Sending WhatsApp Appointment Reminders from Microsoft Outlook
Last updated: September 16, 2026
If you use Microsoft Outlook or Office 365 to manage your calendar and appointments, you can connect it to Broadcaster and send automatic WhatsApp reminders to clients before each job. Once connected, reminders go out without any manual effort.
What your clients receive
Your client receives a WhatsApp message from your business number ahead of their appointment. The message includes their name, the appointment date and time, and any details from your reminder template. You choose the timing, a few days before, the day before, the morning of, or a combination.
How to connect Outlook to Broadcaster
Outlook Calendar supports iCal feed publishing through the web version. Broadcaster reads this feed to pull in your upcoming appointments.
Step 1: Publish your Outlook Calendar and get the ICS feed URL
- Go to Outlook Calendar in a desktop browser, or your Microsoft 365 calendar
- Click the Settings cog in the top right
- Select View all Outlook settings
- Go to Calendar and then Shared calendars
- Under Publish a calendar, select the calendar you want to connect
- Set permissions to Can view all details
- Click Publish
- Copy the ICS link — make sure you copy the ICS link, not the HTML link
Step 2: Add the feed to Broadcaster
- Log into your Broadcaster account
- Go to Integrations in the left-hand menu
- On the ICS Calendar Feed card, press Add connection, then paste your Outlook ICS URL into Calendar URL and choose how often Broadcaster should check it: every hour, every 6 hours, or twice a day
- Press Add calendar feed
For full details on the iCal connection process, see our calendar connection guide.
What gets synced
| What syncs | Notes |
|---|---|
| Appointment date and time | Yes |
| Appointment title | Yes, from the event title in Outlook |
| Appointment notes | Yes, from the event description field |
| Client phone number | Used to find the matching contact. If nobody matches, the visit is held until you add the person, or Broadcaster can add them for you |
| Client name | Matched from Broadcaster by phone number, then email, then name |
Broadcaster matches a calendar event to a contact by phone number first, then by email, then by name. If nobody matches, the visit is not booked: it is listed on your Integration Activity page until you add the person, and then books itself. If you would rather Broadcaster added the person and booked the visit straight away, choose that option in the feed’s settings under Integrations.
Troubleshooting
The Publish a calendar option is not visible Your organisation’s IT administrator may have disabled calendar publishing. Contact your IT support to enable it.
The ICS link stopped working If you changed your Microsoft account password, your published calendar URL may have been invalidated. Return to the Shared calendars settings, unpublish and republish the calendar, and update the URL in Broadcaster.
Using Outlook as a bridge from another app Several job management apps sync to Outlook rather than Google Calendar — including Commusoft and simPRO. If you are using one of those, see the dedicated guide for your app:
Does this work for my trade?
Outlook is common among trades businesses that use Microsoft 365 for email and office administration, particularly slightly larger operations with office staff managing engineer schedules. If Outlook is your primary calendar and you book client appointments directly into it, connecting Broadcaster is straightforward.
If your job management app syncs to Outlook, use the dedicated guide for that app rather than this one, the steps are the same but the app-specific guides include additional detail relevant to that integration.
Ready to connect Outlook to Broadcaster?
Start your free trial and follow the steps above. Most businesses are up and running within the same day.
Written by alan