Calendar confusion Nov23 '06
I like my latest article at Pain in the Tech as a beginners guide to quickly setting up a calendar, and sharing it, but I am still very confused about some things, which I didn't mention in the article:
In Google Calendar, if you subscribe to a non-Google Calendar calendar (such as an iCal on a separate web server), there doesn't seem to be a way to "sync changes" from within Google Calendar.
However, in iCal, if you subscribe to a Google Calendar, you can choose Refresh, which syncs the changes you made in Google Calendar.
So, we can subscribe both ways, but it doesn't seem that we can sync both ways.
Edit: This issue of "syncing both ways" seems to be somewhat resolved.
Also, wherever the originating calendar is created - that's where changes have to be made. For example, if I subscribe to a Google Calendar in iCal, I can't make further edits/changes in iCal to that calendar.
Another strange thing is that Google Calendar provides "external sharing links" (XML, ICAL, HTML) for any calendar you subscribe to. This is different from the sharing link that you used to subscribe to the calendar, in the first place.
What I don't get is why you would want to "share" a calendar that you've subscribed to. It seems like it would be a one-way road. You subscribe to a calendar, and pull all changes to your calendar. Why then would you want to turn around and release that calendar again? It's almost like a "second generation" of the calendar. If you wanted to share a subscribed calendar, why not just provide the original link that you used to subscribe in the first place?
OK... after further investigation, it appears that if you subscribe to a Google Calendar (shared by someone else) in Google Calendar, the XML, ICAL, and HTML links all refer to the original links from the shared calendar provider. However, if you subscribe to an iCal calendar in Google Calendar - the XML, ICAL, and HTML links are all re-created. It still lets you see the original iCal share link, but it also provides new links for XML, ICAL, and HTML.
An iCal ICS link looks something like:
webcal://ical.mac.com/matthom/Arc%20Enemy%20-%20Morton%20Grove%20Hoops.ics
While subscribed to this calendar in Google Calendar, Google then provides another ICAL link (for the same calendar!), but which looks something like this:
http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/qu12rfmjse3jq5f731gmjv1kk4tcjckn%40import.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
Why do we need two ICAL/ics links? Why would I want to subscribe to a subscription of a calendar?
Some of these details will be figured out soon. I have to do more research.
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is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
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