Outlookgooglecalendarsync: Sync multiple calendars

[phw198]

This functionality is now being developed!

• [x] Allow settings.xml to have multiple calendar settings.
• [x] Migrate old settings to new XML on upgrade
• [x] Improve setting export to XML for nested values
• [x] New "Profile" tab under Settings
  
  
  
  • [x] Add, delete, rename options
  
  
• [x] Move sync timers into Settings\Calendar class
  
  
  
  • [ ] Currently displayed settings not used in sync unless manually triggered
  
  
• [x] Store Settings\Calendar class against MainForm for GUI and manual sync
• [x] Store Settings\Calendar class against Sync.Engine for scheduled sync

- [ ] "Delay sync" option needs to apply to _all_ timer schedules

Until this is released there are a couple of workarounds below.

Please add any comments / feedback to this ticket.

:warning: Unless you are on v2.7.6 or later, do not use this to sync more than one source calendar into the same destination calendar. Supported configurations still apply:

Start OGCS with Command Line Parameters

This is new from v2.7.2 and allows the same install of OGCS to be run multiple times with different configurations. See Issue #481 for further details.

1. Download and deploy at least v2.7.2 - ZIP or Install, it doesn't matter
2. Start > Run > cmd.exe
3. Enter the full path to the OGCS executable, eg: C:\Users\<user-id>\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\app-2.7.2-alpha\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe
   
   
   
   1. Provide path to OGCS settings for "Calendar1"
      
      /s:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\settings.xml; or
      
      /s:C:\OGCS\calendar1.xml
   
   
   2. Provide path for OGCS to log to for "Calendar1"
      
      /l:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\OGcalsync.log; or
      
      /l:C:\OGCS\calendar1.log
   
   
4. Hit Enter to start OGCS for Calendar 1.
5. Enter the full path to the OGCS executable again
   
   
   
   1. Provide path to OGCS settings for "Calendar2"
      
      /s:C:\OGCS\Calendar2\settings.xml; or
      
      /s:C:\OGCS\calendar2.xml
   
   
   2. Provide path for OGCS to log to for "Calendar2"
      
      /l:C:\OGCS\Calendar2\OGcalsync.log; or
      
      /l:C:\OGCS\calendar2.log
   
   
6. Hit Enter to start the second instance of OGCS.

Your final commands would look like:

C:\Users\<user-id>\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\app-2.7.2-alpha\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\settings.xml /l:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\OGcalsync.log
C:\Users\<user-id>\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\app-2.7.2-alpha\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\OGCS\Calendar2\settings.xml /l:C:\OGCS\Calendar2\OGcalsync.log

From v2.8.2, there is also a new parameter to append a custom string to the title bar of OGCS: /t:"Some config name"

Start OGCS on Startup

Note, the Start on startup option will only work for a single instance of OGCS, so if you want multiple instances of OGCS to start on startup with different configurations you have two options.

Windows menu Startup folder

1. Start > Run > Type explorer.exe+Enter
2. In the address bar type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and hit Enter
3. Right-click > New text document
4. Name it, eg startOGCS.bat - :warning: make sure it ends in .bat and not .txt
5. Right-click the new file and Edit
6. Paste in the commands to start your various OGCS instances, eg as per the final commands in the previous section.
   
   
   
   1. To have each instance of OGCS run in parallel, prefix each line with start
   
   
7. Save the file and close Notepad

Windows Registry

Manually create your own registry keys:

1. Start > Run > Type regedit+Enter
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Right-click > New > String Value
   
   
   
   1. Give it a name, eg "Work Calendar 1"
   
   
   2. Double-click the new registry key and enter in the string to start up OGCS, eg C:\Users\<user-id>\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\app-2.7.2-alpha\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\settings.xml /l:C:\OGCS\Calendar1\OGcalsync.log
   
   
   3. Click OK
   
   
4. Repeat for additional calendars.

Deploy Portable Copies of OGCS

This requires the portable ZIP extracted files to be copied to different locations on your computer

