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calanders, syncing, and some more questions

lindsayanng

lindsayanng

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 4, 2008
1,515
1
East Haven, CT
I have NEVER used an electronic calander. I ran around with my little book for what seems like forever.. and now with the introduction of push notifications, the fact that my business is growing insanely fast, and I NEED to hire someone to enter my appointments into a calender for me.. I need to figure this out.. SO bare with me if they are STUPID questions..

I have a mac.. so..
iCal and the phone calender sync, but they dont wirelessly add data to the calender app correct??

The function I am looking for is the following.

I need a calender in the "cloud" of sorts. Something that can be accessed ANYWHERE by registered users (myself, assistant, and husband) and be updated with new appointments. I then need those appointments to be shown on my phone in real time (or close to it)

I also need notification reminders..

Right now, I am using pocket informant and "google calanders" so that I can get text alerts because there is no push available now.. nor background processes.

So does pocket informant sync with google automatically once its set up? Is there a better way to do this with iCal?

Basically, whats the best calender for the job, and what do i need to do to get it tow ork.. Because I feel like a complete idiot on the subject
 
Bueller.... Bueller.. I'm amazed.. usually with his forum, I get responses withing 5 seconds!! Well.. i am itching to get something going.. this is my first and only day for a while to do administrative crap.
 
Since you posted this in an iPhone forum, I'm assuming you have an iPhone. If that's the case... apple.com/mobileme ... If not, you may want to post in another forum.
 
yes.. I thought i was clear by posting in the iphone forum, talking about the calender app, and saying how I want to be able to view the calender on the phone..

ANYWAYS.. I am LOOKING for something thats not mobil me.. I would LIKE to see if there is a way to deal with this where I dont have to pay $100 a year.. I will if i HAVE to, but i feel like there should be something out there thats just an iphone app and a web app that syncs.. Google would be AWESOME if it wasn't just web app..
 
NO i didnt// I hope you didnt read my response that I took offense. Iw as just saying i didnt meant to be so vague.. In my MIND i said i had an iphone and in my mind i said i would PREFER to not use Mobil Me .. but i didnt sorry.

I went to the google iphone sync and it only does that with an exchange account.. and I have pocket informant which DOES sync to google (at least it did for some reason its now not working) but it does not sync in real time.. Meaning, when someone adds an appointment, it doesnt show up until i get it. I would LIKE it to automatically pull the new calender info when i open the app.. Doesnt NEED to push that stuff, just notifications for alerts (or SMS notifications) but I would just like the appointments to show as soon as they are entered..

Does that make sense?
 
Honestly, MobileMe is complete handholding way to do exactly what you are trying to do plus a whole lot more. You can get it way cheaper than $100. Megamac and Amazon are cheaper. Heck, you can get the whole family pack for $80. Why reinvent the wheel?
 
I'm pretty sure you don't have to pay the MS Exchange data rate because Google just uses the Exchange protocol not Exchange itself. I have a friend that uses Google sync and loves it. It does provide two way push calendar and contacts, just not mail. Hopefully someone else can post whether or not you have to pay to use the exchange protocol, but I'm pretty sure you don't.

edit:

You just have to set the appts to have a notification when they are being entered
 
well, when I went to set up sync, It asked for an microsoft exchange account username and password, so i am assuming you need to pay for that.

I know that mobilme does it exactly the way I want too.. and If I was looking for a way to do it for $100 a year, I would use mobil me. I was HOPING there was some type of CALENDER ONLY application that would not cost anything. I do not need all of the stuff that comes with mobil me. I have my own server to store my own files, I have my own email addresses and do not need a @me account.. All i need is a calender that does what mobilme's calender does.

So i was hoping SOMETHING out there did it.. Otherwise, I will settle for mobil me.. but it is somewhat of a waste of money
 
Gotcha.. guess i'm bad with skimming..

So i set it up. but in google, I have 4 calenders.. company, personal, work, and pets.. (yes i have a calender for my pets) but when I set up this google exchange, I only get the main user calender, and not the others.. Whats up with this?
 
