I have found some things on the Going Google site a little incomplete, so I thought I’d supplement it with a blog post.
Set up your Google Token
This is really easy. Just sign into the Apps tab, click on Activate Google Token, and hit Activate. One important note,
you will not be able to see your Google Token again after activating it the first time (and you close the window).
So, write it down in a secure place in case you ever want to sync your accounts with anything else.
Sync Apple Devices
So which method you choose depends on what you want to sync. Both will sync mail and calendar, but for:
- Notes use Gmail option
- Contacts use Exchange option (follow the instructions on the Going Google site)
I personally only read and reply to emails on mobile devices, so I chose the Gmail option so that I could sync Notes. Google provides instructions on using this method (it’s essentially the same process), and here are the details you need:
Name: your name
Address: full email address
Password: Google Token
Description: account display name on your device
Multiple Calendars
To sync multiple calendars, you can still do that using the Gmail option, but to change which calendars you want sync’ed:
- sign into your Gmail account using a browser
- then visit Google Sync for Apple to choose which calendars you want sync’ed
Getting Calendar in Thunderbird
UPDATE: If you’re having issues, it provides less integration into Thunderbird, but try ‘Google Calendar Tab’ which opens GCal like it would in a browser minus Settings/Labs.
I warn you now. Google Calendar in Thunderbird still has a number of issues. If you’re on a MAC, I suggest using Google Calendar in iCal instead. I prefer having everything in one client, so I’m willing to live with and report bugs when necessary, but who knows, I may change my mind.
Step 1: Install Lightning
The Lightning add-on page actually gives the newest stable version of the add-on (for Thunderbird 16), but the newest official release of Thunderbird is 15, so head over to the Versions list and find Lightning 1.7. Install it according to the instructions (using the Install Add-on from File option in the Add-ons settings).
Step 2: Install Provider for Google Calendar Add-on
This step is actually optional depending on what method you want to use. Google Calendar now supports using CalDAV in Thunderbird, but it’s marked as experimental.
Just search for Google Calendar in the Add-ons tab and install from there.
Step 3: Add your Calendar
If you chose to install the Provider for GCal add-on:
- Open your Google Calendar
- Click on the Settings link located in the box at the right of the page.
- Click on the calendar you want to use with Thunderbird Lightning or Sunbird.
- Copy the link from either of the two XML buttons shown at the bottom.
- In Thunderbird: File > New > Calendar > On the Network > Google Calendar
- For Location, paste the link, but change http:// to https://
For more information, visit the Provider wiki page.
If you chose not to install the add-on, follow the instructions from Google.
Testing Needed
So, I’m going to be using Thunderbird, and hopefully it’ll work out, but there are one or two things I wish it had already (like popup reminders for events others created). It is supposed to work better than through CalDAV. I’ve heard iCal has pretty good integration though so I might still switch to that if I’m unhappy with GCal in Thunderbird.