sync google 'other calendars'?

[jester0110]

hey guys i synced my google calendar to my trophy but the only events that show up are in my own calendar

how can i make the 'other calendars' show up?

 

[Dagolara]

Paul Thurrott's answer to this query from his mailbag a few weeks back:

Windows Phone "Mango" and multiple calendars


Q: Is Mango finally getting support for multiple calendars from a single source? I read on [insert random tech blog name here] that this was happening.

A: I don't believe so. But there will be exceptions.

I think. (Remember, until Microsoft actually confirms how this works or we get our hands on an actual Mango build, we can't actually say for sure.)

In the original shipping version of Windows Phone 7 (WP7 v1, let's call it), Microsoft supports multiple calendars, yes, but not multiple calendars from the same source. That is, you can configure your Windows Phone handset to pull calendar data from Windows Live, Exchange, and/or Google Calendar, and can mix and match from those sources in the Calendar app with color coding and so forth. But Windows Phone only works with the primary calendar in each source. So if you have multiple calendars inside of Google, or Windows Live, or Exchange, only the primary calendar will be accessible on the phone. The others simply don't appear.

In Mango, it appears that Microsoft is support multiple Windows Live calendars, but it's unclear if it's all calendars, or just your primary calendar plus subscribed calendars and the special birthday calendar. (And not secondary calendars.) I've not yet seen that Mango will support multiple calendars from Exchange or Google, and my guess is that it will not, at least for Google Calendar.

We'll find out soon enough. But for right now, it's a stretch to say that Mango supports multiple calendars from the same source generally. There is no evidence of that.

source: http://www.winsupersite.com/article/mailbag/mailbag-31-2011-136305

So the answer is maybe in Mango, maybe not.

 

[TheArcaneFlame]

Here's what I did to get around this. First off, I have multiple Google accounts. The primary account has a bunch of calendars set up on it for various purposes and is what I've used for years. The second account had a blank calendar that wasn't being used.

What I did was take the sub-calendar events from the primary account that I wanted to show up on the phone and invited my secondary account to those events. So basically all of those events then show up on the main calendar of the second account. I then added that second Google account to the phone and now everything shows up, more or less, like I want. The nice thing is that I can differentiate colors between the primary and secondary Google account calendars which helps. This worked especially well for reoccurring events like my volleyball schedules since each event only needed a single change to update all of them.

I just have to remember that when creating new events in my main account that are on sub calendars I have to invite the secondary account. It might not be the best workaround, but it does work.

Hopefully Mango will have some nice surprises for us in way of Calendaring. If not I might have to consider switching over to Live for my calendaring.

EDIT: Here is a guide I made on how to set this up. I think it's a lot easier to understand than my description here as I've included screenshots and walk you through it better. (Word docx) http://www.nathanvergin.com/misc/WP7/Multiple Google Calendars Guide.docx

 

[Dave Blake]

How did you sync your calender did you set it up as an exchange email on your device when you set up your gmail?

 

[Dave Blake]

I was talking to the OP. Google will sync the calendar if it is set up that way just like exchange does

 

[Umm Yeah]

I was talking to the OP. Google will sync the calendar if it is set up that way just like exchange does

I think the OP was referring to syncing multiple Google calendars with WP7. Right now, WP& only syncs with the primary Google calendar, not multiple calendars.

 

[Dave Blake]

I think the OP was referring to syncing multiple Google calendars with WP7. Right now, WP& only syncs with the primary Google calendar, not multiple calendars.

Cool got ya I miss understood I thought he was having an issue with the primary calender

 

[TheArcaneFlame]

Right now, WP& only syncs with the primary Google calendar, not multiple calendars.

But there are workarounds as I pointed out.

