Synchronize with Outlook Notes

With Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO), you can keep using Outlook's Notes feature to jot down items you want to remember on colored sticky notes. And if you use Outlook on other computers, you can access your notes there, too. This is because your notes in Outlook are synchronized with your Google Drive account in the cloud, which in turn syncs them with any other device where you open the same Outlook profile.

Here's how synchronization works:

• Notes folder is synced—Place all notes you want to sync within your Outlook Notes folder (or in a subfolder of Notes). Notes placed elsewhere, such as in a mail folder, don't sync to Drive or any of your other Outlook clients.

  Removing a note from the Notes folder—either by deleting it or moving it to a mail folder—also removes it from Drive and your other Outlook clients. Moving a subfolder from a non-Notes branch back to the Notes subtree creates a folder in Drive, but its content is not synced.

• Leave Docs as private, plain-text—Each note that syncs with Google Workspace appears as a plain-text file in Drive that only you can view. If you use Drive to share this file with others or convert it to a web-based Google document format (such as Docs, Sheets, or Slides), the note no longer syncs with Outlook and is removed from all your Outlook clients. Learn more
• Outlook folders appear as folders in Drive—A Notes folder created in Outlook appears as a folder in Drive. However, a folder must have at least one note in it (or folder containing a note) to also synchronize with other Outlook clients.
• Deleting a folder from Notes removes the corresponding folder from Drive—This occurs unless the folder contains items that don't sync with Outlook, like a Google Sheet. In this case, the folder remains in Drive, but doesn't appear as a folder in Outlook. If you recover a Notes folder from the Deleted Items folder in Outlook, the folder shows as both a new object and in the Trash in Drive following a sync.
• Categories aren't synced—You can assign color categories to your notes in Outlook. However, categories don't sync with Drive and therefore don't appear on other Outlook clients.
• Moving a note from the Deleted Items folder doesn't remove the item from the Trash in Drive—If you remove a note from the Trash in Drive, the Note appears in Outlook after a resync but an unsynced copy of the Note remains in Outlook's Deleted Items folder until you decide to manually move it or permanently delete it.

Related topics

• Use Outlook on a second computer
• Sync Outlook notes with Google Drive