Google Calendar Sync not working with Outlook? Try Mozilla Lightning + Provider

If you are like me, you probably screamed when you found out that Google was going to stop support for Google Calendar Sync on 1st August 2014.

I didn't really think about looking for an alternative since my phones sync'ed with my Google Calendar anyway. That was until I started double booking appointments and missing appointment since I use Outlook at the office. Outlook was able to import the iCAL for my Google Calendar but that was only one-way traffic. I could only view the appointments in Google and not add/edit them.

I could have launched Google Calendar along with Outlook everyday, but I preferred to use a thick client. Which led me to an old familiar name - Mozilla Thunderbird.

Thunderbird is Mozilla's answer to Outlook. By itself, it's a sturdy email client, however, with the right add-ons, it's the perfect solution to this problem. The add-ons are:

• Lightning Calendar - This is an add-on to Thunderbird that adds Calendaring features to the client. This by itself allows you to view your Google Calendar in Lightning, however, if you want to also add and edit appointments, you'll need...
• Provider for Google Calendar - This allow bi-directional support for adding and editing appointments. So whatever you add to Lightning will also be added to your Google Calendar, and vice versa. Oh, and since your online Google Calendar is up-to-date, so will the calendars that you sync with your mobile devices. Nifty eh?

So, once you have installed Thunderbird, hit the menu button and select Add-On.

In the Add-On Manager, search for Lightning and install the latest version of Lightning.

Next, search for Provider and install the latest version of Provider for Google Calendar.

Almost there! Now, we just need to import your Google Calendars into Lightning. There is no need to configure anything on Provider. It just... Works!

Your Thunderbird should now look something like this:

Click on the Calendar Tab button to open up the Calendar Tab view.

Next, Right-click on in the blank area under the Calendar on the left pane of the Window. The pop-up will allow you to manage your Calendars. Repeat the next steps for all the Google Calendars that you wish to add:

1. Select New Calendar.
2. Select On the Network and click Next
3. Select Google Calendar
4. For the Location area, you will need to get the private address of your Google Calendar. To do that, log in to your Google Calendar account. 
5. In the left pane, mouse-over the Calendar you wish to add and click on the arrow drop-down button. Select Calendar Settings
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the XML button under Private Address. Copy the URL that is shown.
7. Before you enter the Private URL into Lightning, you will need to configure your Google Account to allow Access for less secure apps.
8. Go to your Google Security settings page (https://www.google.com/settings/security) and under the Account permissions section, enable the Access for less secure apps option. If you do not do this, Lightning will keep asking you to enter your password when you try adding the Calendar.
9. Return to Lightning and paste the URL for your Google Calendar in the Location field. Click Next.
10. Now you can name your calendar, choose a color for it and decide if you want reminders to pop-up before the event. Click Next.
11. Enter your username and password and VIOLA - Your calendar has been created! Remember, if you keep getting asked for your password, it means that you have not set your Google account settings to allow less secure apps. Refer to point 8 above to get that done.

There are of course paid options to get Outlook and Google Calendar to sync in the background like how Google Calendar Sync did it. But, if you don't mind launching another application along side Outlook every morning before you start your day, Thunderbird+Lightning+Provider for Google Calendar should suit you fine.

iPhone Tips: Over-the-air Syncing with Outlook and Google Calendar

I use Outlook a lot to organize my meetings and appointments during the work week. Unfortunately, I am not always at my desk and am too busy to always remember to sync my iPhone or Blackberry to my Outlook using iTunes or the BB Desktop Manager.

That's when I came up with a 3-way syncing system between my Outlook, Google Calendar and my mobile devices, leveraging off Google Sync.

Basically, I use MS Outlook as my main scheduling tool. I use it to create and manage most of my appointments, including meeting requests that I get through email.

I then use Google Sync to synchronize the Outlook events to my default calendar in Google Calendar.

I then configure my iPhone and Blackberry to synchronize its calendars with Google Calendar. Viola! The iPhone and Blackberry calendars are now synchronized over-the-air and I don't need to worry about missing appointments now, especially on weekends when I don't have Outlook in front of me to alert me.

Here are the steps that you need to follow to set up Google Sync and your iPhone. I'll post the Blackberry sync instructions later as it's slightly different.

