How do I sync events from a Macbook calendar to a Google calendar?
June 16, 2016 2:25 PM   Subscribe

I have been using the Calendar app on my Macbook - running Yosemite - and would now like all the various events (or “calendars” - the color-coded categories in the sidebar of the Calendar app) from it to appear in a Google calendar.

I’ve previously done this the other way around (starting with a Google calendar and syncing those events to the calendar on my Macbook) but now I’m trying to do the reverse of that and it doesn’t seem to work the same way.

In the preferences panel of the Macbook Calendar I’ve added the Google account that I want to sync to, but it doesn’t give me the option to choose which of the Macbook “calendars” I want synced to that Google account. What am I doing wrong?
posted by theory to Computers & Internet (3 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't think you can do this internally, within the calendar app. I think you're meant to export your apple calendars, and then import that file into your google calendar. Follow these instructions.
posted by kickingtheground at 2:39 PM on June 16, 2016


Best answer: The correct way to do this is to never have a "local" calendar at all, and keep all calendars on a server (like Google, iCloud, or Exchange). That way you can add the account on any device and use the calendar app as a viewport to what is stored centrally.

To make this happen on your Mac you should recreate the calendars on Google and either 1. drag items from the "On My Mac" calendars to their corresponding Google matches (only useful if you just have a few items to move!) or 2. export an "ICS" file from Apple's Calendar app for each of your colored calendars, log into Google Calendar in a web browser, right-click the corresponding calendar and import the ICS. The exact steps for that import might be slightly different (Google is always moving stuff around) but that's the gist.

Once you've done the import, delete your local calendars so you don't have dupes, and just show the Google calendar in Calendar.app.
posted by bcwinters at 3:06 PM on June 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


I had the same wish and have chosen to only use Google calendars on my Mac, as described by bcwinters.

A tip if you use an iPhone/iPad: you can set the default calendar for new events via: Settings → Mail, Contacts, Calendars → Default Calendar.
posted by willem at 5:52 PM on June 16, 2016


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