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CalDAV support comes to Google Calendar

by Christina Warren Jul 28th 2008 at 5:00PM

I'm a pretty big user of Google Calendar, because I like how I can automatically sync it with my BlackBerry. The problem for me has been that on my desktop, I really prefer iCal's interface. Syncing the two can be cumbersome. We've written about third-party programs that can sync iCal and gCal together in the past, and although those are great -- I have still wanted a native way to sync the two calendars together.

Well, fortunately, Google has just quietly introduced CalDAV support to Google Calendar. CalDAV is the protocol that iCal uses to transmit data over the web. Although some other mail and calendar programs support CalDAV, right now Google Calendar is only compatible with iCal. Finally, iCal and Google Calendar can sync without having to use third party programs!

After following Google's detailed instructions, you can add your Google calendar account to iCal. Any changes you make in iCal will be transferred over to Google and appear in Google Calendar within about 15 minutes. Likewise, any changes made in gCal will be updated immediately from iCal. If you use a BlackBerry, which also syncs directly with gCal, those changes will be updated on all sides as well.

So does this mean that third-party syncing utilities have no place? Well, just based on my initial tests this morning, they are safe for at least a little while. Although sync support works perfectly, you have to create a new calendar account for each individual calendar you want to access. Additionally, if you have a calendar called "Home" on your Mac and a different calendar called "Home" in gCal, you can't just sync those two together. You'll need to either import all your iCal data into Google first, and then sync with the new calendar, or transfer the information over from one calendar to the other within iCal. Programs like BusySync and Spanning Sync allow syncing of designated calendars with one another.

Still, this is a huge step in the right direction and I'm just happy that I can import my mobile calendar onto my desktop without having to run a background utility. CalDAV support for Google Calendar requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's version of iCal. The Google Calendar service is free.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[via Google Operating System]

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I'm a pretty big user of Google Calendar, because I like how I can automatically sync it with my BlackBerry. The problem for me has been...
 

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Killa K

If I have multiple Google Calendars, will the colours remain the same on iCal or will it be like NuevaSync and merge the whole thing into one calendar?

October 23 2008 at 6:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Killa K's comment
Christina Warren

They are separate calendars but you can control the colors the same way you can with any other calendar. Like, my designated BlackBerry calendar is a mauve color, just like it is in gCal.

October 23 2008 at 6:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Glenn

I have a gCal with 2 calendars on it, but I can only use the CalDAV sync with the 1st calendar on that list. To get the 2nd, I have to do the "secondary calendar" setup on the help page for Google Calendar CalDAV. But that means I can only edit the first calendar, and not both. When will this be fixed?

October 07 2008 at 7:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kh

I'm currently using NuevaSync to bi-directionly sync my iphone with gcal....NuevaSync has the advantage of simutaneously sync on the air but it does not support iCal color code (since it only sync with your main calendar in gcal)...for me i prefer color code....but for those who share gcal to other people for collaboration and would like to sync directly to your mobile...NuevaSync may serve better for your usage

August 01 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Reid Ellis

Over the last few months, I've been really liking the open source Chandler Server's iCal integration (also using CalDAV). Now I'll have to see if Chandler can talk to Google, as well.

July 30 2008 at 1:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christopher Hollomon

It's prety obvious what this means.. it has very little to do with iCal syncing.. and everything to do with push calender to the iphone and other mobile devices, google will just build a free mobile me environment, makes sense, I just hope they make the gcal app a real offline iphone app that push syncs, as opposed to an online all the time app, it pretty brilliant to use ical as your computer calender, replace your iphone cal with a gcal, and then you have your online calender as well. i hope they roll it out soon because i hope free push contacts is right behind it.

July 30 2008 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yon

"Known issues: For a small percentage of Google Calendars, a certain iCal bug will prevent your events from appearing inside the iCal application. We've notified Apple of the issue, and hope that they'll fix it soon."

I'm in that small percentage :(

July 30 2008 at 7:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam Michaels

For some reason events entered into iCal sync with gCal, but I'm not getting gCal events in iCal. Any ideas?

July 29 2008 at 11:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rick

Can't say I'll be using gCal now that me.com is up and working. *knock on wood*

July 29 2008 at 5:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sodapop

"Open the iCal application by going to Finder > Applications > iCal"

That first step is going to confuse people because thats not even close to the Mac interface.

July 29 2008 at 3:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
inferno10

At this point, I'd rather stick to BusySync. Two-way syncing, support for multiple calendars, to-dos, support for color-labeling in calendars. I use it to sync between Google Mac mini MobileMe MacBook Air & iPhone. Granted, it's not push, but I'm not sure CalDAV is either.

July 29 2008 at 1:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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