1. Download the latest alpha ZIP release
2. Unzip the contents to two different locations - 1 for each calendar to be synced
3. Start the app and select "Make Portable" under options
   
   
   
   1. Configure it to sync the first calendar
   
   
4. Repeat step 3 for the second location the ZIP was extracted to
   
   
   
   1. Configure it to sync the second calendar
   
   

---

This original discussion thread that prompted this was imported from CodePlex

---

MJE2 wrote at 2016-06-27 23:48:

While Outlook allows categories to organize appointments (personal, work, school, etc), Google requires separate calendars for each category. Since I've been using Google for the past several years rather than Outlook I have several calendars over there that I want to sync with Outlook. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks!

---

CapeCods wrote at 2016-07-03 15:32:

Hi I'm basically doing this process in reverse, what I've found as a work around is to open multiple instances Outlook Google Calendar Sync.

---

MJE2 wrote at 2016-07-03 16:10:

hmmm...how do you do that (open multiple instances) and does it affect your computer's performance at all?

---

CapeCods wrote at 2016-07-14 20:21:

Sorry, it's taken me a few days to respond. Its is very easy to open additional instances. Just open the application again and it will open a new instance. The window will automatically minimize but you can access it though the task bar. I'm synching 9 calendars concurrently, and every day thousands of changes are made to them. Performance wise it has not been much of an issue though sometimes I've noticed that automated pdfs are not being made and it has only been an issue since I started doing this. Bandwidth is also ok though if you have a slow connection it might not be the best option.

---

phw198 wrote at 2016-08-11 16:22:

Nice to see how people are using OGCS :-)

I do plan on bringing in sync of multiple calendars to the tool, but I've not started development on that yet. Glad you have a stable work around to it meanwhile...

So just to clarify - are you using the ZIP deployment, unzipped 9 times to different folders and each one configured as "Portable"? This way each will have their own configuration (settings.xml) file.

---

StevenBoatman wrote at 2016-08-31 23:33:

Update since my earlier post. I worked with it some more and found that if I create multiple Outlook calendars with their own color I can sync the multiple instances of OGCS to each separately. I didn't know Outlook had an overlay view. Using that I can see a single view of all calendar events at one time. It works pretty well.

Thanks for this technique. It helps a lot.

---

This was a big help - thanks. I still had some problems with the work-around. It seems like in the second instance you can sync to either the same Outlook calendar or a separate one. If you go with a separate one it's difficult to see all events at once in Outlook. If you sync to the same Outlook calendar they have the same category and it's difficult to distinguish them. There is not an option to categorize calendar events in Outlook 2016, at least not that I could see and after some research there are others with the same problem - probably an Outlook bug.

I'll look forward to OGCS having a way to sync multiple Google calendars to categories in Outlook. Thanks.

---

CapeCods wrote at 2016-09-01 19:25:

So do you still have an issue syncing each calendar independently? You can do it. If you still can not I will do a longer reply with how I do it, it is pretty simple once you have figured it out, though you have to do the setup for each separately. I have created folders which let me know which calendar I am currently setting up. ITs no ideal but it does the job.

---

StevenBoatman wrote at 2016-09-04 22:39:

Yes thanks I can now sync them all. Setting them up was a little tricky because at first they all synched to the default Outlook calendar before I created a separate one and then changed the settings in OGCS to sync to the correct one. Doing it that way was a problem when I tried to delete the duplicated events from the Outlook default. It looked like it wanted to delete them from Google as well which makes sense because that was where they'd originally synced from. Anyway when I redid everything I created my 5 calendars in Outlook and was careful when setting the sync mapping up in OGCS. It now seems to work well.

On the other hand I may still give up using Outlook 2016. I also have a Mac and that version of Outlook no longer syncs to the Mac calendar. When it did in the earlier version it was a way to get Google synched with Outlook but no longer. I wish there was a Mac version of OGCS.

Thanks agin for the help.

