My wife and I both purchased Windows phones some years ago when Windows 7 would no longer accept the older version of Outlook (Outlook 2000) we used for calendaring and we needed to begin using Live Mail and Live Calendar.

Through at least one phone upgrade and over two years of pretty decent service, we were both happy.  As caregivers for our elderly parents, and with my home business still running part time, plus our own doctors, dentists and other social appointments, we each  created and shared different calendars in the Live Calendar system where appointments were booked. As an example, when I entered an appointment into "my" calendar, my wife would see in within moments on her laptop and on her Windows phone. and vice versa. The synchronization, as near as I can work out, was through the Outlook dot com calendar app (Items entered in Live Calendar were simultaneous copied over to Outtlook.com calendar and it was the dot com calendar which synch`d with the phones).   Regardless, it worked, it worked well, and it un-complicated our lives greatly.

Then, about four months ago, the connection stopped working. My wife no longer is able to see my appointments in Live Calendar, and it has become hit-or-miss whether they will even show up in the calendar on my Windows phone. We have been forced to add data to each individual device, and email notes back and forth. For a time, if we actually entered an event in the Microsoft dot com calendar, it eventually found its' way to the Windows phones, but no longer. As an additional issue, her email is no longer coming to Outlook.com simultaneously with her Live Mail app, thus emails are also not getting to the phone.

Effectively, we have no method of sharing important appointments between us any more.   Please note that I did look at the Internet Providers online"Webmail" app, but it is limited by design to a single shareable calendar and becomes very cluttered very quickly. additionally, only one of us can be given ownership, so when the other has an item to be added, it must be sent to the person with access to add.

All told, it's a huge step backward, and I have come to really resent the glib "You need to upgrade your computers" answer  which seems to be the only reply many so-called experts seem to be capable of using.  

In the fullness of time, yes, we will likely update. However, we have two perfectly good, well-working laptops which each contain dedicated software that would cost literally thousands to re-purchase, so short of a lottery win, that upgrade is well into the future.

What I need is a solution for the real world, for those of us who rely on the working computer but are not of the "keep up with the Joneses" type of geek who is permanently in search of the latest and greatest!

If anyone has a solution, please advise. It will make two young-ish retired folks very happy.

(What we have tried- cold boots, boots into safe mode, open as Admin, password changes, updates, and troubleshooting with our Internet Provider (Shaw). However, the IP's response has been to tell us that if mail and calendar is making it “to” our laptops, then their job is done and it’s either the phone company or Microsoft that needs to solve the issue.)

So- this is me- asking.