It means your Google account name and password are saved and used by Microsoft.Īll this applies to Outlook 365 or Outlook 2016 for Mac users who are on build 0902 or higher (which should be almost everyone in 2021) and are activated using a Microsoft 365 subscription. From Microsoft Cloud mail, appointments and contacts are synced to Outlook for Mac.

To do that, Microsoft uses their cloud services to grab data from your Google account. Outlook 365 & 2016 has a different and indirect connection which syncs mail, calendar and contacts. That’s how Outlook for Windows connects to Gmail (using IMAP synchronization) for email only. Normally Outlook (Windows or Mac) connects directly to the mailbox and gets or synchronizes with the original mail server. Your Google password must be disclosed and saved by Microsoft to make this work. But it’s done in an indirect way which routes your data via Microsoft’s servers and adds delays as well as complications to the usual, direct Outlook connection.

Microsoft is hyping an Outlook for Mac feature that synchronizes not just mail, but also calendar and contacts. But it’s not a simple link and there are so many ‘gotchas’ we wonder if it’s worth the trouble. Outlook 365 for Mac has a more complete connection to Gmail accounts which includes calendar and contacts.

Using outlook for mac with gmail