How to add CalDAV and CardDAV accounts and synchronize them with Windows 11?

Add CalDAV and CardDAV accounts and synchronize them with Windows 11

Windows 11 fully supports synchronization of CalDAV and CardDAV contacts and calendar data with Calendar and Mail applications. However, this functionality is normally limited to certain Microsoft partners.

You cannot directly add a CalDAV/CardDAV server account. This one imposes limits to synchronization only with Google, iCloud and Yahoo accounts!. However, you can bypass this limitation to add any CalDAV and CardDAV service providers.

To circumvent the limitation, we will use the Icloud provider when adding the schedule.

Before explaining how to do this, take note of this important warning.

### Warning
Note that there is an inherent security risk by following this tutorial. Until Windows version 10.0.1607, we were able to confirm that your DAV account password is not sent to Apple if you follow these instructions. However, later versions of Windows may change the implementation in a way that may expose your password.
If Windows supports two-factor connections for Apple credentials in the future, your connections could be sent to Apple servers. Similarly, Windows may remove the option to change DAV server addresses and Apple server addresses.
Don’t use login credentials for accounts you don’t want to share with Apple. Apple is unlikely to record incorrect login information sent to its servers, but there is always a risk that it will be intercepted.

Additional caveat: Your DAV username must be an email address for the following instructions to work. Most are, but it depends on your server or service provider.

To set up a CalDAV and custom CardDAV account, first add an iCloud account in Windows.

Open the Windows Settings app and go to Accounts:*Email and Accounts**.
Click Add new account and choose iCloud.
Enter your DAV account username as your email address.
*Make sure you don’t enter your real password. The password you enter here is sent to Apple.
Click Log in.

At this point, you have a non-functional iCloud account. It will be used as a template to configure your generic CalDAV and CardDAV accounts.



*Select your account in the Email and Accounts and click Change Account.
Click Advanced mailbox settings.
Enter “localhost” in the IMAP and SMTP fields of the server. This will prevent you from sending your account password to Apple email servers.
Enter your CalDAV and CardDAV server addresses in the appropriate fields (see below).
Click Done.
Now enter your actual account password in the Password field.
Click Save.

Configuration information

You can find configuration information for your calendar (CalDAV) and contacts (CardDAV) in the cPanel Calendars and Contacts interface. To do this, connect to your cPanel control panel and go to the Email» Calendars and Contacts section. The information should look like this:

Server — example.com:2080
Username - example or user@example.com
Password — 123456baggage
Description — My Calendars

Initial synchronization may take a few minutes, depending on the amount of data to be synchronized. Your calendar and contact information should then appear in the Calendar and People applications. They will also be visible on the lock screen and in the Action Center.

As you can see from the yellow warning above, this method is not perfect or without risk. This is however the best that Windows 10 offers at the moment.

Updated on: 13/07/2023