I need to develop an add-in or plugin that works with Microsoft Outlook and Teams calendars to send notifications to my server when someone:
- Adds a new appointment
- Modifies or moves an existing appointment
- Deletes an appointment
I want to monitor these calendar events for individual users. The solution should:
- Function in both Outlook (web and desktop versions) and Teams calendar interface
- Capture appointment changes in real-time
- Send HTTP requests to my backend API with event details
I’m open to creating a custom plugin or add-in solution. Does Microsoft provide APIs or hooks for listening to calendar event changes like this?
I’d appreciate any guidance on implementation strategies or potential roadblocks.
I built something like this last year with Microsoft Graph webhooks and an Office Add-in. Don’t try to intercept events directly through the add-in - use Graph API’s subscription endpoint to register for calendar change notifications instead. Your add-in just handles the registration while Graph delivers the webhooks to your server. You’ll need to register your app in Azure AD with at least Calendar.Read permissions. Watch out for webhook validation and renewal though - calendar subscriptions expire after 4230 minutes, so build automated renewal logic. If you want it working across Outlook web, desktop, and Teams, stick with the Graph API approach since it doesn’t depend on which client they’re using.
Nice project! Have you checked out Microsoft Graph API subscriptions? They handle change notifications for calendar events perfectly. Quick question though - is this just for you or multiple users? Because tenant-wide permissions can get messy fast.
graph api is def the best option, but be sure to sort out security first - proper app reg and consent flow are a must. also, your webhook endpoints gotta be public with ssl. if you’re on local dev, use ngrok or something for testing!