Stay Synced On Your Mac

November 23, 2007 on 5:01 pm | In Other |

If you have a Mac and want to keep your calendar organized and synced up with co-workers and friends it’s simple with iCal, Spanning Sync and Google.

First use iCal as your main scheduling program. Create different calendars for your needs - Work, Business etc. and select the colors of our choice to represent each calendar.

Next log in to your Google account, click on “Calendars“. On the left side of the page you will see a monthly calendar and beneath that you will see what current calendars you have. Click on “Add” > “Create New Calendar“. Name your calendar the same name as one of your iCal names (for example - Personal). You will see other settings such as time-zone and sharing options. Click “Create Calendar“. The new calendar you just created will show up on the left side of the page, to make things easy to manage click the down arrow and change the color to the same as your iCal.

Now you will need a piece of software called Spanning Sync to “sync” between iCal and Google. Spanning Sync costs $25 for 1 year or $65 for a life time copy. Once the program is installed the icon will appear in the Menu Bar. Simply click on it and select “Open Spanning Sync Preferences” (you can also access this via system preferences).

1 - Enter your Google username and password.

2 - Check Sync with Google Calendar and select the frequency of updates.

3 - Check which calendars you want to sync up to Google. A pop up window will ask you which iCal to sync with you Google calendar. Select same names for each.

4 - Press “Sync Now” and your schedule is now on your iCal and on Google!

If you wish to share your calender you can do it one of two ways through Google or through iCal.

Google - If the people you want to share it with use Google Calendar click on “Settings” > “Calendars” and then select “Share this calendar“. You will then enter the persons Google mail, select which settings you want them to see and then click “Add Person” then “Save”

iCal - If the people you want to share your calendar with use iCal all they have to do is subscribe to your calendar. In Google Calendar click on “Settings” > “Calendar” and then click the name of the calendar you want to share.

Scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Private Address“. Click on “ICAL” and a pop up will display a link, copy this link and give it to those who wish to subscribe to your calendar. To subscribe in iCal click on “Calendar” > “Subscribe” and paste in the link. Edit the name and color and any other settings.

Now you can add an entry to you iCal, and Spanning Sync will automatically sync it with Google Calendar so you can access it anytime or share it with friends and co-workers. Also download the Google Notifier for your Menu Bar to stay up with current emails and events.