can see. Pick a level that shows titles, or no client can be matched.
  3. Select Publish. Use the ICS link to download the .ics file.
  4. Drop the .ics below and pick the dates.
  5. When you have the file, stop publishing the calendar on the same Shared calendars page if you do not want it public.

What it does

  • The .ics keeps repeat rules and time zones, which this page reads.
  • Outlook time zone names like "W. Europe Standard Time" are read from the file's own rules.
  • Per Microsoft, published HTML and ICS calendars are read-only for the people who have the link.
  • Whether a published calendar carries guests, categories and declined answers is not confirmed. Titles are what this page needs most.

Sources

Export from Outlook (.ics)

  1. In classic Outlook for Windows, open the calendar, then File, then Save Calendar.
  2. Click More Options. Set Date Range to the period you bill for, and Detail to Full details. "Availability only" leaves out the titles, so no client can be matched.
  3. Save. Drop the .ics file here.

The new Outlook and Outlook on the web do not always offer this. If yours does not, use the CSV export from classic Outlook, or publish the calendar and download its .ics link.

Export steps for the other apps

Export from Google Calendar

  1. Open Google Calendar on a computer (the phone app cannot export).
  2. For every calendar at once: click the gear icon, then Settings, then Import & export, then Export. A .zip downloads. Drop the .zip here as it is.
  3. For one calendar: under My calendars, point at the calendar, click the three dots, then Settings and sharing, then Export calendar. An .ics file downloads.

Work and school accounts can have export turned off by the admin. You need the "Make changes and manage sharing" permission on a calendar to export it.

Export from Outlook (CSV)

  1. In classic Outlook for Windows: File, Open & Export, Import/Export.
  2. Choose Export to a file, then Comma Separated Values, then your Calendar folder.
  3. Outlook asks for a date range. Pick the period you bill for. Save, then drop the .csv here.

The CSV has no time zone, no declined status and no repeat rules. Each row is one meeting as it sat in your calendar. If repeating meetings look missing, export as .ics instead.

Export from Apple Calendar

  1. Open Calendar on your Mac. If the calendar list is hidden, choose View, then Show Calendar List.
  2. Click the calendar name in the list.
  3. Choose File, then Export, then Export. Save the .ics file and drop it here.

Apple exports one calendar at a time. The "Calendar Archive" (.icbu) option is a backup format this tool does not read. Drop several .ics files at once if your work sits in more than one calendar.

Limits

  • An event counts on the day it starts, in the time zone you pick. An event that runs past midnight is not split across two days.
  • All-day events are left out unless you set hours per all-day event. Then an event over several days gives one row per day, for the days inside your date range.
  • Declined meetings are left out only when you enter your own email address, and only for .ics files. The Outlook CSV has no declined, tentative or free status, so those tick boxes do nothing for it.
  • Client keywords match whole words, so "art" does not match "Party". A keyword with @ or a dot, like @acme.com, matches inside email addresses.
  • The "events shown as free" box leaves out events marked TRANSP:TRANSPARENT in the file. That this is what Google writes for events set to Free is not confirmed against a real Google export.
  • Repeat rules by the hour or minute, by week number, or by hour of the day are not expanded. Those series are listed as not counted. Calendar apps rarely write them.
  • A repeat that lands on a time skipped by a clock change (for example 2:30 on the night clocks go forward) is skipped, as the iCalendar standard says. Some calendar apps show it an hour later instead. The page names those dates.
  • "This and all later" changes written as RANGE=THISANDFUTURE are applied to the one meeting only, with a warning.
  • The Outlook CSV must have English column names. A CSV from a German, French or other localized Outlook is refused.
  • The Outlook CSV has no time zone. Its times are read as the wall-clock times of the computer that exported them.
  • Not tested against real exports of timed, repeating and declined events from Google, Apple or Outlook. The test files are built from the iCalendar standard and the vendors' help pages. Check the first timesheet against your calendar.
  • The Toggl Track, Harvest and Clockify import files follow those vendors' help pages and were not tested by importing into a real account.

Questions

Is publishing my calendar safe?
Microsoft's help says publishing lets anyone with the link see your calendar. Publish only for as long as you need the file, then stop publishing. Microsoft also notes that sharing may be limited by your organization's settings.
Does this work in the new Outlook for Windows?
Microsoft's publishing steps are written for Outlook on the web, and we found no Microsoft page that gives them for the new Outlook for Windows. If your account opens in Outlook on the web, publish from there.
Why are titles missing from the file?
The calendar was published with a detail level that leaves them out. Publish it again with more detail, download the ICS file again, and drop it here.
Is my calendar uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read by this page inside your browser. Nothing from it is sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.
How is the client picked for each event?
From a keyword table you can edit. The first row whose keyword appears as a whole word in the event title, categories, location, or a guest's name sets the client; a keyword with @ or a dot, like @acme.com, matches inside email addresses. Suggestions come from guest email domains, categories and titles like "Acme: review". Your own domain is never suggested, and the table is filled in only once your email address is known. It is saved in your browser.
How are hours rounded?
Per event and always up: exact, to 6 minutes (0.1 hour), to 15 minutes, or to 30 minutes. With exact rounding each event counts in whole minutes and is shown as hours:minutes (0:20), and totals add the minutes before giving decimal hours, so three 20-minute calls are 1:00 = 1.00 hours. With 6, 15 or 30 minutes every row is already a whole number of hundredths, so the decimals add up.

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