The Easy Mac

A while back I did a post on how to sync Google Cal and iCal. At the time I didn’t realize how popular of a post it would be. It is probably one of the most commented and most looked at post on the site. And to be perfectly honest, I really like the solution of being able to sync Google Cal and iCal. But, like any other tech nerd, you are always looking for something better or something else that fits your style  a little more. In my case, I found a different solution to having access to my calendar anywhere and it is probably a little easier than using two different programs in Google Cal and iCal.

My whole goal with my calendars is two fold. One, I want to be able to share calendars with my wife so that we can keep up with each others schedule. Two, to be able to access and edit my calendar from just about any where, meaning from any of my iOS devices and any web browser if need be and have it sync across all of my devices. With the introduction of iCloud and the new iOS 5, I now have, what I feel is a better solution to syncing and accessing my calendar from just about any where. Let me show you how I set this up.

The first thing you are going to want to do is make sure you update all your software on your Mac and your iOS devices. This is going to be crucial to all of this actually working. Once this is done, and let me tell you, it will take a bit to do this, the next thing you need to do is set up iCloud on your Mac and your iOS devices.

For the Mac, it is pretty easy. The first thing you are going to do is go to the System Preferences. Then you are going to want to click on the iCloud icon.

Then you will set up your iCloud by logging in with your Apple ID credentials. From here in order to have iCloud on your Mac you need to click on the box next to the Calendar. You are now done setting up iCloud on your Mac as far as your calendars go.

Next, you are going to want to setup iCloud on your iOS devices. You are going to want to click on Settings and then click on iCloud. Again, you will be asked to put in your Apple ID credentials. When you are done, you are then going to turn “On” your calendars.

Now the last thing you need to do is setup your calendars on iCal. This is where it will take a little time. You have to now create calendars in iCal that are iCloud calendars. This is the only way that your calendars will now sync across all your devices. You are going to want to click on File, New Calendar, and then iCloud. This will create a new iCloud calendar. You can then label it what you want. Lets say you call it “Work”. This calendar now will be in sync with all of your devices that you have installed iCloud on. If you already have different calendars on there and you want to convert them over to iCloud calendars that would be easy to do as well.

As far as sharing goes, this is pretty easy to do. All you have to do is click on Calendars and then right click on the calendar that you want to share. Then you are going to want to click on “Sharing Settings…”.

You can now set up your calendar to share with whoever you want. You have the choice of making it a public calendar by sharing it with everyone or you can invite people to read and/write your on your calendar. In my case, I only want to share my calendar with my wife, so I will click on “Only the people you invite.” Then I will type her email and let her read and write this specific calendar. Once this is done, your calendar will now be shared with whoever you specified.

Now your calendars are synced across your Mac and your iOS devices. But what if for some reason you are at a computer that is not yours and you don’t have any of your iOS devices with you? No fear, you can always edit or check your calendar on the web at iCloud.com. All you have to do is log in and you can then access your iCal calendars, among other things that are there. And this is not a slouch of a web version of iCal. In fact it looks pretty close to the Mac version of iCal. There you can edit and check your calendars just like you would on the actual iCal. And since this is also part of iCal, it will sync across all the rest of your devices as well.

So there you go, a different solution to the Google Cal sync to iCal. Do I like this solution better than Google Cal and iCal? In short, yes I do. I like that I only have to deal with iCal and not worry about Google Cal and Google Sync as well as iCal. The set up is a lot easier and the up keep is pretty easy as well.

What do you think? Do you like this solution or are you a diehard Google Cal person? Do you have a different solution that you like? Hit me up in the comments and let me know. Also, feel free to ask any questions about this process.