---

llmiller wrote at 2016-10-10 23:08:

Thank you for this project. Since Google took away the ability to sync with Outlook, I've been left simply reading Google calendars in Outlook, but now my workplace wants to me actually use the MS account I have with them, and thus the calendar, to schedule meetings, etc. With OGCS I can populate my workplace Outlook calendar with only the Google calendars I have created related to work and leave them out of my own "business"! I am using the multiple instances to do this, but will be happy when phw198 brings multiple calendar syncing online.

[mstfldmr]

Hello,
supporting syncing multiple Outlook Calendars would be very helpful.
Although this workaround will work, I'm hesitant as it may cause more complexity.
thanks for your efforts

[sgoschin]

Hi @phw198 , the workaround for multiple calendars could be easily improved, if you would allow to start the application with a parameter that specifies the settings.xml so that you don't need to have so many different copies but just start the same exe with multiple settings.xml.

[phw198]

@sgoschin et al, a development build of your suggestion is now available on #481.

[WarningU2]

Adding my vote to be able to sync multiple google calendars with OGCS. I have a work schedule calendar where the events are one color which I want reflected in Google and Outlook as the same color.

[camdecoster]

When using the workaround in the first comment, how should the sequence work? I tried doing this with three different sync pairs (three commands in the batch file) and each command launches an instance of OGCS, but no subsequent instance will launch until the previous one is closed which doesn't allow for concurrent syncing of all pairs. I'm using the portable version of 2.7.7 if that matters.

[sgoschin]

@camdecoster

If you run several commands in a batch file and they shall not wait until execution use something like start to create a separate process. https://ss64.com/nt/start.html

[camdecoster]

@sgoschin

Thanks for the suggestion! That worked. I'd suggest to @phw198 that this info should be added to the first post regarding the batch file.

[sjsdoc60]

calendar.log
I am trying to sync from Outlook to Google with 5 different instances of OGCS for each of the categories in Outlook. I created 5 google calendars. I followed directions above. In general, it works. But have 2 issues.
1) The startogcs.bat gives an Outlook error that it wont Allow access since it is not open and asks how many minutes I want to give access. Is there a way around this on startup or do I have to somehow delay OGCS and start Outlook immediately. I did put the bat file in startup.
2) I keep getting 1 or 2 OGCS error messages on using the bat file that File Update check has failed. I have unchecked the look for alpha change but I cant see where else to tell the program not to do an update check. Annoying. I attach the verbose output for you for the error.
The actual syncs are working. Thanks for this.

[phw198]

@sjsdoc60

1. If this only happens on startup because Outlook is not ready, add a delay to OGCS starting by adding the /d:60 parameter to your command (where that would delay it 60 seconds). Depending on the speed of your computer you may need to try longer values, eg 300
2. Good point. I'll downgrade the log message to FAIL so it won't pester about turning on error reporting :slightly_smiling_face:

[davelot]

===========RESOLVED > SKIP TO BOTTOM FOR MORE INFO =================

Hoping someone might have some insight for me. I'm attempting to use OGCS to sync two separate Outlook calendars (local calendars in 2 separate IMAP accounts) with their respective Google calendars. I had previously installed the program and then uninstalled it in order to install the zip files into separate locations as noted in the guidance above. I have been able to get both working a few times now, but on reboot of computer or restart of the program from the respective locations, they both will load with the same set of Outlook-Google calendars to sync. So after restart I have two instances performing the same task. I am able to disconnect one of them from Google, retrieve the 2nd account, and configure again and all works well until the programs are closed. Then the settings will revert.

My assumption is that only 1 set of settings is being retained and that somehow the "portable" functionality isn't working. Perhaps because of the previous install prior to using the portable process.

Any thoughts on files I can/should manually wipe to get back to ground zero? Then I can try the entire process from scratch and see if the issue persists. Since many people have had success, I am eager to try again. Thanks in advance!

