Maybe, I can help a little bit how to synchronize *multiple GoogleCal calendars* with the iPhone/iPad-Calendar via *Microsoft Exchange* and how to *assign the colors you want*.
NOTE: Things are different, when you´re syncing via iTunes, as described elsewhere in this thread.
In my experience, the iPhone (as well as the iPad) assigns the different colors to multiple calendars synchronized with GoogleCal via Exchange Server in the order you synchronize them. In other words, *you have to synchronize multiple calendars step by step one after the other to match them with your desired colors*. It´s a tedious and somewhat annoying procedure, but for me it worked.
In general there are six different colors the iPhone/iPad assigns to the different calendars. They are assigned in the following
order:
*1. blue*
*2. red*
*3. green*
*4. orange*
*5. purple*
*6. brown*
then the iPhone (iPad) starts over again with:
7. blue
8. red
...
To make things even more complicated, the new feature "Birthday Calendar" under iOS 4 makes the process far more tricky. Especially, when you want to sync an iPhone (iOS 4.0.1) and an iPad (iOS 3.2) and have the same colors in all your devices. See below (under
B) for this.
Maybe, you only want to sync an iPhone or iPad, running iOS 3.x. Then do the following:
*A) Process with devices running iOS 3.x:*
Lets say we have five different Calendars in GoogleCal we want to synchronize with our iPhone and our iPad both running iOS 3.x and want to assign the following colors:
"Private" - blue
"Work" - red
"Children" - green
"Club" - orange
"Spouse" - purple
NOTE: In our example, "Private" is the master Calendar in our GoogleCal.
IMPORTANT: Before you start, you should make an *export of your GoogleCalendars* in case something goes wrong!
1) First we have to set up synchronization of our iPhone/iPad with a GoogleCal-Account via Exchange (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Add Account > Microsoft Exchange).
2) Then under <http://m.google.com/sync> we have to decide, which calendars shall be synchronized.
3) In our example in the first step we choose (check) the master Calendar in our GoogleCal ("Private"), the we save.
4) We go into the calendar app and wait for the synchronization. This takes some seconds. (I choose "Push" under the iPhone/iPad settings.) The Calendar should appear with blue dots.
5) Then we go back to <http://m.google.com/sync> and choose "Work" as our second calendar, save again.
6) Back in the calendar app after synchronization we now have to calendars, "Private" in blue, "Work" in red.
7) We go on in the process as described. In our example with "Children", "Club" and "Spouse" step-by-step.
8) After having done this, we should see the desired result.
NOTE 1: I you make a mistake during the process (wrong colors because of wrong order) go back to <http://m.google.com/sync> and uncheck
all calendars with wrong colors, save, go back to the calendar app, synchronize and start over again in the right order.
NOTE 2: If you only have three calendars and you only want to assign some of the colors, let´s say red, orange and purple, you can create empty calendars (e.g. "Empty01", "Empty02" ...) and use them in the process as described above. Once you're finished you can either choose, to no longer synchronize them under <http://m.google.com/sync> or you can even delete them. In my experience this works fine, because once the iPhone has assigned a color to a calendar, it will not change it again. You can even rename calendars, the colors assigned to them will remain the same, once assigned.
*B) Process with devices running iOS 4.x:*
As mentioned above, things are more complicated under iOS 4 or even more when working in a "mixed" environment with devices running iOS 3.x and iOS 4.x (iPhone and iPad).
The problem is the following: Under iOS 4 Apple introduced the Birthday Calendar. As far as I know, the *Birthday Calendar* can´t be deleted. You can switched it off but it´s still there, even if you don´t have any birthday assigned to your contacts at all. And so under iOS 4 the color blue is assigned to the Birthday Calendar.
When you perform the process as described above (under A) you´ll end up with your master calendar ("Private" in our example) in red on the iPhone (because blue is already assigned to the Birthday Calendar) and blue on the iPad. The reason is, that under <http://m.google.com/sync> you can´t uncheck the master calendar, so it will be always the first calendar that has to be synchronized and under iOS 4.x red is assigned to the first calendar synchronized, under iOS 3.x blue is assigned to the first calendar synchronized.
So in a mixed environment with devices running iOS 3.x and iOS 4.x (iPhone and iPad) for our example do the following:
1) Create the master calendar as an empty calendar ("Empty01"). Also create another empty calendar ("Empty02") This gives you maximum flexibility for the following steps.
2) Start the process as described under A). You have to watch out, that the order of synchronizing differs between the iOS 4.x device (iPhone) and the iOS 3.x device (iPad).
3) For the iPhone (iOS 4.x) work in the following order (for our example):
"Empty01" - red will be assigned
"Children" - green - " -
"Club" - orange - " -
"Spouse" - purple - " -
"Empty02" - brown - " -
"Private" - blue - " -
"Work" - red - " -
Once you´re finished, you can delete "Empty02" in GoogleCal. "Empty01" can´t be deleted, or unchecked under <http://m.google.com/sync>, but you can hide it directly in the iPhone calendar app.
4) For the iPad (iOS 3.x) work in the following order (for our example):
"Empty01" - blue will be assigned
"Work" - red - " -
"Children" - green - " -
"Club" - orange - " -
"Spouse" - purple - " -
"Empty02" - brown - " -
"Private" - blue - " -
Once you´re finished, again you can delete "Empty02" in GoogleCal. "Empty01" can´t be deleted, or unchecked under <http://m.google.com/sync>, but you can hide it directly in the iPad calendar app.
Finally, under the iPhone/iPad (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Calendar) you can change the default calendar from "Empty01" to whatever you want, e.g. "Private".
NOTE: Things maybe different under MobileMe. I haven´t tested that.
Message was edited by: pButter
