The integration with Outlook Calendar is a feature that allows us to synchronize the events we have created in the calendar with COR, making our daily work easier and providing us with greater organization and visibility.
Thanks to the integration, we will be able to log the hours dedicated to these events within the tasks, simplifying the process of logging manual hours and even allowing us to track the time of recurring events automatically within COR.
Activaction of Integration
To activate the integration with Outlook Calendar we must go to the Integrations section.
We can access it by clicking on our profile picture and selecting the "Integrations" option in the drop-down menu.
Another option is to click on the calendar icon in the upper right corner of the screen, and then on the "Go to integrations" button.
A third alternative is to click on the "Go to integrations" button to the right of the tasks in the My Hours tab of the Hours section.
Once we have entered the Integrations section, we will see the list of available applications and we will select Outlook Calendar, clicking on "Connect".
We will be redirected to the Microsoft login, where we will be asked to enter the credentials of the account we want to integrate.
We will then be asked for our consent for COR to access our Microsoft account, and we will click "Accept".
That's it! A message will appear indicating that our Outlook Calendar account is now integrated with COR.
COR will bring all future events that are scheduled in our Calendar, and past events up to 30 days backwards.
Only those events confirmed or pending confirmation will be listed, excluding deleted or rejected events.
Note: it is important to note that the integration is at the user level and not at the company level.
Time tracking of events in tasks
In the My Hours tab of the Hours section, to the right of the daily tasks, we will find a list with the different calendars associated to our Microsoft account:
When clicking on the calendar of our choice, a list will be displayed where we will find each of the events we have scheduled, detailing name, date, and start and end time.
For events lasting more than one day, the start date and end date will be displayed.
By default, events with a duration of one or more days will be listed first, and then they will be listed according to the start time.
To track the hours of any of these events in a specific task, we must click on the stopwatch icon to the right of the event name:
The tracking time panel will open, and by clicking on the little magnifying glass we will be able to search for the task to which we want to assign the event time.
It is important to note that the hours can only be logged in the tasks that occur on the same day as the event, so the date is not a modifiable field.
By default, the time available to log will be the duration of the event. If the event lasts all day, the amount of daily hours that our user has configured in COR will be assigned.
If it is a recurring event, we will identify it in the list with this symbol. In the time tracking panel, the time to be tracked will be locked for editing and the option "Automatically track every time this meeting repeats" will be checked. This means that each time the event recurs, its designated time will be tracked in the selected task.
In case we do not want all the event recurrences to be tracked in the tasks, we must uncheck this option and this will enable us to edit the time to track
Once the task has been selected and both the time to track and the event recurrence have been configured, if applicable, click on "Accept" and return to the My Hours tab.
The time of the event will have already been tracked in the selected task, and in the associated note we will be able to visualize the name of the source event. In addition, the event will be highlighted in light blue, indicating that an action was performed on it.
Considerations on automatic tracking of hours
- If a recurring event changes its recurrence day and duration, the change will be reflected in the automatic tracking of hours in tasks.
- COR will deactivate the automatic tracking when it detects that the task, the event or the user has been deleted, or when the project associated to the task has finished (as long as the hours tracking block setting is active in finished projects).
- If the user exceeds 24 hours tracked in a single day when the automatic tracking is performed, COR will discard the tracking of hours for the event on that day.
Elimination of event time in tasks
In case we want to delete the tracked time, we just need to click on the trash can icon located to the right of the note icon.
By doing so, the event time will no longer be tracked in the task and the event will no longer be highlighted in the event list.
Possible actions on a tracked event
If we click on the three dots on the right of the tracked event, we will find three possible actions:
- Open the associated task: This action redirects us to the task panel, where we can see the details of the task. It will be available as long as we have tracked event time in a single task.
- Track time in another task: By clicking on this option, the time tracking panel opens so that we can track the time of the event in another task.
- Disable automatic tracking: This option is only available when the event is recurring and automatic tracking is enabled. When disabled, the time corresponding to the next events of the series will not be tracked in the tasks unless we indicate it manually.
Modification of an event
If we modify an event that occurs within the current week or the following one, COR will update the event in real time and by simply refreshing the page or going to the date in question, we will see the updated event.
If, on the other hand, the modified event occurred in previous weeks, the change will not be reflected.
Calendar change
To switch calendars you only need to click on the gear icon at the top right of the events list and select "Change calendar". This can be done either from the My Hours tab or from the calendar icon located at the top right of the screen.
That will allow us to select another calendar from our account by clicking on its name.
Note: we will only be allowed to view the events of one calendar at a time, and only the calendars of the current integrated account can be selected.
Deactivation of integration
The deactivation of the integration can be done from the Integrations section of our profile, by clicking on "Disconnect application".
Or from the calendar settings in the My Hours tab of the Hours section, by clicking on the gear icon and selecting the "Disconnect" option.
A message will appear asking to confirm the deactivation, and we will choose "Confirm".
The deactivation of the integration will be necessary whenever you want to change Microsoft account, or if you want to switch to the integration with Google Calendar, since whenever one is active the other will be blocked for activation.