Seems that you need a GOOGLE APPS account, so i started to sign up, but then it wanted to change the direction of my name servers for my domain name.. and THAT i will not do. I have too many things set up under that server.. I do not need google mail.. just the darn calender. This is all confusing
 
lindsayanng said:
Seems that you need a GOOGLE APPS account, so i started to sign up, but then it wanted to change the direction of my name servers for my domain name.. and THAT i will not do. I have too many things set up under that server.. I do not need google mail.. just the darn calender. This is all confusing
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm not sure where to point you. Hope you find a solution. But I will say that I was hesitant to get MobileMe, but after a few weeks, I couldn't live without it. You can try it free for 60 days.

Good luck.
 
lindsayanng said:
Seems that you need a GOOGLE APPS account, so i started to sign up, but then it wanted to change the direction of my name servers for my domain name.. and THAT i will not do. I have too many things set up under that server.. I do not need google mail.. just the darn calender. This is all confusing
Click to expand...
You don't need a Google Apps account. It's really quite simple. You set up your calendars in Google Calendar(seems you already are doing this), and you then follow the directions provided on your iPhone. You can then share the calendar with anyone else or even give them the login info if it's going to persons who need to keep you abreast of appointments. Anything that is added either on the phone or to the computer is automatically synced with each other. You can even set up iCal to sync with your online google calendar.

I don't believe Google supports notifications through the exchange implementation at this time, but after you get your calendars set up you can set it to alert your cell phone through text. After you get the calendars set up online how you like them, you need to go to m.google.com/sync on your iPhone where you can set the calendars you would like synced with your device. Hope this helps.
 
I got that far.. the issue is that if there are multiple calenders, then you are screwed.. because without a google's apps account, you can not choose between multiple calenders.. I checked this by going back to teh google help and there is an FAQ that says "How do I choose which calender" and the answer was "You have to have a google apps account"

blah.. freakin freak.. More money to apple
 
I have my calenders pretty much set up the way you want using google sync. It automatically syncs with my calender on ical on my mac and my calender on the ipod touch. Other people can also easily access my calender but they cant edit it although I think there is an option to allow others to edit the calender. :)

BTW you can edit which calenders you want synced. I dont remember how but there should be some guides somewhere.
 
care to explain how you did this?? because all I can get to show on google's calender syncing tool is ONE calender, which is NOT my business calender.
 
I am not doing what you are doing but found the subject interesting so I did a Google search and found the following. Also, FYI.. What I do is Sync my (about 8 google calendars) with Outlook and then Sync Outlook with MobileMe.

Here is the link to a full review of how to setup what you are doing:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/02/how-to-setup-google-sync-on-your-iphone/


This was on the page above that talks about multiple calendars:

if this helps anyone: I had some trouble figuring out how to select the 5 google calendars to sync with my iPhone. I found the following directions did the trick.

1. Complete Google’s instructions
2. Open Safari on your iPhone
3. Navigate to m.google.com
4. Select ‘Sync’
5. Select your device
6. Check the boxes next to the Calendars you want to sync (It will only let you choose 5 total, including the “US Holidays” one)
7. Click ‘Save.’
 
Right.. I did this.. and appreciate you looking this up.. but you can only get so far before they ask you for your google apps username and password. I dont have a google apps password, so I started to sign up.. then they started talking about pointing my name servers to google instead of where they are pointed now (my website and webmail) which is BAD BAD BAD!! I do not want the DNS to be pointed anywhere but hostmonster.. which is where all of my stuff is!

So really.. it CAN be done.. if you have a domain and that domain is not really being used for anything.. that is basically where I got stumped
 
You will find if you do enough seaching that there are a number of options for what you want to do. Some are free but in my opinion the better ones cost money. I found that MobileMe gives me the most bang for the buck. Even though it can be improved. In my case I am using the MobileMe Family Plan with my wife and daughter. I have a small business as well and I have my support and sales email forwarded to my iPhone while out of the office. Like you I have a number of Google Calendars (each of my employees has a Google Calendar) that we all share with each other. To get all of my calendars in Sync on my iPhone and within Outlook (on Windows) I had to purchase another product (SyncMyCal). You may find other options better for you, but the cost of about $100 (for the family plan on Amazon) or about $70 per year for the single plan is pretty cheap.