* Please do note that OTA syncing uses data services and will use data bandwidth in the background. So if you are on a pay-as-you-go data plan, you might want to reconsider using OTA syncing and just rely on the USB way to sync your calendar using iTunes.

SETTING UP GOOGLE SYNC

1. Download the latest version of Google Calendar Sync for PC from http://www.google.com/sync/pc.html
2. Install Google Calendar Sync
3. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail email address (ie. username@gmail.com, not just username).
4. In the Password field, enter your Gmail password.
5. Under Sync Options, select 2-way to allow Google Sync to update both Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.
6. In the Sync every field, select a practical sync interval. I set mine to 60 minutes.
7. Click on the Save button.
8. Right-click on the Google Calendar Sync icon on your system tray, and select Sync to populate your Google Calendar with the events from your Outlook.
9. The Google Calendar Sync icon's animation will stop once it has completed syncing.
10. If you get an error while syncing, it might be because there are conflicting events in your MS Outlook. You can try to resolve these conflicts using Outlook and try resyncing. If you still get the same error, you might need to do what I did - delete all really old events until the error is resolved.

SETTING UP THE IPHONE

1. Ensure that you are on iPhone OS 3.0 or higher. You can check this by going to Settings -> General -> Version. If you are not on OS 3.0, fire up iTunes and download the latest OS from Apple.
2. From the home screen, select Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
4. Select Add Account... .
5. Select Microsoft Exchange (don't ask me why...).
6. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail email address (ie. username@gmail.com, not just username).
7. In the Username field, enter your full Gmail email address again.
8. In the Password field, enter your Gmail password.
9. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen.
10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com in that field.
    
11. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen again.
12. Ensure that the Calendars service is set to On.
    
13. Tap the Done button at the top of the screen.

iPhone Tips: Over-the-air Syncing of Contacts, Calendar & Email with Gmail

One of the problems that I had when migrating to the iPhone was how to move across all my contacts from my old Sony Ericsson W880i. I didn't want to let iTunes sync with my Outlook as that is reserved for my work contacts (syncing with my Blackberry). Also, I wanted the convenience of over-the-air syncing of contacts.

What I decided to do was use Google Sync to sync my iPhone with Gmail OTA and make Gmail as my central repository for my contacts. So now, I can keep all my contacts in one place and rest assured that it's always in sync with my phone.

Added bonus is that I can use a proper keyboard and large screen to edit all my contacts and just let it sync with the iPhone later. No more squinting and cursing every time I hit the wrong key on the iPhone's touch screen keypad. =)

If you do intend to do this, please do note that OTA services will require data enabled and chew up data bandwidth in the background, so if you are on a pay-as-you-go data service, you might want to reconsider using OTA and just revert to the good ol' USB cable to sync using iTunes.

Ok, now that we got that disclaimer out of the way, here are the instructions (these instructions will also allow you to sync your calendar with Google Calendar and enable Push mail with Gmail).

1. Ensure that you are on iPhone OS 3.0 or higher. You can check this by going to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you are not on OS 3.0, fire up iTunes and download the latest OS from Apple.
2. From the home screen, select Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
4. Select Add Account... .
5. Select Microsoft Exchange (don't ask me why...).
6. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail email address (ie. username@gmail.com, not just username).
7. In the Username field, enter your full Gmail email address again.
8. In the Password field, enter your Gmail password.
9. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen.
10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com in that field.
    
11. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen again.
12. You can now choose whether to sync your Mail, Contacts and/or Calendars with Google Mail/Calendar.
    
13. Ensure that the Contacts service is set to On and tap the Done button at the top of the screen.
    
14. You will now be asked what you want to do with the existing contacts that you have on your iPhone. This will determine how your iPhone will sync your contacts with Gmail, so choose carefully!
15. If you choose Keep on my iPhone, your contacts will be synced according to the All Contacts group in Gmail Contacts.
16. If you choose to Delete your existing contacts on the iPhone, your contacts will be synched according to the My Contacts group in Gmail Contacts.
17. I personally prefer to sync with the My Contacts group as Gmail has a tendency to just add anyone and everyone to your All Contacts group and this really messes up the contacts on my phone. The only problem with this is that you need to delete all the existing contacts on your iPhone to do this. Thankfully, I did this earlier on so I didn't have many contacts on the iPhone yet.

That's it! Now, all you need to do is wait for the syncing to complete in the background. You can also kickstart the sync by launching your iPhone Contacts app.