Another method to achieve this is export the "sub" calendars as .ics files and then import them into a secondary account so they show up on that account's main calendar. I've seen this procedure outlined other places. However, I don't think that keeps a "live" connection between that second account's calendar and the primary account's sub calendars. So it wouldn't automatically add new items from the sub calendars to the secondary account whereas my method does, so long as you invite the secondary account to the events. Is that making sense? I feel like I should sketch this out or something... If anyone has questions, feel free to msg me.

Here's a guide (Word docx) that I put together on how to set this up like I did as I think my earlier description made it sound harder and more confusing than it actually is...

http://www.nathanvergin.com/misc/WP7/Multiple Google Calendars Guide.docx

 

[Umm Yeah]

But there are workarounds as I pointed out.

Another method to achieve this is export the "sub" calendars as .ics files and then import them into a secondary account so they show up on that account's main calendar. I've seen this procedure outlined other places. However, I don't think that keeps a "live" connection between that second account's calendar and the primary account's sub calendars. So it wouldn't automatically add new items from the sub calendars to the secondary account whereas my method does, so long as you invite the secondary account to the events. Is that making sense? I feel like I should sketch this out or something... If anyone has questions, feel free to msg me.

Here's a guide (Word docx) that I put together on how to set this up like I did as I think my earlier description made it sound harder and more confusing than it actually is...

http://www.nathanvergin.com/misc/WP7/Multiple Google Calendars Guide.docx

Wow! Great guide! The only issue I see is that I have 4 sub calendars that I can't edit or make entries to. Using your method only seems to work with calendars in which you have content control. Is there any method for having all sub calendars sync into the one WP7 calendar, or am I just out of luck? Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Otherwise, I have to go back to my BlackBerry and wait to see what the Fall holds with Mango, iPhone 5, new Androids, and possibly a touchscreen BlackBerry.

 

[TheArcaneFlame]

@Umm Yeah...

You can't edit those 4 sub calendars from any source? Not even on the PC? Are they shared calendars from other users or public calendars where you don't have anything but view permissions? If that's the case, you might be out of luck...

If they are relatively static calendars you could use the .ics import method just for those and use my method for any calendars that you have control over. I tested this with the public Holidays calendar. I saved the .ics file for it and then imported that into my Secondary Account. Worked like a charm.

However, if they are calendars that are updated frequently you would have to repeat that occasionally to keep it in sync. Also... I don't think that process would remove any events that had been deleted as I belive it will only add new events or possibly make changes to existing events. I'd have to test that to verify that assumption though.

Does that help?

 

[Umm Yeah]

Unfortunately, that does help. The four sub calendars are maintained by others in my office and they do make changes throughout the year so I need a live link to them. My old BlackBerry has the Google Sync app that Google made BEFORE they released Android. It allows me to select which Google calendars that I have access to to sync into one calendar on my BlackBerry and entries on my BlackBerry calendar sync back to my primary Google calendar. A less than perfect solution but I'm used to it.

Now that Android is out and syncs seamlessly with Google calendars, I doubt they feel any incentive to write a program like that for WP7 phones. This, and the lack of any sound profiles, are the two things that are making me have to give up my WP7 and go back to my BB for now. I truly HATE doing that because I LOVE the phone in most other respects but I HAVE to have my calendar accurate or it's a non-starter for me.

 

[r00db0y]

Just got a new HD7s last week and am needing to solve this same problem, I have a calendar for my daughters softball team this is shared to my google calendar that I want to pull into my WP calendar. I saw there is an app in the marketplace called SuperG Calendar that supposedly can sync multiple calendars. Only $1.99, but if Mango is going to do it, I could probably wait it out. Anyone try that app?

Sent from my T9295 using Board Express

 

[Umm Yeah]

I wasn't familiar with that app but, since my Google calendar is the deciding issue as to whether I keep it or return it, I invested the $2. It's not a bad app. It allows you to see and use all of your sub calendars on Google. It does not integrate with the WP7 calendar in any way, so that becomes superfluous. Also, the SuperG Calendar does not support live tiles, so the only notice you will get of calendar appointments are through email or text notices you set up on Google. It's not perfect but it's passed the first 12 hours of testing on my end.

