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Sync multiple iCal 2.0.5 calendars with Google Calendar

Posted on : 01-08-2008 | By : Andy | In : tech

Tags: , , , , ,

12

Update:After much time and effort with this writeup, it appears that Calgoo can do all this much more simply. If you like easy, follow these steps:

Further Update: Calgoo Connect is no longer free and easy.

  1. Download Calgoo Connect.
  2. Install it.
  3. Follow these directions.

If you’d rather do it the fun or less intrusive way, follow these directions:

  1. Download GCALDaemon and save it where you normally save downloads. Just visit This page and click the link that say “UNIX/Linux/AIX/Mac OS X compatible ZIP archive”. It’s under the “Linux compatible” section, but you don’t need Linux, because the OS X Terminal is compatible. Don’t open it or unzip it, just save the file.
  2. Hit Apple-Space Bar to open Spotlight (Or just click the Magnifying glass on your menu bar), and type in “Terminal.” Click the result that looks like a black screen and says “Terminal”. Don’t freak out when it opens up with a boring little cursor.
  3. Make sure you have Java 1.5 or higher installed. Just type in:
    java -version
    and hit enter, and it will tell you what version you have. If it’s lower than 1.5, go to java.sun.com and install the latest version.
  4. Type in the following command, and hit enter:
    cd /usr/local/sbin
  5. Type in:
    sudo unzip
    (add a space at the end, do NOT hit enter)
  6. Drag and drop your newly-downloaded file onto Terminal. This pastes in the correct pathname. Hit enter.
  7. Now type in each of these commands, and hit enter after each one:
    sudo chgrp -R admin /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon
    sudo chmod -R g+w /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon
    sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/*.sh
  8. Leave Terminal open

Sweet! Now that GCALDaemon is installed, we can set it up to do a two-way synchronize between iCal and Google Calendar.

  1. In Terminal, type this in and hit enter to run the setup program: /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/config-editor.sh
  2. Select the “File synchronizer” on the left, and click the “Google Accounts” buttom (screenshot)
  3. Click the “New Account” button, enter your Gmail address and your password (twice), click “Verify”, and hit “OK”
  4. Click the “New” button (Left of the “Google Accounts” button you just pushed)
  5. Select your Google account, your Google Calendar (You may have to hit “refresh” to see them all), and your iCal file. Hit OK, and repeat for as many calendars as you have.

Almost done! All we have to do is make this program run whenever you’re on your computer.

  1. Download Lingon here and unzip it into your “Applications” or “Applications/Utilities” folder.
  2. Double-click on it to run it
  3. Follow the five easy steps here. IMPORTANT: when it asks for the path in step 4, enter this:
    /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/standalone-start.sh

That’s it, you’re done! Now your Google Calendar will always be synced with your iCal! If you change one, the other will change automagically! Now, go ahead and set up Outlook 2007 to sync with Google Calendar as well–it’s much easier.

Comments (12)

The link in this step (for Lingon):

Follow the five easy steps here. IMPORTANT: when it asks for the path in step 4, enter this:
/usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/standalone-start.sh

points back to the same page … it doesn’t make sense.

Apart from this, your instructions are very clear and understandable. Thanks!

(oh, I didn’t have usr/local/sbin, I just had usr/sbin, but I figured that out myself. Also, I couldn’t get Calgoo to work at all, it would just hang when looking for the iCal calendars)

Max–

Good catch on the missing link, I forgot to go back and paste in the right link before I published it. When you set up Lingon, you’ll have to use /usr/sbin if you installed GCALDaemon to that directory.

-Andy

A question — in setting up Lingon, version 2.1 of Lingon does not have the same interface as what you indicate. There is no “assistant”, and when I click “new” to set up a new file, the interface is very different. Any suggestions as to how to set it up with version 2.1 of Lingon would be much appreciated.

It should be very similar:

1) Click the “new” button
2) Create a name for it (use com.lingon.mygcald or something similar)
3) In the “what” field, use /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/standalone-start.sh
4) Check the boxes for “always keep running” and “run it when loaded by the system”

Hi, sorry for what is likely to be a dumb question but am very new to this. I have read that subscription calendars will not work on mobileme and iPhone, only the standard calendars. There is software I can purchase to work around this but wonder whether this will do the job for free? Thanks for the walk-through; don’t understand some of the finer details of it but in the main is exactly what I think I need; thanks and well done!

i’m not exactly sure, but I would think that you can subscribe to the calendar with gmail, and then use Calgoo to connect it to your ical calendar. That way, iCal will see it as a “normal” calendar, and then you can sync with MobileMe/iPhone.

Again, I don’t use either, but this seems like it would work. Obviously, you can’t add/edit a read-only subscribed calendar, but that should allow it to sync.

Alternatively, if this is just a subscribed calendar, can’t you more easily just add the subscription URL directly to your iPhone’s calendar app? no much point in syncing it, as it’s not going to change.

Ok, So I am so excited that this will help me sink my ical and google calendar… But I am stuck on step 4 of the 1st round of steps. It tells me to enter cd /usr/local/sbin into my terminal, but when I do that my terminal comes back and says “no such file or directory found”. Would you happen to know why? If you could help me trouble shoot that would be awesome…. P.S this is my first time using the terminal and I am pretty computer language illiterate.
Thank you for your help.

Shelby,

if /usr/local/sbin does not exist, you can create it. Simply type:

mkdir /usr/local/sbin

and hit enter. then you should be able to

cd /usr/local/sbin

Hey

Syncing my ical with google worked well until a few weeks ago. Now when I enter the command: /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/config-editor.sh

I get the response: Error: no known VMs. (check for corrupt jvm.cfg file)

Gcaldeamon doesn’t start. According to posts from other websites this might be due to a recent sw update of Tiger. Do you have any idea how to fix it?

Thank you in advance

My guess is that this is related to a Java update, and likely due to the eternal Mac culprit: permissions.

Try, in terminal:
sudo sh
chmod o+r /Library/Java/Home/lib/jvm.cfg

Obviously, enter your password when the first command prompts you–but if you went the GCAL route, you probably already knew that.

Ok, I tried to follow your directions, and I basically just made a mess. I was able to get to step 6. But this is what I got after entering the 1st command in Step 7: chgrp: /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon: No such file or directory. Now the sudo unzip command did work. So where are all those inflated files? At this point, I’d just like to return back to my original settings, but I have no idea how to uninstall.

Ideas?
A Rookie

Sorry for the late reply, but for anyone following along at home: if you did step 5, your files should be located at /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon. However, that means Step 7 should have worked for you. If they’re not there, the unzip probably didn’t work.

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