Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gcal

compressed day

parallax7d — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:05:02 -0800

Is there any way to vertically stretch out google calendar, so it displays the range of time that coincides with my workday? I can do this in iCal, but would like gcal to do this too, if at all possible.

The App that Doesn't Seem to Exist

thisperon — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:09:37 -0800

Looking for a iphone/ipod touch calendar/todo app with specific requirements. Does it exist? Argh. Frustration with ical and how it currently works on the ipod touch. I am looking for an app that will:

1) sync wirelessly with both google calendar AND google tasks

or

2) sync wirelessly with ical AND ical tasks

Why oh why isn't there an app that does this? The best thing I've found is Calengoo, but I still can't get my Google tasks incorporated.

The app needs to be able to work offline (allow me to enter events and tasks or edit them), and sync when I am online again.

Anybody know of a solution? (And I don't want to use Mobile Me.)

Thanks.

How to Build GCal of New Music Releases?

skypieces — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:45:15 -0800

Looking for a way to build a calendar of new/future album releases in GCal. Currently hand-entering release dates found on Amazon and elsewhere. There is bound to be a better way to do this with RSS, etc. Would like to be able to specify genre(s) and filter out re-issues, singles, EPs, multiple formats, etc - leaving only simple top results for full-length discs. This may be simpler than I am imagining, but should indeed be possible, even if it means using someplace besides Amazon as my source.

No more PalmOS...buy me a smartphone!

teg4rvn — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:28:49 -0800

I'm done with my Treo 700p and I want to move on to a non PalmOS smartphone. I want to get a phone without having to get a data plan, but be able to sync up with Gcal ideally. My 700p has been a nightmare... innumerable crashes, hot-syncing with data disappearing, etc. IT is going to the trash. I have been using PalmOS products since the original US Robotics PalmPilot. I'd love to have an all-in-one phone and PIM and ideally I'd like for it to be GCal. EssentialPIM would be nice too. I am not familiar with any others.

I do not desire to text, email, or web-surf with my phone and I'd like to keep my existing phone plan (i.e., not get a data plan) Help me duplicate CONTACTS, DATEBOOK, TASKS, and MEMOS with a non-Palm smartphone that I can locally (USB or bluetooth) *hotsync* with my data.

Alltel is my carrier.

What's up with my website?

attercoppe — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:09:06 -0800

Why does my web page work with a www prefix and not so much without? I have a domain and hosting account with GoDaddy. My "site" currently consists of only one page with my Google calendar displayed. If I direct a browser to www.myaddress.info, it works fine; if I go to myaddress.info, sometimes it works, but sometimes I get a partial - just the frame from around the calendar and my name. It doesn't seem to be consistent, browser-specific, or have to do with changes to my GCal.

Any thoughts? Anything I can do, or is it a fluke on the hosting side - slow/bad DNS propagation or some such? Should I fiddle with DNS redirection via my GoDaddy account to simply redirect the sometimes-working address to the always-working one?

Synching Google calendar with iPhone

undertone — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:27:09 -0800

Can I two-way sync GCal with my iPhone? I'm using a PC and don't have iCal or Outlook. Free methods would be best but I'd be willing to pay for something good.

How to keep my calendars synchronised?

chairish — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:04:34 -0800

I want to synchronise calendar information between my Outlook 2007 and Google Apps for my domain. Also I'd like to keep my PDA (Win Mobile 5) in sync. Currently I use ActiveSync to keep that side of things going.

I'm self employed and I have a some major contacts that ask me to work for fifty to one hundred days over the year. Inside those contracts individual clients get to choose which days I go into their workplaces. My clients for each contract need to see 'their days' and where I am when I am working on their contract. They don't need to see where I am at other times. They subscribe to my Google Apps calendars to see this information.

My partner (who also uses Outlook 2007) is also a busy person. It would be great for her to be able to have full two way synchronisation with the family calendar. She doesn't need (or want) to see all of my client information.

So, because I'm going around in circles with this I thought I'd ask for some help? How can I keep everything in sync but separate? I don't mind paying a few dollars!

How to get GCal to accurately link to GMaps.

Glum — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:42:43 -0800

How can I ensure Google Calendar's 'map' links are accurate? Google Calendar adds a 'map' link in 'Where' field of an event's details, if it thinks it can work out where it is. How can I ensure it points to the right location.

