ScheduleOnce Help
Find articles, help, and advice with ScheduleOnce.

Connecting to Apple iCal

Last Updated: Feb 09, 2012 11:41PM EET

Users of iCal 3.x and up are fortunate to have support for CalDAV, an open protocol that allows you to sync calendars.

In order to connect Apple's iCal with any web scheduling system there is a need to:

 

  1. Sync iCal data with an online database using CalDAV
  2. Enable the web scheduling system to read and write to that database in real time

Google Calendar has excellent support for CalDAV and can be used as the online database:

  1. Sync iCal data with Google Calendar using CalDAV
  2. ScheduleOnce has real-time integration with Google Calendar

Some web scheduling vendors develop their own connector program for iCal but in our opinion the CalDAV solution is the best because:

  • It can be instantly setup and requires no software download
  • Google Calendar is an excellent online storage. It is secure and available by Google standards, and most importantly, ScheduleOnce reads and writes to it in real time so that your iCal calendar information is never stored on the ScheduleOnce servers.

Other web scheduling vendors with iCal connectors store all your iCal information on their servers. You would probably agree that Google has more security safeguards than any scheduling vendor can afford. 

So even if you are not actively using Google Calendar to manage your Schedule, you can simply use it as a bridge (the online database) between iCal and ScheduleOnce. Google calendar is free with no restrictions and takes only a minute to setup.

Follow these steps to Connect iCal with SchduleOnce:

Important: If you already have a Gmail account don't use your Gmail's Google Calendar as the bridge. Why? because scheduling emails will come from your Gmail email address instead of your iCal email address.

  1. Go to https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount and create a Google Account on your iCal email address.
  2. Go to https://www.google.com/calendar and configure the new calendar. Make sure that your iCal email address is showing on the right corner of the Google header. DO NOT create a Gmail account, calendar only.
  3. Connect Google Calendar to iCal by following the Google Help instructions
  4. Sign into your ScheduleOnce account and connect your synced Google Calendar with ScheduleOnce
  5. When the initial sync is complete, you will be able to see your busy times in ScheduleOnce and any meetings that you schedule in ScheduleOnce will show up in iCal. Learn more about calendar connection