Syncing Multiple Calendars Using Google Calendar Sync
Posted on December 13th, 2007 in Cool, Personal |
UPDATE: The following issues have been addressed in the comments:
1. Only being able to see the default calendar:(Thanks Duke!)
“The login name is CASE SENSITIVE, if ou don’t use the right case you will only get the “default folder” option. Hope this helps.”
And another great tip from AAGie (Thank you too!)
“I figured out a big problem here. I was having this “Default Calendar” only issue, even though I tried all the fixes suggested here. Turns out I’ve aliased my “work” (non gmail) account to work as a login for all Google services, and I normally use that, and the same password that works for my official “gmail” login name to login to Google services. Well–if you do that (use some kind of aliased login account), turns out you only see the Default calendar. Go try your @gmail.com account instead & you’ll be very happy! (You do still have to use the “Options” feature after the first Sync & go select all the Calendars you want to turn on, but they’ll be there!)”
2. Your phone doesn’t support end-to-end secure connections: No guarantees on this one, but my suggestion in the comments was:
“One thought - go to the menu -> options -> Advanced -> Tcp. In the field labeled APN, enter: wap.voicestream.com. Leave the username and password blank and try syncing again.”
Original Post
Since my post expressing my delight about the launch of Google Sync for the Blackberry I’ve been noticing a fair bit of traffic around how to sync multiple calendars using Google Calendar Sync. This is a quick & dirty guide and assumes you’ve installed the app and got it working. After that, do the following:
1. Go to your blackberry applications menu and load Google Sync
2. Click the Menu Button and Select Options 
3. Select the Calendars You See and Click the Thumbwheel/trackball
4. You should see all the calendars associated with your Google Account
5. Select the Ones you want and Use the “Go back” key to exit out
6. Save PreferencesYou’re done. Enjoy.
For your reference, here’s a link to the Google Calendar Sync Help Pages >>
24 Responses
Hey dude, thanks for this. Unfortunately I’m not seeing my calendars listed. It only reads “Default Calendar.” Crazy, huh?
I’m on an 8100 Pearl - using T-Mobile. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know other people are coming to you with the same issue — or better yet, if you know of a workaround.
Later!
Luke.
Hi Luke - I’m on Tmobile too but using a curve - I’ll definitely let you know if I hear more about the issue you’re having. I’m sorry you’re not all the way there yet - it’s a killer when you’re close to having it all work the way you want.
Rahul, I recently purchased BlackBerry Curve 8320. Using Wi-fi i installed Google calender sync, but when trying to sync my calender it errors out. After i give my user id and password it throws an error saying ” login failed, your phone doesn’t support end-to-end secure connections. In order to protect you data, google sync can not be use at this time.”.
Can you help me with this
I do not have a data plan, can i still sync google calender using WI-FI?
Giridhar,
I’m not an expert on Tmobile service, so you’ll have to take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I don’t know the answer to the data plan issue but I assume if you can get the internet on your phone, you should be able to sync.
Also, I’m posting this here in case anyone else can help out.
One thought - go to the menu -> options -> Advanced -> Tcp. In the field labeled APN, enter: wap.voicestream.com. Leave the username and password blank and try syncing again.
A final suggestion if that doesn’t work - download service books from tmobile - if you do a search on the tmobile website, it will tell you how.
Hope this helps and best of luck
Rahul
Worked like a charm! Thanks a million!
Happy to help. Glad it worked for you.
Wish they would add ability to have different calendars be associated with categories or labels to be able to easily sort through them in outlook / bberry.
I’m having the same problem Luke did - When I bring up the sync options, I only see “default calendar” listed, even though I have three in my Google account.
Any updates from anyone with similar problems?
The login name is CASE SENSITIVE, if ou don’t use the right case you will only get the “default folder” option.
Hope this helps.
Duke - thanks for the suggestion. Much appreciated.
