Monday, May 07, 2012

How To Sync Multiple Google Calendars To Your Windows Phone

How To Sync Multiple Google Calendars To Your Windows Phone:
google calendar syncI recently made the switch from Google Android to Windows Phone 7. Although the calendar application (like the rest of the mobile platform) is much slicker and easier to use, the contrast in support for Google integration is noticeable. I should add that Microsoft is not really at fault here. They’ve done as well as they could in providing account integration and synchronization for their competitors’ products. Kudos for that.
Sadly, some things need some additional tweaking to get them to work properly. For me this was the Google Calendar synch. You can add your Google Calendar account to your Windows Phone rather easily. However, by default your Windows Phone does not synchronize multiple calendars. Here’s how to fix this, and enjoy all Google Calendar goodness on your Windows Phone without purchasing any third-party synchronization applications.

Step One: Add Your Google Account

Before we get started, you should add your Google account to your Windows Phone. If you’ve done so already you can skip this step. Otherwise, go to settings and select email+accounts in the System tab.
google calendar sync
In the email+account tab, select add an account. Enter your Google username or email address and password and allow your Windows Phone to do an initial Google calendar sync.

Step Two: Sync Your Calendar

With your Google account added, we first need to allow it to synchronize your Windows Phone with Google Calendar. From the email+account overview, select your Google account. If you haven’t renamed this yet, it should simply go by the name ‘Google’.
google sync
In your Google account settings, under content to synchronize at the bottom of the page, make sure Calendar is checked. With these preferences, your Windows Phone will already synchronize with Google Calendar. However, if you have more than one calendar associated with your account, only the primary calendar will be synchronized. To rectify this, we need a little help from Google.

Step Three: Google Sync Preferences

Using your Internet Explorer on your Windows Phone, go to “http://m.google.com/sync/“. If all is well, you should see the name of your phone, or simply ‘WindowsPhone’ at the top of the page.
Important: in some cases, you will receive an error message telling you that ‘Google Sync is not supported’ on your phone. Even if you’re using a valid smartphone! If you’re viewing the page in a language other than English, change the language to English (US) for the moment.
google sync
After selecting your phone, you’ll be able to specify which calendars you want to synchronize with your Windows Phone, by selecting up to 25 calendars under My Calendars. For all casual and even most professional users, this should suffice.
google calendar sync
To view these calendars, your phone should again synchronize with your Google account. You can wait until this happens automatically, or go to the email+accounts page, long press on your Google account and select ‘synchronize’. When it’s finished, all the calendars you previously selected should have appeared in your Calendar app.
What else do you like to do, or would like to be able to do on your Windows Phone? Let us know in the comments below!

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