What Is It?

Google Calendar Sync provides the functionality that I have wanted for sometime in being able to synchronise a web based calendar with MS Outlook and synchronising Outlook over different computers and hand held devices. Sure there are commercial "paid for" products on the market for synchronising Outlook and some freeware products that will partially do what is required or just import from Outlook but nothing that could synchronise both ways or optionally in only one direction. (i.e. either from Outlook or to Outlook).  The testing I have carried out so far has shown a couple of problems that I have not been able to resolve which may be the Google Calendar Sync program or Outlook. At work we have had some problems with the the corporate Outlook/Exchange Server setup which has resulted in appointments disappearing among other things, so I may have some "corrupted" appointments sitting in my Outlook installations. This post is not intended to be a full review but an explanation of my finding through the installation and initial testing process. I will, however, use the basic review layout and headings that you will be familiar with.

Why Would You Want It?

Having a single master calendar makes sense  and one that you can access from anywhere you have a web connection is ideal for people who need to use a single appointment system system for home and work. The ability to synchronise the master calendar with appointment systems used at home and work as well as mobile devices such a phones and PDAs really is essential for many of us. The icing on the cake is two way synchronisation so you can update the master calendar with appointments entered on one of your other devices.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Synchronises Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook
• Options for two way or one way Synchronisation

Pros: What’s Good?

• Freeware

• Simple to install and use
• Low memory usage
• Simple to Use

Cons:What’s Not So Good?

• Limited Options*
• Did not sync all appointments**

* See – What Could Make It Better? – below

** Could be Outlook or particular installation problems and not a general bug.

More About What it Does in Detail:

N.B This mini review will follow the usual format of presenting the majority of information as screenshots backed up by further information where necessary. Google Calendar Sync will be abbreviated to GCS

(click on any picture to enlarge where necessary)

On installation you are given the options to enter your Google account details and choose the type of synchronisation you require via the Settings Screen shown below:

1. Two way (Outlook to Google Calendar and vice versa)
2. One Way – Google Calendar to Outlook
3. One Way – Outlook to Google Calendar

You can also enter the frequency of synchronisation update in minutes.

Having installed the program the following Systray icon and  menu is provided:

System Tray Icon

The System  tray icon for GCS varies according to the current state. While synchronisation is taking place it show the two arrows as above and this is also animated.

There are also tooltips associated with the Systray icon which reflect the current state of activity.

When synchronisation is completed the icon shows a red marker and the tooltip shows the software version and time completed.

During the first Synchronisation event after installation the following tooltip is shown. This may also be displayed at other times but I have not noticed it.

You can see in this instance I am synchronising quite a large number of calendar appointments. I did not take a measurement of the time involved but it certainly ran to many minutes. No doubt the speed of Internet connection and PC hardware will have a significant effect on the time taken.

I assume the above tooltip relates to the Google Calendar being downloaded or uploaded as part of the process.

System Tray Menu 

Right clicking on the systray icon brings up the following dialog:

These are a minimal set of commands and are self evident. The Options command shows the settings screen (shown at the start of the post above)

How Did It Perform?

The first synchronisation took quite some time but there were a lot of appointments and my Internet Connection is slow in the evenings when this was carried out. As their is not a huge amount of data I would expect synchronisation to be relatively quick under normal circumstances.

I did have a few issues and as I have already indicated above these may be due to the setup and some existing problems with Outlook on the systems I am using.

The issues that have arisen are:

1. An appointment in Outlook that would not sync with Google Calendar

the following Screenshot shows the appointment in Outlook – "Divisional Management Meeting"

The two Test meetings shown above are one that I set up from Google Calendar and one that I set up from Outlook after installing Google Calendar Sync. These Synchronised both ways without problems.

As you will see from the screenshot below the test meetings are in Google Calendar but the Divisional Management Meeting is not. I tried moving the meeting to other times and days in Outlook, I also tried copying it in Outlook but no matter what I did it would not sync.

2. The error message "Google Calendar Sync supports Microsoft Outlook 2003 & 2007 only" message appeared at one point for no apparent reason.

3. The error message "Please connect to the internet to use Google Calendar Sync" also appeared although this may have been due to my internet connection problems rather than a random bug/error.

There are further details, FAQ and help at Google dealing with some of the current issues:

Google Calendar Sync: Getting Started

Known Issues page

Google Calendar Help Group

What are the Technical Details & Compatibility?

What is the My Free Review Experience?

For me this is going to be a "must have" program. Even with the few small issues and bugs in the current version it is well worth using and putting up with the minor problems.

Personally I rate this very highly as:

Essential – Simple – Efficient

What Could Make it be Better?

1. Mobile device version
2. Options for other calendars
3. Conflict alerts
4. Date ranges for syncing

What Other Posts are Relevant?

GTD – Getting Things Done

News – Google Calendar Sync Released – Sync with Outlook & More

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Freeware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.