 

[Umm Yeah]

Well, it appears my last hope of being able to keep my WP7 phone is dead. The SuperG Calendar app isn't go to hack it for me. Events I set up on my Google calendars on my PC are set to send me a text message 15 minutes before the event. When I create an event on my WP7 phone, it will show up up on my regular Google Calendar but the texts are never sent. I HAVE to have my Google calendars working at least as well as my BB so I'm going to have to return my WP7 and go back to my BB for now. I hope I'll be back in the fall after Mango is out. This is a great first step for MS and I'm looking forward to the next.

 

[Umm Yeah]

Mango does multiple calendars!!!

YES!!! It appears that I will be able to hold on to my Trophy! With the various Mango previews out today, I found one that shows a WP7 phone running Mango and it's synced with multiple. color coded calendars from Windows Live, Office 365, and Google! The video showing the multiple calendars is here - YouTube - Windows Phone Mango Calendar + Todos Preview.

All we have to do it hold things together until the Fall when Mango comes out. I wish it would handle multiple calendars now but if I can endure this just a little while longer, I can hopefully be grandfathered into Verizon's "Unlimited" data plan instead of the new tiered data plans they are planning on.

 

[Dagolara]

YES!!! It appears that I will be able to hold on to my Trophy! With the various Mango previews out today, I found one that shows a WP7 phone running Mango and it's synced with multiple. color coded calendars from Windows Live, Office 365, and Google! The video showing the multiple calendars is here - YouTube - Windows Phone Mango Calendar + Todos Preview.

All we have to do it hold things together until the Fall when Mango comes out. I wish it would handle multiple calendars now but if I can endure this just a little while longer, I can hopefully be grandfathered into Verizon's "Unlimited" data plan instead of the new tiered data plans they are planning on.

From reading Paul Thurrott's hands on review Mango as of yet it does not support multiple Google calendars.

In Mango, Microsoft has added support for multiple calendars from a single source, but only for Hotmail and Exchange. So if you're using Google Calendar as I am, you're still out of luck.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/Windows-Phone-7/hands-windows-phone-mango-139538

 

[Umm Yeah]

From reading Paul Thurrott's hands on review Mango as of yet it does not support multiple Google calendars.



http://www.winsupersite.com/article/Windows-Phone-7/hands-windows-phone-mango-139538

Well, I'm still hopeful. Farther down in the article you sited, the author says

"(Note: Microsoft's documentation says that Mango "supports multiple calendars on Exchange Active Sync-enabled accounts." Google, of course, supports EAS. But after testing the configuration of my Google account in various ways--you can configure it using the built-in Google account type or the Outlook account type, the latter of which is explicitly for EAS--I couldn't get multiple calendars to appear. Maybe this will be enabled over time. To-Do/Task integration, however, is decidedly Microsoft-only.)"

It sounds like they still intend to support multiple Google calendars but it may still be a work in progress.

 

[Umm Yeah]

Well, it appears the issue with Mango and Google calendars not working well is due to Google ACTIVELY suppressing multiple calendar syncing! In the Mango review here Windows Phone ?Mango? preview | This is my next..., the author says the following:

"The other big news in the Calendar app is support for multiple calendars per Exchange ActiveSync account. I personally use multiple calendars extensively in my Gmail and Google Apps accounts, so I was particularly stoked to hear this ? unfortunately, though, Google?s actively blocking Windows Phone users from selecting more than one calendar on Google Sync. Actually, I was totally unable to get to Google Sync settings from the phone?s browser, but when I tricked it into loading on my PC using an iPhone user agent, it recognized that I had synchronized with a Windows Phone and limited the total number of calendars selected to one. My hope is that Google will get this patched up by the time Mango launches, but I wouldn?t hold my breath ? Google?s been spotty in the past about improving Sync in a timely fashion."

Sigh...