============ UPDATE =============================================

I fooled around with it a bit more and seem to have resolved the issue. Not sure the exact fix, but may help someone else reading this. I tried toggling the "portable" option in both instances of the application. It kicked out an error about not finding the settings.xml file at the c:\users...\app data\roaming\outlook google calendar sync location. I navigated to that location and deleted the folder which was there as it may have been created by the toggle or legacy from the previous uninstall. Either the toggling of the "portable" switch or the removal of that folder seems to have resolved the issue. Both portable installations are retaining their settings now.

[sjsdoc60]

I have 5 calendars syncing from Google to Outlook with 7 categories in Outlook. The key is to set up a unique folder for the settings of each instance of sync. Only 1 folder for base OGCS files. I include a portion of my batch file below. Note the delays which I found to be necessary on Windows startup. Search issues for more info on this topic. Does not require portable version. 1 problem I have documented is that Google Calendar to Outlook does not add the proper category despite in settings. The event is there but with no category. I have a separate ticket on this. But it works otherwise.
YMMV!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
timeout 30
C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\personalsettings.xml /l:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\personal\calendar.log
timeout 5
C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\businesssettings.xml /l:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\business\calendar.log
timeout 5
C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync.exe /s:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\vacationsettings.xml /l:C:\Users\sjsdo\AppData\Local\OutlookGoogleCalendarSync\vacation\calendar.log

[nprez83]

Hi Paul, first of all thank you for an outstanding program! OGCS has been a life saver for me. I followed your instructions here for running two portable versions of 2.8.0.0 to sync two google calendars to my outlook (one bidirectionally and the other one unidirectionally, using categories to not end up with duplicate events in google calendar). The release notes for 2.8.0.0 state "Syncing a common calendar to/from more than one other now supported!". Does that mean that there is now a way to do what I'm currently doing with two portable versions with one single instance? Thanks again.

[phw198]

@nprez83 No, syncing to/from a common calendar just means you can now use multiple instances of OGCS to sync, for example, two different Outlook calendars in to the same Google calendar (O->G<-O). Previously, if you did that, all sorts of add and delete mayhem ensued. :bomb:

Syncing multiple calendars with just one instance of OGCS is what this enhancement ticket is all about - it's a _substantial_ amount of work to make this possible... The "common calendar" functionality was really a pre-requisite to "multiple calendars" too.

I'll likely be posting development builds here when I'm ready for people to start testing it (ie pre-alpha releases).

[pmunin]

@phw198 great product Paul! And this feature imho is the main missing component, since many people have multiple cals (facebook events, meetups, other shared calendars). Is there any plan when this approximately should be released?

[pmunin]

also why using this workaround is there any way to set the Title of the app/window in the settings or cmd line params? Cause right now when you have multiple instances running it's hard to say which is running what profile - since they all look the same:

It would be great to be able to specify the "Configuration name", that will by displayed in the title of the window and the Tooltip in Tray

[phw198]

@pmunin I can't really give ETAs, but I am working on it. Meanwhile, I've put in a quick and dirty - the below patch for v2.8.1 now supports a new command line parameter: /t:"Some config name":-

:package: Patch v2.8.1.8.zip (see instructions for applying).

[ghnogueira]

Hi. I was able to start two instances of OGCS just like mentioned here:

Although this is not yet available directly within OGCS, it is still possible to set this up by running multiple instances of OGCS at the same time, one for each calendar to be synced.

From v2.7.2, OGCS can be run with additional parameters to specify different settings and logfiles for each instance.

But to be honest I haven't quite figured out how to do the following:

From v2.7.6, OGCS also supports two-way sync between a "common" calendar. For example, Outlook Workplace 1 ↔️ Google calendar ↔️ Outlook Workplace 2.

I see an option of "Outlook <-> Google" in the app, but I wasn't able to choose 3 different calendars. What am I missing?

[davelot]

The Google calendar acts as the hub, with the Outlook calendars as the spokes. If OGCS from both instances is set to bi-directional (<->) they should all keep up to date. Make sure in each instance you set the correct calendar on the Outlook and Google tabs. Suggest also setting to confirm deletions when you're first setting up in case something is misconfigured.

