iCal sync

[LGABoarder]

So I can't seem to get iCal to sync with Google Calendars and thus with my Droid and I'm not sure where the problem lies. It seems that the Google calendar can only sync with one calendar (I have three in iCal) and also that iCal then syncs with Google which duplicates all of my events. I want two-way syncing (without duplicates) with multiple calendars, ideally working with CalDAV but Google doesn't seem to support it. Is that assessment correct?

I've also heard about Missing Sync which I've heard good and bad things about, anyone have any MS experience or have any clue how the development is coming along?

I'm brand new to Android/Google Apps so I hope I'm making sense, thanks!

 

[chris.h]

I use busysync to push my iCal calendars to google but I think iCal will only pull changes from a separate my.account@gmail.com calendar back.

 

[andrewrodney]

The trick is to get the calendar you want to sync to Google to first publish in iCal, then copy the URL and in Google Calendars, use the Add popup menu till you see the option “Add by URL”. Then when iCal publishes new calendar items, it will update in Google Calendars and then your phone. Worked perfectly for me.

 

[LGABoarder]

Good thinking, Andrew. I'll look into publishing! Can this publish both ways without creating duplicates and handle multiple calendars? Sounds promising at least!

 

[x0SiN0x]

ive been testing Spanning Sync 3 - Sync iCal with Google Calendar, Sync Address Book with Google Contacts which seems to work well for me. I have a mac mini set up as a server at home so runs this software. updates on mobile me get pushed to gmail and vice versa

they have a 15 day trial, my trial is almost up but im tempted to continue service.

 

[LGABoarder]

Andrew, you are my hero!! Here's what I did for anyone else looking for the answer.

-Setup Publish for each of the calendars in iCal to publish to ftp://www.yourdomain.com
-Add each calendar to Google cals by URL using http://www.yourdomain.com/cal.ics
-Add each of the published cals to your Droid as well as the main calendar created by Google
-Follow these instructions to sync back your main Google calendar to your ical - If you add any events on the Droid this will be the calendar it adds to since the others are read only.

It's still not quite two-way syncing but it works for me and I'm happy. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[andrewrodney]

Good thinking, Andrew. I'll look into publishing! Can this publish both ways without creating duplicates and handle multiple calendars? Sounds promising at least!

It appears to work fine both ways, at least since I set this up this weekend.

 

[Kazakaz]

ive been testing Spanning Sync 3 - Sync iCal with Google Calendar, Sync Address Book with Google Contacts which seems to work well for me. I have a mac mini set up as a server at home so runs this software. updates on mobile me get pushed to gmail and vice versa

they have a 15 day trial, my trial is almost up but im tempted to continue service.

I've been using it for over a year now. I paid the $65. Definitely worth it.

 

[billbunton]

I've been using spanning sync for a year or so also, works great!

 

[andrewrodney]

I've been using spanning sync for a year or so also, works great!

Just downloaded the demo and hope to try tomorrow. While iCal syncing using the above ULR solution has worked fine for me, Address Book syncing isn

 

[digitard]

Thanks for the info. I don't use my iCal too much, but I've been starting to use it a bit more and more. So if I can get it all to sync that'd be great since I love my MBP.+

 

[billbunton]

It works mind you but screws up the data getting synced from Google to Address book even though Address book is newer. I

 

[andrewrodney]

Are you the Andrew Rodney of color expert fame?

For a long time I only synced contacts one-way, from AB to Google. I'm pretty sure I switched to two-way a month or two ago, though I'm not at home and can't verify that. I haven't noticed any problems though.

Well yes....

I tried both one way and both way sync, nothing. Tried the product (Spanning Sync) on a Macbook too, no go. And the issues I had were not with AB but iCal.

 

[andrewrodney]

Update in terms of syncing Google Calendars with the URL approach described above. It appears that there can be a long delay in the update. That is, update in iCal, go to your Mobile Me calendar and within a minute or so, its updated there but NOT in Google Calendars. Did a search and apparently this has been an issue with Google Calendars for some time (lots of Mac users complaining). Google says it can take several hours and if there isn’t an update in 24 hours to send them the URL of the calendar. Anyway, this is a Google issue with getting the push from iCal/.Mac and Mac users should let Verizion and Google know this needs to get fixed!

 

[astro13rm]

Both my wife and I are using it to sync our contacts and calendar to Google. From there, it obviously syncs to each of our phones. Works perfectly.

