My current non-Spanning Sync setup and workarounds

[Evans Thompson]

I sent this to one group member the other day but thought others could also benefit from it:

This is what I'm trying right now. Here's my current setup.

I have an iMac at home that's really being used more as a server. I don't access Address Book or iCal on it really. In other words, it's going to be out of sync. I don't use it to sync calendars or contacts with any iOS devices, so that's not a problem.

I have an iPad that I've setup to use the Google Sync services, so that part isn't affected.  You can find instructions for setting up an iOS device here: http://www.google.com/sync/index.html

I have a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.7.4 that's really my primary computer.  I definitely use the Address Book and want to keep that in sync.

I'm trying the native Apple solution for Address Book 6.x (the version that comes with Lion).  You can find Apple's instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4625

That does come with its own set of...quirks, but it appears to be the simplest alternative for now. Some of the quirks involve contact photos disappearing or not syncing. I haven't seen any other glaring issues.

It does use the native OS X SyncServices and Sync Resolver, so you'll periodically see messages about conflicts and choose which version you want to use. This has always been there, and the earlier versions of SpanningSync as well as MobileMe were prone to it, too.

For iCal, I'm trying the CalDAV approach. Google's article is in the Google Sync site, which takes you here: http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99355&topic=13949&ctx=topic

This only syncs the primary Google calendar.  If you have additional Google Calendars you want in iCal, you have to do a few more things.

This article from jonathans blog details those steps: http://jonathansblog.co.uk/multiple-google-calendars-in-ical-osx-lion I've only been using it a little while, but it seems to work, more or less.

That solution is important if you need access to your Google calendar(s) offline.

If you only access your Google calendar(s) when you're option, there's an entirely different approach that essentially makes Google Calendar a separate OS X "App." It's called a Single Site Browser (SSB).

The original SSB creation app was Fluid.app.  You can find information about it and download it here: http://fluidapp.com/ It relies, essentially, on the WebKit part of Safari. I have used this, and it's pretty much Google Calendar, but in a separate app. The Free version will at least let you see if this option is a possibility for you. If you want a few added bells and whistles, there's a paid version for $5.

MacWorld has a related article: http://www.macworld.com/article/1157778/googlecal.html

If you want to use Chrome as the browser engine, there's more work involved.  There are two good articles documenting the process, but I haven't tried them yet.

From Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5611711/create-application-shortcuts-in-google-chrome-for-mac-with-a-shell-script

From the Less Annoying Blog (linked to in the Lifehacker post): http://www.lessannoyingcrm.com/articles/149/Create_application_shortcuts_in_Google_Chrome_on_a_Mac

I'd definitely use a backup service like Spanning Backup (same folks as Spanning Sync). It has the added benefit of backing up ALL your Google stuff. It's $35 a year, but there's a 14-day trial.

There's also Backupify, which also offers the ability to backup social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. A free plan exists for 3 services, and paid versions start at $5/mo.

Way before this happened, I created an Automator workflow to export all contacts as individual vCards stored in a Dropbox folder. A few contacts over the years have mysteriously been deleted, and the ability to restore just one has been great.  Plus, since Dropbox keeps previous versions, there's some added safety there. In addition to exporting all as individual vCards, it then zips the entire folder with the current date added to the filename.

I haven't made it public (yet), though, or posted any instructions. A recent release, possibly 10.7.4, subtly changed an Automator action that no longer quits Address Book without error. I'm looking at workarounds and an automated solution.

There isn't a similar capability for iCal in Automator (that I've found), and I haven't investigated AppleScript enough to export calendars as iCal files rather than an iCal Archive. The difference is that each calendar would be an ICS file that can be manipulated and imported without changing all calendars. The iCal Archive, when restored, essentially replaces anything currently in iCal. It's like a nuclear option.

I'll try to write one or more blog post over the next week or two about all this and what I've discovered and decided on.

Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Evans

[Evans Thompson]

I should that the Spanning Tools Calendar Cleanup and Contact Cleanup should still work and still useful. 

[Evans Thompson]

OK. I did a quick Google search and look at the AppleScript dictionary for iCal, and it doesn't seem that Export is scriptable per se.

I did find a post from 2007 that discusses it and a potential workaround, but I have not tried it yet, so I don't know if it still applies, or if not, what modifications can be made to make it work.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=296233

One post:

Just in case anyone wants to know.. This is what I came up with to export a selected calendar out of iCal. The script basically has a default calendar it will export - in my case Roster. If I want to export a different calendar it will look up what calendars I have and ask me to select one. It then checks thru all the calendar folders, finds the correct file and places it on the desktop.. Not the neatest code, but it works..

And another:

I came up with a couple of solutions that pull the name of the calendars out of the Info.plist. Different approach to your solution, presenting it here for learning. 

This solution pulls all of the calendars and then asks the user which ones to "export". Can easily be adapted to always export one or all of the calendars. Again not the cleanest of code (the doubling up at the end) but the code is short so didn't see the need to clean it up any further. This does however rely on undocumented features of iCal which I wouldn't be surprised if they were altered in Leopard.

