Syncing Ical into Google Calendars

[GrantRyanL]

I have a Droid Eris and a Macbook. I use iCal religiously and want to find a way to sync my iCal with Google Calendars. I used to use a program called Calgoo Connect, but that is no longer effective. Does anyone know of some freeware download that can help me with this or some solution to the problem?

Thanks

 

[mikey517]

I believe that there is an option in Google calendars that shows you how to
sync with iCal. I use a mac as well and it works ok...not great. It sometimes does not
sync from phone to iCal...but it is free!

 

[hallstevenson]

I haven't gotten iCal to "push" to my Google calendar but it works going from Google Calendar to iCal just fine (iCal "pulls" just fine)... I know, not what you want though.

I tried the instructions in OS X with no luck.

 

[doogald]

I use (and strongly endorse) a Mac application called Spanning Sync. It works great; when there are problems, you get immediate and effective customer support. There is also an application called Busy Sync that does the same, in a slightly different way. Finally, the people who make Busy Sync make an iCal replacement called Busy Cal that can also sync well with Google calendar.

I like Spanning Sync because it also handles Address Book sync with gmail contacts, plus I was using it before Busy Sync was around.

I have a code that can get you a $5 savings on Spanning Sync if you buy a license (I also get $5 if you use it.) PM me if you are interested.

Spanning Sync
Busy Cal/Busy Sync

 

[gpa111]

Just go to iCal - preferences - accounts - hit the + and select account type google and enter your account information, then what I did was delete any calendars that were specific to the computer, and it only shows my google ones. From there you just use it as normal and it syncs since it is actually editing the google one.

 

[hallstevenson]

Heh, that does work after all. iCal will push to Google Calendar. Problem was, a new event defaults to "home" calendar (on the Mac only ?). I changed it to my Google Calendar and a few seconds later refreshed the Google side and it's there.

Hopefully it (iCal) remembers this calendar as my default for the next event.

 

[GrantRyanL]

Hey @hallstevenson, I'm considering using this push feature of iCal that you're talking about, but I want to better understand the problem that you were having with it. Can you walk me through it?

 

[brownikowskie]

Hey @hallstevenson, I'm considering using this push feature of iCal that you're talking about, but I want to better understand the problem that you were having with it. Can you walk me through it?

There isn't a "push" (or a "pull" for that matter). Google calendar and iCal both support CalDAV, which more or less has your calendar on a read/write web share. When you're on the web in Google calendar, on your phone's calendar application, or even in iCal, you're reading and writing to the remote calendar, hosted on a Google server.

CalDAV is relatively new, so it's possible you migrated a read-only calendar subscription forward in iCal at some point. Just create a new claendar in iCal and make it a google calendar account. iCal knows about google calendar and should guide you through the process pretty seamlessly.

 

[hallstevenson]

First, configure iCal to talk to Google Calendar. Use the CalDAV protocol. I think Google has instructions on their Calendar site detailing how to set this up.

When that's done, in iCal, create a new event. Sadly, it defaults to "home" and changing it to something else doesn't stick for the next event you create. Change the calendar to your Google calendar (look for name you chose in the CalDAV setup). I didn't have to tell it to update or refresh or push. Within a minute or two, it was showing up in my Google calender too.

 

[GrantRyanL]

@Hallstevenson Thanks again. & Thank you to @brownikowskie, because you explained that quite nicely.

Here's the issue I'm having now: I set up multiple calendars in my Google Calendar account, but only one of them, the main one, appears in iCal. Does CalDav only support one web-based calendar? or Is there something that can be done about this.

Thank you in advance!

 

[hallstevenson]

I set up multiple calendars in my Google Calendar account, but only one of them, the main one, appears in iCal. Does CalDav only support one web-based calendar?

I think it may be limited to one. Is that mentioned on Google's page telling how to sync ? I recall reading something along those lines somewhere. On our phones, we can only sync (1) calendar too (unless I'm missing something).

 

[hallstevenson]

Here's where it's mentioned that Android only syncs to (1) calendar:
Multiple calendars and accounts sync - Google Mobile Help

Not sure if this is a CalDAV limitation or not.

 

[brownikowskie]

Here's where it's mentioned that Android only syncs to (1) calendar.

I think you're mixing up calendar with account. You can only sync calendars from one account, the first one that you set the phone up with. However, you can view calendars from other accounts. (This is good to know, I didn't see that change!)

From within a single account you can sync as many calendars as you want. (I do this currently.)

 

[GrantRyanL]

This issue I'm having is when I went into iCal preferences and added my Google account, only one of the calendars that I have in my Google account appeared. Is there a way for the other ones to appear there such that I can edit them in the same manner?

 

[brownikowskie]

You'll prolly want to look at the google help:
Get Started with CalDAV - Google Calendar Help

And here:
CalDAV Calendar Sync : CalDAV - Google Mobile Help

 

[kacmu90]

questions - what type of account information do I enter? what is the url for the google calendar? It says it cannot find the google calendar.