Let's say I know a football match is being held at Hoe Road, Bishops Waltham. The link that Google creates it this:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en-GB&q=Hoe+Road,+Bishops+Waltham&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

But I actually want it to point somewhere slightly different (further up the road, down the little side road leading to the football pitches).

In situations like this I mostly don't know the post code. Is there any way of giving Google Calendar just enough info so that its map is accurate? Maybe a grid ref or something?

If not, can I turn it off completely so that I can ensure people aren't being directed to the wrong location (I can put an accurate link in the Description field).

How about never? Is never good for you?

Artifice_Eternity — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:56:15 -0800

How are other people adding events to my non-shared Google Calendar? My calendar is private -- I've chosen "Do not share with everyone" in the settings, and no one is on the sharing list but myself. But recently I've found 2 different events on my calendar that I didn't add. I know the people involved, but I don't know how or why they are adding events to my calendar. Also, I have SMS notifications enabled, so I am getting text messages to my cell phone (which I pay for) for events I didn't put on my schedule. I can't let this continue, or it will become a major spam issue. Is there no way to disallow people from adding events to my calendar? The Gcal help files do not seem to address this issue.

Duplicate events created in GCal using Firefox 3 Beta 1?

electric_counterpoint — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:36:06 -0800

Why has Google Calendar started to duplicate my new events (same day, same time)? This only happens in Firefox 3 Beta 1. Obviously, I’m using a browser that Mozilla hasn't recommended for day-to-day use, so if it bothers me too much, I'll just go back to FF 2 for the time being.

But, has anyone else noticed this? Whenever I create a new event, it shows up twice, side-by-side. It only happens when I click on a day, drag out a duration, and enter in the details from there — it doesn't happen with the Quick Add field. It didn't happen with FF 2, and it still doesn't happen with Safari. Anyone found a fix?

gCal/iCal Sync

jpcody — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:44:40 -0800

I'm looking for a way to have iCal open automatically at a specific time, sync with my Google Calendar, and then preferably close (doesn't have to close). I didn't see anything in iCal prefs. Any ideas? Similar questions have been asked before. I don't necessarily need a free two-way sync between gCal and iCal, as I think that'd be too much to ask (Suggestions would still be ok). I just need a way to schedule my iCal at a certain time each night to sync up w/ my gCal so anything added in gCal will go gCal-->iCal-->iPhone. Craziness, I know. But sometimes I need to add events into gCal for various reasons. Ideas?

Where can I find a calendar with group user sharing options?

leptin — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:36:00 -0800

Where can I find a web-based/cross-platform calendar that would allow a group of people to add events, but not modify other people's? I am looking for a solution for our workplace where there is equipment scheduling involved, but currently gCal allows only 2 levels of sharing: either a read-only option, or the ability to edit everything, which is undesirable because of the risk of people deleting others off and putting their own names instead. (The honor system is currently what's keeping things going, but the operation may expand so it is not sustainable.) Thank you very much for your help!

Hivemind, I need your schedule-fu

Emperor SnooKloze — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:23:42 -0800

Two-parter for the hard-core Blackberry Guru (BB Pearl 8100): Part the first--Sync-utopia; Part the second--sync-nirvana. There is, of course Recently got a Pearl, and am largely convinced that it is the shiznit. I seek SyncUtopia:

-Help me synch my Pearl with gCal and Thunderbird's calendar plugin (Lightning/Provider add-ons) with my BB's scheduling app. I can update via the handheld, but I haven't had any luck getting it to download properly, which is seriously lame. I've seen the various comment threads here and elsewhere, pored through the contents of LifeHacker, tried ScheduleWorld and a couple of other things; what worked for you?

-SyncNirvana: Help me sync my tasks in the bb's Task app with the above, or point me at a task manager that replaces the default one.

I've already grokked google's snazzy quick-add feature (whereby I can send SMS to 48368 and it sets up an appt per my specs), but racking up sms charges sucks. I have t-mobile's Blackberry unlimited plan, and want to take advantage of the plan to its fullest, while not incurring charges on top of it.

Followup question upon rereading: Is Thunderbird serving a purpose here, or am I using it because I like it, as opposed to using it because it's really worth using with the other tools at my disposal?

Lastly: I seek task-sync-and-tracking advice. I have the laptop and now the blackberry. I work in an environment where I cannot access gmail, nor can I bring my phone into the building. Suggestions on how to keep myself more or less on the same page with myself (so to speak)?

