Synch Outlook with contacts and calendar

[Blue Max]

We need to maintain a family calendar and a contact database online that we
can sync with Outlook 2007. It appears that Windows Live, Google, Yahoo,
and others all have calendar features, but we are not sure about the level
of sharing sophistication associated with their contact or member
information. Does anyone have enough experience to make a recommendation?
Here are a few thoughts regarding what we would like:

FIRST, we would like to maintain a list of all family members on the
website.

SECOND, we want to allow family members to update their own contact
information.

THIRD, we would like to allow all family members to print, download, or sync
the contact (family member) information on the website with their personal
contact lists in Outlook, Vista contacts, PDA, cell phone, or other
software/device.

FOURTH, we would like to maintain a family events calendar on the website.

FIFTH, we would like to allow family members to add family events or
notices, perhaps through a family administrator.

SIXTH, we would like the alternative of allowing each family to display
(sync) their personal family calendar events on the website; perhaps using
different colors to identify different families.

Has anyone made a comparison of solutions for such needs? We are hoping
that Windows Live, Google, Yahoo, or our IP provider (Comcast) might provide
such services that would integrate with Outlook 2007.

Thank you for any help. If this is not the proper forum, please direct me
on where this should be posted.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Is this for an extended family or limited to your household?

Hotmail or Gmail would work for calendars if each member had their own
calendars but I don't think contacts are sharable between accounts. You
could create 1 mailbox for everyone to share but syncing multiple systems
with it would be a nightmare in the making, with a high risk of data loss.

There are (or were) a number of websites that supported things like this but
I don't know if any are still in business or if they are still free. Google
is your friend if you are interested in something other than the major email
providers.

if you want to own the domain (and give everyone their own email address),
godaddy (and probably others) have calendars available for the domains for a
small fee. AFAIK they don't share contacts.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



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