[ghnogueira]

Hi davelot, thanks for the reply. My point is that in these tabs I can only select a single calendar in each, so I can easily configure an Outlook <-> Google bi-directional syncing with 2 calendars, but not 3. That was my doubt :)

[davelot]

I do not think you would encounter a limit in the number of Outlook calendars you can sync, but if you want 3, you will need a third instance of OGCS running. I've used 3 in the past successfully. Even if multiple Outlook calendars are on the same machine, you will need to run multiple instances, one for each calendar. Hope that helps.

[ghnogueira]

Not really, but thanks for trying :)
I already have 2 instances running with uni-directional syncing:

1. Google "Personal" -> Outlook "Business"
2. Outlook "Business" -> Google "Business"

This way I sync my personal appointments to Outlook (which is my business account), and then all my business appointments are also synced to Google, but on a different calendar to differentiate it from my personal one. This is currently working OK with 2 instances.

But I saw Paul's comment I quoted here saying that we could use, on a single instance, 3 different calendars when syncing bi-directionally, and my doubt is how to do that, since in the Outlook and Google tabs I can only select a single calendar each. As you can see in his example (I quoted), he mentions a single Google calendar and 2 different Outlook calendars syncing bi-directionally, both Outlook calendars being synced with the same Google calendar.

[nprez83]

I run two instances, one to keep my main google calendar and my Outlook synced, and another one to sync my family calendar from google to Outlook. The way I do this is by running one instance in unidirectional Google -> Outlook mode, for my Family calendar, and the second one in bidirectional Outlook <> Google mode, but importantly excluding family calendar, otherwise I'd end up with duplicate events in my main google calendar. Hope it helps.

[phw198]

From v2.7.6, OGCS also supports two-way sync between a "common" calendar. For example, Outlook Workplace 1 ↔️ Google calendar ↔️ Outlook Workplace 2.

@ghnogueira As @davelot has tried to explain, the model here would be two separate Outlook _accounts/profiles_ syncing to a common Google calendar account. For example, syncing an Exchange work calendar to Google and _also_ at home on a stand-alone non-Exchange Outlook installation to that same Google account.

As you note, currently OGCS only allows configuration of a single calendar within each instance of OGCS - getting it support multiple calendars is what this ticket is all about....just it's stalled rather due to time available.

[ghnogueira]

Hi Paul. Thanks for explaining. I'll keep the way I'm currently doing, then :)

[sjsdoc60]

Paul, I realized that one set of calendars from Google is not moving to
Outlook. I have a Read Only web link to an external calendar in my Google
Calendar. It does show up in the Settings/Google/Select calendar list.
That shows a list of 9 calendars in my Google list. I have only ever
sync'd my default calendar based on this email address. I tried to add
that other calendar with Ctrl-click, shift-click but it does not appear to
be a multi-select list. This is interesting in that the Outlook calendar
has boxes to do multi-select.

Am I missing something? Is it only a single Google calendar but can have
multiple Outlook filter categories (settings/outlook/Filter
categories/include)?

Thank you

Mark

On Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 1:32 PM Paul Woolcock [e-mail]
wrote:

From v2.7.6, OGCS also supports two-way sync between a "common" calendar.
For example, Outlook Workplace 1 ↔️ Google calendar ↔️ Outlook Workplace
2.

@ghnogueira https://github.com/ghnogueira As @davelot
https://github.com/davelot has tried to explain, the model here would
be two separate Outlook accounts/profiles syncing to a common Google
calendar account. For example, syncing an Exchange work calendar to Google
and also at home on a stand-alone non-Exchange Outlook installation to
that same Google account.

As you note, currently OGCS only allows configuration of a single calendar
within each instance of OGCS - getting it support multiple calendars is
what this ticket is all about....just it's stalled rather due to time
available.

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[phw198]

@sjsdoc60 OGCS only currently supports 1:1 calendar syncing; true for both Google and Outlook. The check boxes you appear to be referring to are for Outlook _categories_ which is quite a different thing.

[RobinEd]

upvoting from #1097