Well worth the fee -- I just bought the lifetime one to be done with it.

 

[zcast]

I'll throw another vote in for spanning sync as well. I tried every which way to get the calendars to sync up the way I wanted them to. It just wasn't working correctly for me so I tried Spanning Sync. Now it just works. Super simple to setup and get both your contacts and calendars synced; and it's bidirectional.

The only thing you need to do is setup your calendars on Google first. For example, I have about 12 different iCal calendars. You need to setup Google Calendar with 12 similar (or same) named calendars to you to sync your iCal calendars to. Then in the Spanning Sync pref pane, you just select your iCal calendar and check the box of the Google calendar you want to sync it with. Then just do that for all your calendars.


I find it was well worth the investment to get me the crucial calendar/contact info I need to have.

-Z

 

[andrewrodney]

I'll throw another vote in for spanning sync as well.

You can count me in now. Contacted tech support, they were amazing. Even sent me a special build which fixed my time out issues with Sync Services. Its working wonderfully now and I plan to buy it.

A side note, I also tested an iCal replacement called BusyCal. Looks very similar to iCal but has many useful features (list view, graphics in Calendar mode, etc) but it syncs perfectly too to Google and quickly. Wile iCal is free, and this pup is $40, its very, very nice and I might buy that too. It syncs TO iCal so you can always go back, and since iCal is perfectly in Sync, so is MobileMe. It also appears you can turn off some of the BusyCal sync to Google and instead use Spanning Sync since it also does a great job syncing contacts.

 

[nickfro]

...and then things will work fine.

I have 2 way syncing of contacts and calendar working fine in iCal under Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

1) Contacts: create a group called "My Contacts" in the Address Book application. In Preferences, select "Synchronize with Google" (back things up first). This will sync the contacts on your Mac with the same group on Google, and do bidirectional updates in the background.

2) Calendars: export your calendar files from your Mac and import them, one at a time, into Google. Then, in iCal, select Preferences, Accounts, and add your Gmail information. This will pull down your main (first) calendar from Google. Then go to the Delegation tab and select your other calendars (if applicable). All will appear on your machine and sync bidirectionally automatically. Once it's working, you can delete your 'local' calendars.

Works like a charm...and doesn't require the purchase of extra software or MobileMe.

 

[andrewrodney]

.
Works like a charm...and doesn't require the purchase of extra software or MobileMe.

I tried that but on this end, didn

 

[nickfro]

...your mileage may vary.

I did have a few challenges with the initial imports into Google, and did have to restore from a backup of my contacts once... but I've got 3 years worth of work and personal calendar data, so I don't think size is an issue.

Glad to hear that a third party option works for you, and that I was able to get it to work without it (goodness knows VZN charges us enough as it is...)

 

[andrewrodney]

but I've got 3 years worth of work and personal calendar data, so I don't think size is an issue.

Many of my calendars date back to 1994! But whatever the issue, we

 

[billbunton]

The Spanning Sync was the only solution that worked both ways (two way sync), quickly and with all the data I threw at it.

Glad to hear the Spanning Sync guys helped you get this working!

 

[Cruzatte]

I'm on the last days of my Spanning Sync trial, and they've got me hooked. I handle basically everything in iCal, so getting it to magically appear on the Droid an hour later is awesome (and then having a change made on my Droid appear in my iCal... heavenly).

I'd be tempted to wait for some app to come out; you'd think now that Android is picking up steam that there'll be plenty of people working on Mac/Android issues. But since our problem (iCal syncing generally) is so front-end, I guess it's doubtful that the perfect app will pop up in the market anytime soon.

(I guess I just talked myself into buying SSync. Ah, well.)

 

[mduncan3]

Hi. I successfully posted my calendar to my ftp site but when I try to add by url in google calendar, it briefly adds it to the list and then says "Settings Error. Could not fetch the url." Any idea what is wrong with my setup?

 

[JohnV]

Hi All
The way you could do it also is export your Calendar as Html (kontact does Linux)
write a batch script that copy the file to your android SD card you could place that on your desktop with a Icon .And open with browser inside android.
I had to do this as Linux And Black Berry was not friends and the place I work for is just using kontact I could view my Cal but not change So every morning and after noon I would sync like this if some thing came up I would book it in the Berry Cal go home and add it to my system later and sync the file again , It helped me allot