Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with googlecalendar

Microsoft is holding my friends, my family and my life hostage!

DetonatedManiac — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:53:47 -0800

How do I get contacts/calendar off my Win Mobile 5 device, onto my computer and then on to my new iPhone without Outlook? I'd like to migrate to Google Calendar in the process if possible. I have a windows mobile 5 phone with all my contacts and calendar events. For various reasons I don't own Outlook, so I kept all calendar and contact information on the old phone without backups.

Now I own an iPhone (3G S), the win mobile device is obsolete (thank god) but it still is holding my contacts and calendar hostage. How do I make the switch?

I independently have heard good things about Google Calendar so I'd like to move to that if possible. It seems like it would be a good intermediary between my data and the iPhone once it is on my computer, but how do I get the data to my computer without Outlook? Or, barring that, how can I get a temporary (free) version of outlook so I can ferry stuff on to my computer and then get it to the iphone and be done with outlook?

Generally, I have never had to sync stuff before, this is all new territory for me. It is scary because all the docs I read online seem to want to "push" stuff to my phone, or say I must backup my data first... I'm afraid it will erase everything on my win mobile phone before I make the switch.

So in this whole process how do I not lose all my contact/calendar date?

Thanks for the help

PS - I sorta know the lingo but don't assume I know what I am doing... at all.

Mobile (cell) phone for sync with google calendar without a phone data tariff?

monster max — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:46:23 -0800

Advice on a new phone please. Main criteria are (1) needing to be able to add calendar events while out and about and (2) being about to sync the phone calendar with Google Calendar when I get home. Can it be done? My old SonyEricsson P910i keeps going ditsy and failing to find any signal so I need to replace it. It's great for adding calendar events (handwriting recognition on its touchscreen) and then I can sync these with Outlook on my computer at home (though not Google Calendar as it's such an old version of Outlook).

Out of the millions of phones out there, there must be one where I can:

1. Add items to the phone's internal calendar (ie not into google calendar via web access on the phone, as I don't want to have to pay for this) when I'm out and about - hardware keyboard, onscreen keyboard, handwriting recognition all OK
2. Add items to google calendar whenever I'm at a computer
3. Sync the two via a USB cable (not via web access on the phone - see above) when I'm at my home computer and have things sync'ed in both directions.

Surely?...

Bonus points for a phone that's:

1. available on PAYG (I don't make a lot of calls) in the UK
2. Won't cost the earth

I don't mind which network it's on - I have no particular loyalty to my current PAYG provider.

How to sync Blackberry with Google Calendar

backwards guitar — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:25:46 -0800

Can I sync a blackberry curve 8300 with Mozilla Thunderbird (+ Lightning) or Google Calendar without Outlook and with no data plan on my blackberry? I've got a Blackberry Curve 8300 with no data plan. I get push email and that is all. No web browsing, etc. I'd like to sync my blackberry calendar with Google Calendar.

I've currently got Google Calendar syncing with Thunderbird (and Lightning) on my Windows Vista machine. Is there software out there that will let me sync the blackberry to my Thunderbird calendar when the phone is connected via USB? Or even an app that will sync the blackberry directly with Google Calendar.

I found a few things that allow syncing with Outlook's calendar, but unfortunately I don't have Outlook.

I put it in there, so I must be able to get it out.

mkb — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:19:26 -0800

Is there any way to extract the URL of a shared calendar from Google Calendar? I have a bunch of shared calendars to which I have subscribed in Google Calendar. I would really like to transfer these subscriptions to a different calendar program, but I can't figure out how to get the URLs that Google uses to refresh them. I know they were iCalendar files to begin with, so these must exist somewhere. Does Google even let me figure it out?

Mapping Smartphone Appointments with GMM

chengjih — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:19:40 -0800

Is there a way to get calendar locations into Google Maps Mobile on a Windows Mobile 6 Standard smartphone? Suppose I have a number of appointments in my calendar, with location/address information. Is there a way for me to map these in the Google Maps Mobile I have on my smartphone?

To note, the calendar is synced to Google Calendar using OggSync, if that helps.

The phone is a T-Mobile Dash running Windows Mobile 6 Standard.

If there's no direct way to do this, is there an end-around where I can put custom mapping info into GMM? I don't see an obvious way to configure GMM to point at my Google account (which would then be associated with My Maps).

Thanks.

How can I move my calendar from Palm Desktop over to Google Calendar, and then sync there instead?

Stewriffic — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:55:03 -0800

What I want to happen: Make the existing calendar entries that I have on Palm Desktop move over to Google Calendar and then be able to sync Google Calendar with a used (empty?) Palm Z22 I have. Hold my hand, please? I encourage you to assume only basic computer knowledge. Here are the specs:
1) Palm Desktop v. 4.1.4
2) Windows XP Professional 2002 version
3) Used Palm Z22 that someone gave me. It's replacing a Zire 21 I had that broke. I have not yet tried to link it up to my Palm Desktop, because I had a bad experience where I did that and it deleted my entire calendar. I think that was because the blank PDA overwrote the content I had on the desktop software. Why it would do that, I have no idea. I just don't want it to happen again.
4) Extra super bonus--I have a macbook at home. If you can get the PDA to sync there, in addition to at work, that would rock.

This is confusing the crapola out of me. I'm not even sure where to start, and I made very little progress searching both the Palm Desktop and the Google Calendar Support pages. This previous AskMe didn't help. Googling palm desktop google calendar resulted in my thinking I might need some kind of 3rd party software to do this? This is about where I shut down from being overwhelmed with lack of understanding.

