Use Today with Google Calendar
Today was recently reviewed on Mac software site MacApper. As part of the review, we did a giveaway where the entry requirements was to suggest features you’d like to see in Today. By far the biggest request was the ability to use the application with Google Calendar.
This is actually already possible! Spanning Sync is an excellent utility that can automatically sync your Google Calendar data with iCal and Today. Here’s a quick tutorial to show you how.
In iCal, create calendars with the same names as each calendar you have created in Google Calendar. We will use these to sync data between Google Calendar and iCal.
Download and install Spanning Sync from their Web site. Spanning Sync is a $25 a year subscription or 1-time $65 payment for a lifetime of updates.
Launch the Spanning Sync preference pane and authenticate with your Google account. This will enable the sync settings window as you can see below.
For each Google Calendar you want to sync, match it up with it’s corresponding iCal calendar.
Set your syncing frequency to every hour.
Press the Sync button. It may take a while to get all your data synchronized between the two services depending on how long you’ve been using Google Calendar.
Once everything is synced, what you see in Google Calendar will also be in Today. Any changes you make on Google will also be pushed directly to Today each time Spanning Sync runs.
Spanning Sync is a great application for those that want the power and convenience of Google Calendar, but still want to enjoy some of the luxuries of using iCal and applications like Today. If you have any other tips or tricks on how you’re using Today, please do share them with us!
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
BusySync is another great alternative for syncing calendars, and I believe it can do more than Spanning Sync.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Hi guys,
A year ago I tested Spanning Sync for syncing my iCal with Google calendar. It worked out very well and I subscribed for one year (25 USD). Now there is version 2 around the corner that will add contact sync support. I have tried the beta and that works very well too.
My subscription is to end soon and I am thinking about extending. That would be another 25 USD for a year or 65 USD for life long subscription. Meanwhile I encountered another product called Busy Sync. I does almost the same (except contact syncing). With a coupon a single license per computer is 20 USD aka 40 USD for both of my macs.
Does anybody have some experience with the tools and could share it?
PS: there is also gSync but I read about a lot of problems with duplicates.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I’ve never tested BusySync myself since I don’t need to share calendars over Bonjour, but I would assume it’s Google Calendar syncing is similar to that of Spanning Sync. Give it a shot and let us know how it works.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
I have been using BusySync with gCal since March, and it’s terrific. Robust, simple, and lightweight. Two thumbs up.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:40 am
And there is also Calgoo, which recently decided to make all their three products: Calendar, Hub and Connect, free. They offer lots of different set-ups and support many services..
http://www.calgoo.com/
August 17th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
i have been using busy sync since the 2.0 beta and it is perfect. never a problem, everything syncs amazingly. it was only $20, too. an thanks for adding the “more days” feature to the 1.3 update.