Help my partner and I sync up!
March 1, 2012 1:55 AM Subscribe
How can my partner and I share a calendar - with iPhone, Android, and Outlook Exchange accounts on separate secure networks?
My partner and I want to be able to enter an event once, ideally from our respective desktops in Outlook, while we're at work, and have it show up on our phones.
I have a iPhone 4s and a Windows laptop with Outlook Exchange. I can access Gmail/Gcal at work. I sync my Outlook and Gmail mail and calendars to my iPhone with no problems. I can't install any software on the laptop. My partner has an HTC Wildfire S and Outlook Exchange on a Windows desktop. He can't sync his Outlook account to his phone and he can't access Gmail/Gcal from the desktop.
I thought the solution would be to set up a shared Gmail account, have both of us create appointments in our respective Outlooks, then either add the Gmail email address as an invitee or just forward the appointments to it. Not working! The appointments just show up as text.
So... What are our other options? We don't want to enter appointments in Outlook then repeat manually to get them on the phone.
We're not wedded to Gmail/Google for the shared account either, it just has to be able to accept Outlook appointments, and work with both phones. If it has a web interface he can access at work, bonus, but not essential. Halp!
My partner and I want to be able to enter an event once, ideally from our respective desktops in Outlook, while we're at work, and have it show up on our phones.
I have a iPhone 4s and a Windows laptop with Outlook Exchange. I can access Gmail/Gcal at work. I sync my Outlook and Gmail mail and calendars to my iPhone with no problems. I can't install any software on the laptop. My partner has an HTC Wildfire S and Outlook Exchange on a Windows desktop. He can't sync his Outlook account to his phone and he can't access Gmail/Gcal from the desktop.
I thought the solution would be to set up a shared Gmail account, have both of us create appointments in our respective Outlooks, then either add the Gmail email address as an invitee or just forward the appointments to it. Not working! The appointments just show up as text.
So... What are our other options? We don't want to enter appointments in Outlook then repeat manually to get them on the phone.
We're not wedded to Gmail/Google for the shared account either, it just has to be able to accept Outlook appointments, and work with both phones. If it has a web interface he can access at work, bonus, but not essential. Halp!
Google calendar sync is what you both need. It's a google add-on that syncs your (default, I think) Outlook calendar with a Google calendar. If gmail is blocked at the border at his job, I don't know if it will work but it's free and worth a shot.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:12 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by 8dot3 at 6:12 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh and for the love of god: back up all three calendars before you to playing with syncing apps. Lord knows manually deleting a bunch of accidentally synched nonsense is not a good use of your time.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:14 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by 8dot3 at 6:14 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
Listen to 8dot3 who is not lying. I love the gcal sync -- it's what I use and have been using for ever. Unfortunately, all of my homework assignments from mid-2007 through to late-2009 now appear in triplicate. Do not be me.
posted by AmandaA at 6:36 AM on March 1, 2012
posted by AmandaA at 6:36 AM on March 1, 2012
Response by poster: Alas, Cozi and GCal Sync won't work. Neither of us can download/install software to our work laptop/desktop. Needs to be a calendar we can send Outlook invitations to, I think. But what? Le sigh.
posted by t0astie at 1:59 PM on March 1, 2012
posted by t0astie at 1:59 PM on March 1, 2012
You can send Outlook invitations to a Google Calendar. (I have to forward invitations from my work Outlook calendar to my personal Google calendar occasionally as a workaround for a known problem with GCal Sync.)
posted by Lexica at 6:39 PM on March 1, 2012
posted by Lexica at 6:39 PM on March 1, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
You create one account that everyone logs into and has mobile apps.
posted by Apoch at 4:24 AM on March 1, 2012