What I've done so far:
Exported my Palm calendar to my desktop. It's a .dba file. When I tried to import it into google calendar it doesn't work. The error message is Sorry, Calendar is temporarily unavailable. Please try again in a few minutes. If the problem persists, visit the Help Center. I assume that is because of this google calendar instruction: Choose the file that contains your events. Google Calendar can import event information in iCal or CSV (MS Outlook) format.I'm thinking this first step of moving my current calendar to the google one might be an inherent issue.

What I want in the long run is the ability to use my PDA to input and retrieve entries onto a calendar I can access via the internet, without having to manually enter the existing information. Can you help me? Is my goal achievable as proposed? If not, can you suggest another way for me to do what I want to do?

Babysitting Co-op documents?

DenOfSizer — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:32:58 -0800

Anyone have an electronic or online version of The Smart Mom's Guide to Babysitting Co-ops? I'm in a babysitting co-op wherein we use points to keep track of hours that we've sat for each other's kids, and we use a bank. We currently just either email or call to set things up, and use a secretary to keep track of points. But we have some human error issues, and we're too busy/lazy /unskilled to program a solution. Any kind of document, google hack, template, workflow ideas appreciated.

How to make a google map of literary locations and the calendar of events at each place?

omnigut — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:07:15 -0800

Beautiful hive mind, Please tell me the best way of making a map/calendar duo that I can embed into my blog. I'd like to take Google Maps, and perhaps Google Calendar, and link the two together, much like they did here or here. Perhaps best described here. "Calmap."

Looking into this stuff makes my head hurt. Does anyone know of a simple way, for example, I could get a long and potentially very complicated Google Calendar or iCal into a Google Map, so that when you click on a place the events pop up and are listed? Perhaps the above sites have exactly what I'm looking for, but they got a bit too complicated for me. I'd like to embed the map into my school's wordpress.com blog.

We're willing to pay for an application, by the way, if it'll make things easier. Oh, and the calendar is supposed to be listing New York City's Literary Events, so there will be quite a lot of them. Any simple and quick ways of doing it?

Thanks!

PS, I'm not good with code. But I'm learning

Importing csv file into Google Calendar

drezdn — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:15:39 -0800

What are the field names for importing a csv file into google calendar besides (Subject, Start Date, Start Time) and do you have any cool tricks when importing info into googlecal?

Upload file and embed in Google Calendar event?

stleric — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:20:55 -0800

Is there any easy way to upload a file to one's personal server space and embed it into a Google Calendar event in a user-friendly manner at the same time? I've been helping someone set up embedded Google Calendars on their website. Since the Google Calendar API is readily available to developers and people have already made Greasemonkey scripts for GCal, I was wondering: outside of using a separate FTP program for uploading and typing HTML to link to the file into a new event in Google Calendar, has anyone created an interface (online or Mac-compatible desktop app) where one could add an event to one of their Google Calendars, using a simple dialog to "add" or "upload" a file to the event and have a download link appear automatically in the event description?

He already has sizable webspace to work with, so something with a one-time setup of FTP information to connect to said space, without the user worrying about the specifics of the address/username/password information for each event in the future would be the ideal, though a service that works exclusively with a given free webspace would also be okay, if necessary. If there are any embeddable calendars available outside of Google Calendar that offer such a feature, that would definitely be a consideration as well.

Again, there's always the alternative of just manually uploading files via an FTP manager and adding HTML ‹a› tags to the events by hand, but as far as I'm aware, the person I'm helping isn't very familiar with HTML, so if it's at all possible to leave that step out, it would be a plus.

This is really kind of a shot in the dark, but if anyone has any information, many thanks in advance!

How to sync Palm and Google Calendar on Linux?

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:04:14 -0800

How can I sync my calendars with linux. I use only linux. I have a palm device and a google calendar. I want to keep them both in sync, or at least to synchronize some of the events. I may have other Google calendars to sync if this seems to work. How can I keep these together. I know that Google calendar can export to .ics format. I looked at the SyncML implementations, but I couldn't make any sense of them, and they seemed to not be linux friendly.

Thanks.

poopy google calendar

genmonster — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:32:18 -0800

stupid google calendar question: why won't event times display when importing a csv file? i'm trying to import a csv file of a class schedule into google calendar- everything is ending up on the right day but is not put into a specific time slot. the csv file has the times, but they're not showing up. please help?
(please keep in mind while answering: i know nothing about computers and operate my macbook by banging on it with my non-opposable thumbs)

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?

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.

How to share Google calendar with lots of specific people?

jacob — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 10:07:55 -0800

Is it possible to easily share a Google calendar with lots of specific people (not everyone) without having to manually enter each person's email address in the "Share with specific people" form? Our office is planning to move to Google calendar for our shared calendar needs, and I'm trying to find out the best way to get everyone on the application. We have staff all over, and each person will have to manually create their Google accounts and set up their personal calendars.

It seems silly to make each person then share their calendar with every other person (by tediously entering their email addresses, one by one, into the form). Does anyone know of an easier way to pull this off? Can you share calendars with a group of people?

Why can't Google Calendar and my PDA talk to one another?

gwenzel — Mon, 01 May 2006 11:12:27 -0800

Is there any way to sync (i.e. have data go both ways) between my PDA and Google Calendar? I've searched Google, the Google Calendar help pages, and elsewhere, but the result seems to consistently be something to the effect of "not yet", or "sort of, but only one-way".

I have started using Google Calendar, since most of the time that I need access to my calendar is when I'm near an Internet-connected computer, but there are some times that I need access to my calendar when I'm not near a computer, which is when the PDA comes in handy. I'd like to be able to add events to GCal, and have them automatically work their way into my PDA calendar, and vice versa. Something tells me that I'm SOL, though...

The PDA is a Sony Clié SJ-20, and on the desktop (WinXP) I'm running the Sony-branded edition of Palm Desktop 4.0.

If this isn't possible, does anybody know if a developer is working on some sort of software to accomplish this task?