On Monday, July 9, 2012 8:49:57 AM UTC-5, Evans Thompson wrote:

[Damian]

This is all super useful. I got BusyCal, but I'd like if possible to sync my Mac's internal calendar so that I can continue to use the data detectors in Mail, and just keep using iCal (I mean "Calendar"). You mention 

When you say "more or less", here:

This article from jonathans blog details those steps: http://jonathansblog.co.uk/multiple-google-calendars-in-ical-osx-lion I've only been using it a little while, but it seems to work, more or less.

... what are the cavaeats? Is it reliable?

The really frustrating thing about all this is that I'm effortlessly syncing contacts and addresses on my iPhone by accessing Google under Exchange -- and for whatever reason you have to jump through a million hoops to get it to work on an actual computer...

[Damian]

Well, I just delved in and tried CalDAV syncing. It was, as you say, a little rough. In the end, I bought BusyCal and I have to say it's excellent. Once I was confident that Google Calendar had the definitive calendar data, I backed up my calendars on my Mac, then deleted them all from the sidebar, one by one, fired up BusyCal and put in my Google credentials -- and within 5 minutes I was back to where I was with Spanning Sync. 

The one missing piece is contacts -- built-in contact syncing with Mountain Lion is pretty crappy in comparison to Spanning Sync. It regularly strips out contact photos, and I've seen that Sync Resolver thing more times than I care to count. I'd love to find a solution for that.  

[Damian]

Oh, and BusyCal support is excellent and fast. Highly recommend based on my experience so far.

[ebox...@gmail.com]

Besides the image magically disappearing has anyone experienced other issues? In particular I've noticed contacts disappearing completely (thank you backups!) or massive sync conflicts?

[Damian Chadwick]

I think those problems are quite enough for me to be looking for a better way!

[Damian]

I think I'm going to give this a shot later. It's only $5 and the reviews are quite good:

Contacts Sync For Google Gmail

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contacts-sync-for-google-gmail/id451691288?mt=12

The developer's website looks pretty rough (to say the least), but like I said, the App Store reviews are overwhelmingly positive. 

[Hershel Safer]

Please let us know how it works for you. Will you also use the iPad version? I'm currently syncing my contacts between my iMac and iPad via iCloud. I would like to connect them with my Google e-mail address book, and this looks like a plausible way to do that. It looks from the minimal information on the Contacts Sync for Google Gmail website as though I can keep the iPad synced to the iMac via iCloud while keeping Gmail synced to the iMac using Contacts Sync, but a single solution across all platforms might be better. 

Thanks,

Hershel

[doogald]

The only problem with this app is that it is not syncing automatically in the background. The dev promises that feature is coming; I guess we'll see.

[Damian]

I've set up the "Contacts Sync For Google Gmail" app on two Macs and it seems to be working just fine. The only issue, as doogald said, is that syncs have to be initiated manually, and asks for confirmation of changes before making them. I guess that conservative approach is safer, but I miss the "set it and forget it" that Spanning Sync had. 

So, between BusyCal and this app, I'm more or less back to where I was with Spanning Sync, though it's all bit more kludgy. Ah well.

[Conrad]

I am just coming to this task, as my subscription expires in a month. :( Thanks for all this legwork you've done.

I have OS X 10.7.5. From my initial tests, it looks like the "delegate" workaround is no longer needed. All Google calendars are automatically recognized by iCal. Can anyone confirm this?

I have purchased "Contacts Sync for Google Gmail" from the Apple App Store (on sale right now for $1.99), and while I haven't turned it on yet, as mentioned, the reviews are excellent, and I will use that for auto-background syncing. (Of course iCal has auto-background syncing built-in.)

-Conrad

[Conrad]

Well, things went pretty smoothly in my transition. "Contacts Sync for Google Mail" had to resolve a few differences between my OS X Address Book and gmail contacts, but no big problems. On the iCal side, I just turned off viewing my local cals in iCal, so only the Google calendars would appear (I did not need to do anything with delegates - all the calendars I use "just worked"). I use iCal Reminders, which are all in my "Main" local calendar. I had to delete a small number of calendar events in the future on my local Main calendar, so they would not be duplicated with my Main Google calendar when viewing both in iCal. And I changed my default iCal calendar to my Main Google calendar. Sorry to see you go, SpanningSync...

[Evans Thompson]

I just saw this reply, so sorry for the delay.

I relied on native OS X CardDAV and CalDAV syncing. It's the way Google is going with all its products.  I did create a "backup" of contacts in Dropbox using an Automator script that runs every day. It gives me multiple versions if I need to go back as well as an archive.  

I'm not going to go through a complete walkthrough, but here's what my Workflow looks like.

Automator Selection:

Here are the steps to the Workflow:

I created a local calendar called Automator, and setup an appointment to run every day.

If you want more information than that, let me know, and I'll see about putting together something more helpful.

What I did NOT do was use both iCloud and Google to sync. All sync still goes through Google. Using iCloud and Google (CardDAV) to sync is just asking for trouble.