iCal keeps crashing when opened in OS Lion

Greetings Dinger,

As you tested in a new user we know this is not an issue with iCal, rather with some piece of data in your user account. Good testing!

1. Backup your data: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1553

2. Remove the following to the trash and restart your computer:

Home > Library > Caches > com.apple.ical

Home > Library > Calendars > Calendar Cache, Cache, Cache 1, 2, 3, etc. (Do not remove Sync Cache or Theme Cache if present)

Home > Library > Preferences > com.apple.ical (There may be more than one of these. Remove them all.)

---NOTE: Removing these files may remove any shared (CalDAV) calendars you may have access to. You will have to re-add those calendars to iCal > Preferences > Accounts.

---NOTE: To get to "Home > Library" in Lion hold down the option key and click on "Go" while in the Finder.

3. If the issue persists boot into Safe Mode and test again and report your results: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

Hope that helps.

Glad that helped.

I too was having a problem where one particular event seemed to cause iCal to freeze. If I clicked on this particular event I then I couldn't select any events at all. If I skipped forward a few months I could then select any event and then when I went back to the month with the event causing the problem it was all fine until I clicked on that event again and it all froze again.

I followed your suggetions above MadisonP and now it all seems to work fine.🙂

Cheers.

Dan.

Thanks so much!

You are AWESOME. I have been trying to fix my bad Calendar button for about 5 hours... and there was your answer and it worked with perfection!

Thanks Madison. I too have been struggling with a messd up (slow/freezing iCal.) Your help worked for me.

Hey MadisonP, I had a question regarding Step 2: Home > Library > Preferences > com.apple.ical (There may be more than one of these. Remove them all.). There was no file in that folder entitled "com.apple.ical" specficially, but there were files like ".com.apple.ical.plist". Is this the one you are referring to, or am I missing something here? Thanks for your help on this

Fred

Hi. Unfortunatley does appear to be an issue with iCal -- specifically when there is more than one CalDAV accounts. That's what I've tested so far -- not sure if there are issues with multiple exchange / other type accounts.

I deleted all the preferences / settings / restarted, and created one Google CalDAV account. I opened / closed iCal multiple times and no issues at all with crashing. Once I added in a second Googl CalDAV account and restarted iCal, I experienced many crashes -- not completely consistent, but I would say 3 out of 5 times.

My suspicion is that the crashing has something to do with how iCal syncs / updates with CalDAV accounts. At first startup, iCal connects to all the accounts for updates, and that is when the crash occurs. Thoughts, or does this make potential sense?

--Jaren

My iCal stopped working when I tried to sync to Google Cal. iCal opens but the preferences won't open and all my calendars have disappeared. I've gone into Library - Preferences but there are no files apple.com.iCal, there are also no iCal files in Caches nor are there any Calendar folders anyway in home. Its like Calendars have all disappeared. Is there anything else I can do?

Follow up -- I actually filed a bug report with Apple on this and through this I found that the crashing problem 9s a known issue. No ETA on resolution, but I would guess that it would probably be slated for the next major OS update.

Despite the occasional crashes, iCal still opens and syncs with my Google calendar accounts.

What happens when you try and open your preferences? You should at least be able to do this, or your iCal app may be corrupted.

Try changing the 'Calendars' folder (in your 'Home's Library) and change it to '_Calendars'. This has been working for me.

I don't have any of those files in my library but I have exactly the same problem with ical, calendar list won't appear, crashes.

any thoughts?

Like others recommended above, I finally gave up on iCal, bit the bullet and purchased BusyCal. What a difference! I now keep all my events on my iCloud calendar. It easily syncs between my home computer, work computer and iPad. I found I could easily export weird old calendars, import them into my iCloud calendar and then eliminate duplicates without a problem. Sure wish iCal had worked that well. I was tired of weeping, wailing and gnashing my teeth hassling with it.

Thanks, renny27.

this simple step ( changing the 'Calendars' folder to '_Calendars') seems to have made all the difference for me too...

It took a few minutes for the calendars to rebuild ( I sync and or subscribe to 12 different sources) but all seems stable now.