Good Luck.
 
lindsayanng said:
I need a calender in the "cloud" of sorts. Something that can be accessed ANYWHERE by registered users (myself, assistant, and husband) and be updated with new appointments. I then need those appointments to be shown on my phone in real time (or close to it)

I also need notification reminders..
Click to expand...
google sync will do all of this with ease. It is exactly what I do.
lindsayanng said:
I would LIKE it to automatically pull the new calender info when i open the app.. Doesnt NEED to push that stuff, just notifications for alerts (or SMS notifications) but I would just like the appointments to show as soon as they are entered..

Does that make sense?
Click to expand...
This is exactly how it works when set up via the exchange settings that google provides for free.

NateDMB said:
If you follow the Google directions closely (I'm not being smart here), it tells you exactly what to add in the exchange info so that it works. In essence you are using the Exchange format without using Exchange.


http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740&topic=14252
Click to expand...
This is exactly how you setup the sync properly.

d21mike said:
I am not doing what you are doing but found the subject interesting so I did a Google search and found the following. Also, FYI.. What I do is Sync my (about 8 google calendars) with Outlook and then Sync Outlook with MobileMe.

Here is the link to a full review of how to setup what you are doing:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/02/how-to-setup-google-sync-on-your-iphone/


This was on the page above that talks about multiple calendars:

if this helps anyone: I had some trouble figuring out how to select the 5 google calendars to sync with my iPhone. I found the following directions did the trick.

1. Complete Google’s instructions
2. Open Safari on your iPhone
3. Navigate to m.google.com
4. Select ‘Sync’
5. Select your device
6. Check the boxes next to the Calendars you want to sync (It will only let you choose 5 total, including the “US Holidays” one)
7. Click ‘Save.’
Click to expand...
This is how you ADD more than the ONE calendar, and again no google apps account needed.
lindsayanng said:
Seems that you need a GOOGLE APPS account...
Click to expand...
No you do not, I do not have one and sync 5 calendars.

lindsayanng said:
Right.. I did this.. and appreciate you looking this up.. but you can only get so far before they ask you for your google apps username and password. I dont have a google apps password, so I started to sign up.. then they started talking about pointing my name servers to google instead of where they are pointed now (my website and webmail) which is BAD BAD BAD!! I do not want the DNS to be pointed anywhere but hostmonster.. which is where all of my stuff is!

So really.. it CAN be done.. if you have a domain and that domain is not really being used for anything.. that is basically where I got stumped
Click to expand...
Again, you don't need a google apps account, just a regular gmail account which is free, and you don't even need to use the gmail email for this. You also do not have to move dns info, IDK where you are going to get lost like this...
 
I swear I have followed every single direction completely to the T.. Nikhsub - are you syncing multiple calenders that are in google, or just one??

I follow the instructions, on my iphone go to m.google.com and then click on SYNC and I get a screen that says that you need a google apps account.. the exact error is
You;ve reached a log in page for a domain that isn't using google apps. Please check the web address you entered and try again..
Click to expand...

so again.. i get to the "sync" on my iphone using those specific directions and thats it.
 
lindsayanng said:
I swear I have followed every single direction completely to the T.. Nikhsub - are you syncing multiple calenders that are in google, or just one??

I follow the instructions, on my iphone go to m.google.com and then click on SYNC and I get a screen that says that you need a google apps account.. the exact error is


so again.. i get to the "sync" on my iphone using those specific directions and thats it.
Click to expand...
I think you should read this page... you may be using google apps instead of google accounts...

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72709
 
Here is a screenshot from my phone for you to show how to add more calendars to sync via google with your iphone.
 

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I just set up a CalDAV account pointing to google which takes care of my default calendar. For my other calendars in google I added them to the iPhone as subscribed calendars. You can access both of these options by selecting "Other" from the "Add Account" screen under the Mail/Calendar settings.

CalDAV account settings:
Server: www.google.com
Username: user@google.com
Password: your password (obviously)

For the shared calendars I copied the URL for the private iCal address (ics file) for each calendar and emailed those links to myself. Opened up that email in the mail app on the iPhone itself and it will prompt to add the shared calendar to your iPhone when you click on the link to the ics file. I've got my main Google calendar and all shared calendars showing up with different colors and all now. I needed to add my Google calendars in this manner because I am already using an Exchange account for work.
 
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