Create an expenses claim by exporting your Outlook calendar

Are you constantly being nagged by your accounts department for failing to prepare your travel expenses on time? Then this month’s tip promises to make your life a little easier.

For many business people, their Outlook calendars already contain up-to-date records of the trips they have made to see customers and suppliers. So if only there was a neat way to transfer this data into Excel and turn it into a travel expense claim. Well there is!

Microsoft Outlook contains a simple export procedure, allowing you to copy all diary events within a specified date range to an Excel file format. This can be a great fast-track way to get your travel expense claim started or maybe to email this data to a colleague to will do it for you! Of course, your colleague doesn’t need to know about your dental check-ups or hair appointments, so assigning a category to the Outlook events that require a mileage claim will make it easier to sort through the exported data and pinpoint the information you require.

By the way, if you’re unsure how to assign a category to a calendar appointment, this Microsoft tutorial should set you on the right path:https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Assign-a-color-category-to-a-calendar-appointment-750596d9-707d-4412-8c0e-7fdc0fc52527

How to export calendar information from Outlook to Excel

Please note: These instructions are for Outlook 2010 although this feature also exists in other versions of the software

1. Go to File > Open > Import to open the Import and Export Wizard. Under ‘Choose an action to perform’ you need to select ‘Export to a file’ and click Next.

2. In the Export to a file dialogue box, select a Microsoft Excel file format and click Next.

3. Now, under ‘Select folder to export from’, select your Outlook Calendar and click Next again.

4. When the ‘Export to a File’ dialogue box is displayed, click the Browse button to select a destination for the file. Name the file and click OK.

5. When it turns to the previous ‘Export to a File’ dialogue box, click Next to continue. Another ‘Export to a File’ window will pop up. Click Finish to export your Outlook calendar.

6. In the ‘Set Date Range’ dialogue box that appears, please specify the date range you will export calendar within, and click the OK button.

Congratulations. You have now exported the raw data from Outlook to Excel. Open the file you have created and sort by the ‘Categories’ column to pinpoint the business trips that you need to claim for.