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July 28, 2008

Google Calendar Adds CalDAV Support

After many months of testing, Google Calendar finally adds CalDAV support. "CalDAV is an open protocol that allows calendar access via WebDAV. CalDAV models calendar events as HTTP resources in iCalendar format, and models calendars containing events as WebDAV collections. This allows you to publish and subscribe to calendars, share them collaboratively, sync between multiple users and sync between multiple devices."

For now, the only application supported by Google Calendar is Apple's iCal. "With CalDAV support in Google Calendar, you'll be able to view and edit your Google Calendar events directly in iCal. Any changes you make in iCal will automatically appear in Google Calendar the next time you sign in (and vice versa). If you use iCal while offline, changes you make will be saved and updated in Google Calendar when you get back online."

Rick Vugteveen tested the new feature and found that the 2 way synchronization works well, but there are some problems. "The largest issue that I had is that I needed to create a new CalDav server account for every calendar in Google Calendar. Not only did this make further setup cumbersome, it degraded the iCal UI as a 1-1 relationship between each folder (server) and calendar is created. Normal re-ordering and organization of calendars does not work with this setup so be careful with the order you enter your calendars. This multiple server setup also removed the ability to move events between different calendars within iCal."

This page provides instructions for adding your calendars in iCal and you should also read the known issues.


Google Calendar also provides basic applications for synchronizing data with Blackberry devices and Outlook, but there are many third-party applications that use Google's API to add more advanced functionality: Spanning Sync (iCal - $25/year), BusySync (iCal - $25), Calgoo (iCal/Outlook - free), SyncMyCal (Outlook - $25), gSyncit (Outlook - $10), GCALDaemon (cross-platform/open source), Plaxo (cross-platform/free), GCalSync (Java mobile app - open source), GooSync (SyncML service/mobile app - £20/year), GMobileSync (Windows Mobile - open source), OggSync (Windows Mobile/Outlook - $30/year).

30 comments:

  1. This is great, sure wish Google would release a "cleaner" interface but for now this will work.

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  2. How do you use this with Google Apps?

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  3. Just configured and it works ok for me. Tested only basic stuff but it's enough for me.

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  4. I hope there will be a possibility to sync google-Calendar with the iPhone soon :-/

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  5. Hi,

    Just so you know we at Calgoo also released our CalDAV support today. The documentation won’t be ready for a few days but you can still check it out.

    Here is some more info from out Chief Owls blog

    http://calgoo.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/caldav-support-is-here-for-calgoo-hub/

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  6. Anyone know how to set this up for Google Apps for your domain? The default instructions are working, so I assume the account URL differs slightly, such as https://www.google.com/a/calendar/*** - Yet I've not be able to get it to work regardless of what I try??

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

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  7. @Anonymous:
    I don't have a Mac, but I suspect that the URL is
    https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/DOMAIN.COM/dav/EMAIL@DOMAIN.COM/user

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  8. Google Apps for my domain worked fine for me with the standard instructions
    (http://www.marc-seeger.de/2008/07/28/google-calendar-supports-caldav/)

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  9. www.nuevasync.com works incredibly well in syncing Google contacts and Google Calendar to the iPhone. It is a free (for now, at least) hosted exchange service. Enjoy!

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  10. Somewhere on the pages for this (like a system requirements box on the project's main page!) there needs to be mention that this will only work on Leopard. I tried to get this to work on my Tiger system with no luck.

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  11. It didn't work with Google Apps, with or without the domain/hosted in the URL. Interestingly enough, I get an error message with a spelling error!

    Calendar https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/[email@company.com]/user bould not be found.

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  12. YES!! It does work with Google Apps...It honest to God did not when I first tried it earlier today shortly after the post was posted, but it does now!

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  13. Too bad the Provider for Google Calendar was not metioned in the third party applications...

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/sunbird/addon/4631

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  14. Although a good initiative to enable sync Google Calendar with iCal 3.x, the announcement should be just that and not "CalDAV" support. I just tested with a browser, cadaver and Mozilla Thunderbird + Lightning, and it does not work. So we still have no "CalDAV" support, as what I understand about CalDAV. Anyway, a big step. Would be nice to see full CalDAV supoort. Thanx.

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  15. Well I guess the horribly expensive SpanningSync and co have no reasons to exist anymore.... good!

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  16. "no reason for Spanning Sync to exist"? Don't jump the gun yet, pal. I've been using Spanning Sync since the initial beta and their support staff is quick and super helpful.

    And take a look at the "known issues" page for GCal's CalDAV:

    * Event reminders/alarms don't sync

    * Notification emails/SMS not sent

    * iCal errors when changing the calendar name/color

    * Unable to create iCal To Dos for Google Calendar

    * Unable to create new iCal calendars for Google Calendar

    * Google Apps: Room scheduler is not supported

    * Google Calendar events don't appear in iCal

    So, yeah, I'll be sticking with Spanning Sync. I'd rather spend $25 than hours and hours wrestling with tech issues. I value my time higher than that, thanks.

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  17. if you copied and pasted the URL, make sure you take the empty space off the end of the URL... otherwise, it won't work. i found this thread looking for a solution, but then noticed that i had an extra space on the end... it works just fine now.

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  18. i only use web-based gcalendar
    that's cool

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  19. Erny, there is a mozilla bug that will patch the caldav provider to support Google Calendar, review is requested and it will probably make 0.9.

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  20. I can confirm that it looks to be working just fine for me with Google Apps For Your Domain and iCal.

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  21. Does it work with the Palm calendar app?

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  22. Connection CalDAV with Lightning still isn't working properly. Do you know how to solve it? Up to this time I used GCalDeamon to synchronize both calendars, now it screwed up...

    regards,
    Paul

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  23. How would one get this to work with iCal 2.x? Shouldn't this also work? iCal has always used WebDav protocols...

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  24. For lightening try using provider for google calendar add on.

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  25. it is very wonderful news.but How do you use this with Google Apps?

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  26. use the instructions from google. if you're getting an error, it's likely b/c you're just entering your user name as you would on your login page. the username for the calendar settings must be your full Google Apps email "user@domain.com"

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  27. I can confirm that it looks to be working just fine for me with Google Apps For Your Domain and iCal.
    http://msnforum.tk

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