Ever since I have converted over to using Gmail’s online interface, I have also been using Google Calendar ever so frequently. The workflow Google invented for these products is very efficient and I enjoy using both of them.
While Google Calendar is great in that I can view and edit it anywhere, it’s not so great, when I am not somewhere there is an Internet connection for my computer, or for my iPod Touch. One way I attempted a while back in keeping the these calendars in sync, was to use the private iCalendar address that Google provides for my calendar. The issue I quickly found was that is a read only link of course, I needed to be able to add events via my iPod Touch or iCal.
I stumbled upon a little product known as Spanning Sync, which at the time was in private beta. After a couple of weeks of signing up to be notified when they were opening more beta spots, I garnered an invitation to the beta. I have been a loyal user ever since.
Spanning Sync does an incredible job at syncing your Google Calendar with any of your Mac Calendars (iCal, Entourage, etc.). It uses a centralized syncing engine that is always being improved on that is extremely accurate and very efficient. I have my preferences set to sync every 10 minutes. When I add an event on Google Calendar, I can be assured that when I go home, that same even will be sitting in the iCal database waiting for me.
You don’t have to keep iCal open all the time either for all this to work. iCal actually reads it’s data from a centralized user account database that is stored on your Mac. Spanning Sync, syncs with that very database even when iCal is closed. In addition, they give you many options for which you can choose the calendars you would like to sync from iCal to Google Calendar.
I highly recommend you give them a try by signing up for a 15-day trial. And, if you click through my site, you’ll save $5 on the annual subscription (which is normally $25, which I find to be more than reasonable if it means having my life synced up so well).
One final note, they are a company built off of great morals. They really respect their user’s wishes and are very attentive to the customer support they offer.
Leave comments below if you have tried them before, and what your experiences were or are.