How do I make my life work as an ultra-busy gtd-using college student?

Ash3000 — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 10:35:08 -0800

How can I perfect my gtd system as a college student with a very specific set of tasks? I'm an extremely, extremely busy college student trying to balance a heavy worklord with being the head of a statewide, youth-run nonprofit. I recently adopted gtd, but I'm finding it difficult to find a good system for me. I curently use:

-gmail
-a treo 650 (I'm not spoiled, I used my own money)
-and google calendar.

But I've run into some basic questions:
1. Should I schedule events on my treo or gcal? If I do gcal only, then I feel like using my treo only to store my tasks is a bit wasteful, and I need to have easy internet access (read: takes less than 30 seconds) to gcal at a given moment to make sure something doesn't fall through the cracks. If I use only my treo, I'm missing out on the wonderful google calendar, even though I don't need to worry about the access. If I use both, it's difficult for me to check my entire schedule at a given moment and know I've got everything.
2. I have a very, very deadline-heavy set of work right now, so it's hard just to put things in tasks and feel confident I'll reach it before the date - same goes with studying. Should I just schedule in big blocks of study and leave the tasks for the 'just has to get done sometime?'
3. Those who were superbusy but contented in college: how did you feel like you were both getting great stuff done in the world but also enjoying your college years? Some of my earlier questions might hint that college has been a rather bittersweet experience for me, and it's still something I struggle with.

There are other questions, I'm sure, but I'm on my way to class (yeah, busy) and wanted to get this out as soon as possible. I'll add anything in the comments if they come to mind. I know this might all sound ridiculous, but I'm in a state where I know I need to be as efficient as possible. Thank you.

Viva la web revolucion!

Smarson — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:23:44 -0800

What is this web revolution I see before me? Over the course of the past year I have had a lot of time to surf the web and have come to the conclusion that a new era of web based communication is unfolding before my very eyes. It started when I stumbled across Lifehacker.com, which showed me a whole new side of the internet that I had never conceived of. From that point I began to discover websites that re-oriented the way I've come view information creation, distribution, and storage (Ask Metafilter being one of those discoveries). Some examples of websites I lump into this category are:

*Del.icio.us
*Metafilter
*Ask Metafilter
*Lifehacker
*Wikipedia
*Firefox
*Google (and it's all it's applications including Gmail and Gcal)
*Flickr
*Blogger/Wordpress/etc.
*Bloglines

The list goes on and on and is constantly growing (thanks largely to Lifehacker discoveries). Obviously Google and Wikipedia were known to me prior to my new found web exploration, but only as straight forward tools. It's only in the last 8 months that I've come to understand the potential of their design (e.g. Google Map Mash-ups and wiki-technology as a whole).

Among the above listed websites and others I identify in my "web revolution," I see common themes. The use of tagging is widely present as well as the concept of the blog (In reality Lifehacker and Metafilter/Ask Metafilter are just widely popular blogs with no single author and Flickr is essentially a collection of thousands of photo blogs). I guess even deeper than that is the theme of individual empowerment through the web. Most of these sites were not generated by large corporations (although they may later have been aquired by them), but rather created by a single individual or small group of individuals in order to address an existing need they percieved.

So my questions. Does anyone else see the watershed that I speak of, or is this normal web progression and my "revolution" is simply a personal one? If this is an actual distinct movement within the internet, does it have a name or other identifying characteristics similar or different to the ones I listed above?

Google Calendar to DayRunner printout

Sprout the Vulgarian — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:09:04 -0800

I am enjoying using Google Calendar, but I still love my DayRunner. I would really like to be able to print out monthly and/or weekly calendars with the gcal information, but in a 8.5"x5.5" DayRunner format, complete with word wrapping so I can read each event. Here's what I've tried so far: Gcal printouts come up as pdfs that could be usable if only the text wrapped around instead of having one cut-off line per event.
Mozilla Sunbird has no printing options yet.
My Outlook is 2002/XP and doesn't seem to have Day-runner friendly print options, so synching there wouldn't be worth it; ditto for Palm Desktop.
D*I*Y has great templates, but no sychronizing that I can figure out.

Since I'd only be printing about once a week, I don't mind using a separate program to synch and print from.
I don't want to have to pay for anything either, if possible.

It seems like this would be so common, I must be missing some obvious solution. Help!