I figured out a big problem here. I was having this “Default Calendar” only issue, even though I tried all the fixes suggested here. Turns out I’ve aliased my “work” (non gmail) account to work as a login for all Google services, and I normally use that, and the same password that works for my official “gmail” login name to login to Google services. Well–if you do that (use some kind of aliased login account), turns out you only see the Default calendar. Go try your @gmail.com account instead & you’ll be very happy! (You do still have to use the “Options” feature after the first Sync & go select all the Calendars you want to turn on, but they’ll be there!)
AAGie
AAGie - great comment. Thanks for sharing your fix. Hopefully this will resolve the issue out there for folks.
Rahul
Has anyone experienced this problem? I’ve been using calendar sync successfully since it came out - and I sync 3 calendars to my Blackberry 8800. However, since I started using it, I now get multiple duplicate entries in my calendar in Google online calendar. If I receive a meeting invitation in Google Mail, for example, I’ll wind up with 5 or 6 of the invitations on my calendar. I can delete the extras, but then a few more will randomly show up over time until the day has passed. I’m getting tired of deleting all this extra junk.
Has anyone seen this problem before - and any idea how to fix it?
Hi Christine,
I have this issue as well and I don’t have a solution for it. If anyone knows of one, please post your solution as a comment. Thank you!
Rahul
Background:
Ok, so I used Google Sync so I could have my work groupwise calendar
and my personal google calendar sync. However, I didnt realize that it
would sync to the groupwise account too. I logged out from the handset
and it delete ALL of my Groupwise events.
Anyways, after restoring my groupwise calendar I changed my account
preferences and logged into a new google calendar to sync.
The Problem:
In the old calendar I had the option to sync all the calendars that I
can see on the web interface to my device. However with the new
account I only have the option to sync my “Default Calendar”. I am not using an alias like AAGie. ARGH…
Thank you!
Hi Kat,
Sorry you’re having this issue. Hopefully someone will be able to help you out.
Rahul
Google sync looked like my solution. My enterprise uses NotifyLink which is a complete disaster as a synching product to Groupwise. I synched to Outlook, exported my calendar as a csv file to get all my current entries into Google calendar. Loaded Google sync to my ATT 8800, I was a pig is S _ _ _.
Then… I realized that not all the entries that I was creating were synching. I gave my secretary full editing permission to my calendar (and asked her to keep a record of all changes while I test the syncing.) The initial tests passes. When we moved to “production”, I saw that some appointments that were created on Google calendar never synched to my BBerry, and some from my BBerry would appear on the calendar and then vanish from my BBerry.
Oh well, Sync needs to go back to Google labs. it’s not ripe yet…
ugh - sorry to hear about all the issues. you’d think this would be more seamless than it is. what a royal pain in the ass.
Do you need a data-plan to use GooSync? Or can it sync when connected to your PC’s USB? I have a BES Blackberry from work so I don’t have any issues. But my wife is thinking of switching to a Blackberry but it’s not worth having a data-plan for her. She would, however, like it to sync with google.
Hi Miles,
I think Goosync is designed for over the air sync and so does require a data plan. However, there are other packages (many more) I think that don’t require a data plan and can sync w/ the blackberry over USB.
I switched b/c I wanted over the air capabilities.
Rahul
Another clue for the Default calendar problem.. We resolved the problem for 3 blackberries by logging in with just the username part of the email - not the @gmail.com part, and all the your calendars appeared.
wow! this is fantastic! i used four different google calendars — work, personal, my social life, and a friend’s band’s performance schedule, and needed to be able to access these on-the-go from my blackberry. thanks for saving me the $40 a year goosync would have cost! can’t wait until google labs spits out a gcal app for mobile devixes, but this’ll work until then.
AAGie’s tip is the important one if you’re just seeing the Default Calendar:
- Sign out
- Sign in on your gmail or googlemail username
- Sync once
- Go to Options > Sync these calendars
- Click the calendar with your name
- Your other/ shared calendars should appear
- Tick the ones you want to synchronise
- Save and then Sync Now