Monday, June 29, 2009

Sync iCal and iPhone with Google Calander

Since I left my last position where we had an Exchange server setup to sync all our stuff... well, now that I do not have that - I will want the functionality on a personal level... which I found out Google can help you accomplish this...


The process is very straight forward... I will try to add pictures later.
Including links from Gmail Support for setting these devices up...

First things first - you need to make sure you have your Google calendar setup and ready to go -if you do not have a Google account - or checked your calendar, I suggest you do that before continuing on.

Instructions from Google:
http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=99358#ical

To get the iCal in OSX to work right - we add the following info into iCal:
Preferences > Accounts - Create a new account - name it Gmail or something similar.
Your username and password are as follows:
Username: user@gmail.com
Password: your password
Click the down-arrow and fill in the selected URL for the calendar server:
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/@gmail.com/user

Once this is done, iCal will go sync with Google - if there is anything in there to sync.

To get the iPhone working - you have to set it up as an Exchange Account - and on iPhones, since you are only allowed a single Exchange account - if you use it for work and using Exchange - this might not work for you.

To get this done on your iPhone, follow these steps.
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

If you need help, message me.
One thing to note, when entering your user/password, the username is always user@gmail.com - they showed user@googlemail.com and I kept getting bad password responses.

So far its working great - is quick to update. If you are running Entourage - you can set it to sync with iCal so you can have those dates transferred to your phone/Google calender as well.

Don't try to setup mail when setting up the iPhone - the only thing Google allows is Contacts and Calenders.

Next Up: Hamachi VPN for Remote Control through VPN