iCal/Google Calendar Sync Problem

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Level 1

48 points

iCal/Google Calendar Sync Problem

I have a problem with iCal and Google Calendar syncing. I assume I should be able to "push" events from iCal to Google Calendar so that I can check my calendar when I do not have my MacBook Pro with me, however I am not able to do this?!

I added my Google gmail/calendar account in iCal > Preferences > Accounts > Account Information. I can see my gmail account in the main window of iCal as a CalDAV calendar, but when I sign into Google Calendar there are no events whatsoever.

Is there some preference in iCal that I do not have turned on? I looked in Google Calendar preferences and it seems to be set correctly.

I'd love to hear from any experts in the know with suggestions or fixes for this.

Thx.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 13, 2011 11:13 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Jeffrey Bonacci

Level 1

45 points

Apr 14, 2011 5:16 AM in response to codyMR

You would be able to "push" events from iCal to Google Calendar IF they had been created in the Google Calendar in iCal. If you have other events, say "Home" or "Personal", either on your mac or in MobileMe, those events will not automatically sync. You could, however, open the events that are currently in your iCal and switch them over to Google and then they should populate the Google Calendar.

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Answer 2

codyMR Author

Level 1

48 points

Apr 14, 2011 7:09 AM in response to Jeffrey Bonacci

Ah ha... Jeffrey, your answer is so simple and obvious I feel kind of dumb that I asked the question. I can't believe I didn't figure that out right away.

Many thx for your help.

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Answer 3

Apr 17, 2011 4:42 PM in response to Jeffrey Bonacci

Just curious, is there a way to create sub-categories under the google calendar? ie, home, work etc. Mainly for different color codes.

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Answer 4

Apr 17, 2011 4:49 PM in response to Polekat22

Hi Polecat22,

You can create additional calendars in the Google Calendar web interface. These will, in the current iCal, appear as delegate calendars to your mail Google Calendar. You have to select these by opening iCal's Preferences > Accounts then select the Google account and select the Delegation tab to select the ones you want to see. In iCal they appear in their own top level "Delegate" section of the calendar list.

Best wishes

John M

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Answer 5

Apr 17, 2011 5:22 PM in response to John Maisey

Hey thanks, now one more question. Any way to rename the delegate? For some reason it's showing up in iCal as i7vs34jlsd035hdl etc. I named it home on Google Cal but no such luck after iCal connected to it.

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Answer 6

Apr 17, 2011 5:27 PM in response to Polekat22

I can't remember if I did it all in one process. You may need to wait for the calendar to propagate fully in Google before adding it in iCal. Try waiting 24 hours or so.

John M

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Answer 7

Apr 17, 2011 5:29 PM in response to John Maisey

Ok, thanks for your knowledge

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Answer 8

codyMR Author

Level 1

48 points

Apr 18, 2011 12:53 AM in response to codyMR

Hmmm... After working with this in my free time for a few more hours, I can't say that iCal/Google syncing works well for my needs. I was hoping for the calendar sync to work more like the Address Book syncing where Address Book and Google Contacts can "see" each others contents and changes made on either end are updated in both AB and GC.

In my iCal situation, new events work well (as long as they are created in iCal as a Google Calendar event), but I also want Google so see all of my events in iCal. Right now, having items as two seperate calendars within the same calendar app is tedious

Does this mean I have to drag and drop every iCal event into the Google cendar to make it Sync into the cloud? That is a whole lot of work when you look at all of the data I have in iCal... <grumble>.

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Answer 9

Apr 18, 2011 1:54 AM in response to codyMR

Hi codyMR,

It is possible to add all your events from one calendar to another in one process. I would say that if there is a lot of events it may take some time for Google to sync all of them.

In the calendar list, select the calendar you want to copy the events from. Then go to the File menu, select Export… > Export… and save the file somewhere you can find it. Then in the Finder open the .ics file you just saved. This will open iCal again and ask which calendar you want the events added to. Choose your Google calendar. I had some confirmations whether I wanted to keep some alarms when I did this (I think it doesn't like email alarms). Then wait for Google to finish syncing.

Hide events from the local calendar in the calendar list. Once you are happy you may want to delete the local calendar.

Best wishes

John M

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Answer 10

codyMR Author

Level 1

48 points

Apr 18, 2011 2:19 AM in response to John Maisey

Hi John M,

Thx so much for your epertise. I will give your suggestion a shot. Again, many thanks!

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Answer 11

Apr 18, 2011 5:11 AM in response to codyMR

I'm glad you've found it helpful.

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Answer 12

Oct 20, 2011 1:59 PM in response to codyMR

I recommend using web interface for a while until the problem is fixed: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/static.py?page=known_issues.cs

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Answer 13

Jun 3, 2014 8:03 AM in response to codyMR

If I am not mistaking, you can configure the calendars you wish to edit in iCal at http://calendar.google.com/iphoneselect. Be aware that you will now also receive the alerts of events in these calendars.

You can then remove them as a delegate in the iCal > Preferences > Accounts > Delegates tab.

Cheers,

Jan

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