Calendar (Microsoft service)

Calendar (previously known as Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live Hotmail Calendar and Hotmail Calendar) is a time-management web application by Microsoft as part of its Outlook.com service. Calendar supports iCalendar files for users to import calendar entries into their calendars.

Calendar was released on January 14, 2008, branded as Windows Live Calendar at the time, and was updated to the "Wave 4" release on June 7, 2010. The service was relaunched as Outlook.com Calendar, using the Metro design already introduced to Outlook.com, OneDrive and People. The new style was rolled out to users beginning on April 2, 2013.

Features
Calendar features a similar interface to desktop calendar applications such as Windows Calendar. Similar to Hotmail and Outlook.com, the interface is driven by AJAX-technology which enables users to view, add and drag-and-drop calendar events from one date to another without reloading the page. It features daily, weekly, monthly and agenda view modes. It also features a to-do list function for users to keep track of their tasks to be completed.

Calendar events are stored online and can be viewed from any location. Multiple calendars can be created and shared, allowing different levels of permissions for each user. Users are able to share their Calendar via three different methods:
 * Private sharing - other users may sign-in with their Microsoft account and view, edit and/or delete calendar entries based on the invitation by the owner
 * View-only link - other users may receive a view-only link to the calendar being shared, and be able to subscribe to the calendar via RSS or Webcal
 * Public sharing - other users may search and view the calendar on the web
 * Reminders - users can set up to 6 reminders per event and can have them sent to Messenger, their phone or an email address. They can also set default reminders for each calendar. On shared calendars, users can choose to get notified when another user edits an event.

Windows Live Mail features a Calendar mode that allows automatic syncing with Calendar when signed in with a Microsoft account. As part of the "Wave 4" release, Calendar supports the Exchange ActiveSync protocol, and full-session SSL support was added.

Windows Live Calendar
In June 2006, it was initially reported that Windows Live Calendar would feature iCalendar invitations, calendar sharing, tasks and notes, RSS support, calendar data synchronisation, and a new and simplified user interface.

Windows Live Calendar was reported to have entered internal pre-beta (dogfood) testing within Microsoft on August 17, 2007. Several months later, Windows Live Calendar beta was released for public testing on November 5, 2007.

On June 20, 2008 an update was released for Windows Live Calendar that automatically adds birthdays from Windows Live Contacts as well as public holidays calendar for China, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Spain, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, United States and United Kingdom. iCal Subscriptions are also now supported. Also of interest are the user interface changes with the ability to have right click options and additional print views. On September 18, 2008, Windows Live Calendar was updated to the Wave 3 release, featuring new to-do list functions, new design, and support for Windows Live Mail Calendar function.

Windows Live Hotmail Calendar


The "Wave 4" to the Windows Live services released on June 7, 2010 gave the calendar weather for the next 5 days in day, week or month view based on information the user provided and more integration with "Hotmail highlights" on Windows Live Home. This release changed the name of it from Windows Live Calendar to Windows Live Hotmail Calendar, so it was brought under one of the four pillars of Windows Live.

On August 22, 2011, an update was released to Windows Live Hotmail Calendar that introduced new reminders.