When building an Automation we offer several triggers that can be used with Outlook including:
- When a new email is received in Outlook Email
- When an event is created in Outlook Calendar
- When an event is changed in Outlook Calendar
In this article, we will be setting up an automation that creates an Airtable record for any newly created Outlook events that are created. We also have Automation actions for Outlook which you can read more about in this article.
Setup
After you have configured your base in the manner you choose, you can then begin configuring your automation. To start, click on “Automations” in the upper right corner of your base. Then, click “Create an automation” to begin the setup process.
There are three Outlook triggers you can choose from. The setup for each individual trigger is detailed below.
When a new email is received in Outlook Email
This trigger fires whenever a new email is received in an Outlook Email account’s inbox. To start, select the “When email is received” trigger from the list of available triggers.
Connect your Outlook account (or select an already connected account) and then run a test to make sure the integration is successful.
NOTE
Basic details about the email such as its ID, sender, to/cc/bcc recipients, reply to addresses, message body, received date, importance, and its permalink are included in the output of the trigger. Attachments are not included in the output.
Lastly, you have the option to receive the email message in plain text format or in HTML format. You can toggle this option on or off by clicking the “Show more options” dropdown below where your Outlook account is listed.
When an event is created in Outlook Calendar
The trigger fires whenever an event is created in a specified Outlook Calendar. To start, select the “When event created” trigger from the list of available triggers.
Then, connect your Outlook account (or select an already connected account), select the calendar you want to use, and run a test to make sure the integration is successful. At least one calendar event will need to be created in order for the test to run successfully.
NOTE
The trigger’s output includes information about the created event such its ID, title, description, start time, end time, location, creator, importance, when it was created, when it was last updated, the email addresses of its attendees, its video conferencing link if it has one, and it’s permalink.
Once you’ve selected the calendar and ran a successful test, there are no additional configuration steps for this trigger.
When an event is changed in Outlook Calendar
This trigger fires whenever an Outlook Calendar event has any saved changes to the event details. To demonstrate this trigger, let’s assume that you are automatically creating Airtable records for every new event in Outlook Calendar.
NOTE
For this trigger to find and match an Outlook Calendar event, you’ll need to include the Event ID in your Airtable record (or in whatever source you’re using to store calendar events).
To set up this trigger, start by selecting it from the list of available automation triggers.
Then, connect your Outlook account (or select an already connected account), select the calendar you want to use, and run a test to make sure the integration is successful. At least one calendar event will need to be created in order for the test to run successfully.
Once you’ve selected the calendar and ran a successful test, there are no additional configuration steps for this trigger.
Add an action
Now that your triggers are configured you can add one or more actions using any automation action. However, for a more robust example we’ll demonstrate an Outlook integration using two separate automations.
- Automation 1: create Airtable records for any newly created Outlook events
- Automation 2: update those records anytime the Outlook event changes.
Automation 1
Step 1: Choose the “When event is created” trigger
Configure the trigger using the instructions provided above.
Step 2: Add the “Create record” action
To start, select “Add an action” below your automation trigger, and then select “Create record”. Afterwards select the table where you want the record to be created.
Next, choose what data from the Outlook Calendar event you want to include in the created record, mapping the information in the calendar event to fields in your table.
NOTE
The “When event is created” trigger outputs information about the created event such its ID, title, description, start time, end time, location, creator, importance, when it was created, when it was last updated, the email addresses of its attendees, its video conferencing link if it has one, and it’s permalink.
Finally, run a test to make sure the calendar data is being populated correctly in the fields you've configured.
Automation 2
Step 1: Choose the “When an event is changed” trigger
Configure the trigger using the instructions provided above.
Step 2: Add the “Find records” action
For this step, we’ll need to identify the Outlook event ID that was created in the previous automation and match it to the event ID for the changed event. To do this, we’ll use the “Dynamic variable” option to configure the conditions for this action.
View the video below for a closer look at how to do this.
Step 3: Add the “Update record” action
Once you’ve successfully tested the previous “Find record” action, you’ll add a final “Update record” action to your automation.
Select the same table where you’re creating records from Outlook events (the “Events” table in the example below), and insert the Record ID from the “Find records” action in the previous step.
Then, add in the Airtable fields that you want to update, and insert the related Outlook event data (found in step 1 using the “When an event changed” trigger) into those fields.
Once each of these triggers and actions are successfully configured and tested, it’s time to turn your automation on.
FAQs
Do Outlook Calendar events support sending attachments?
Not at this time.