I wrote about one of Google’s great apps called, “Google Calendar Sync” in 2012. Then in 2013 they did away with it. It was an easy to use add-on for Google that made it easy to sync between your Outlook (usually work related) and Google calendars. That way you could have your business appointments in Outlook sent down to your private Google calendar to have everything available in one place. Then you would not have your doctor’s appointment in your work calendar, etc. You could also sync in the other direction or both at the same time. Great app! Check here “rd.dblclx.com/2AhTpJ8” (caps count in all of these shortened URLs) for a list of the many Discontinued Google Products.
In 2015 I wrote about a good replacement, “Calendar Sync +” which did the same thing but was sometimes quite difficult to coordinate. I used it until about a year ago. It is still available and you can read about it at “rd.dblclx.com/1MlSy85” from my old article.
At that time a friend referred me to “GO Contact Sync Mod” at “rd.dblclx.com/GOSyncMod” which I liked better. As a matter of fact, I still use that application. From the title you would think it would only sync your Contacts but not so. However, it also syncs your calendars.
Once installed it will sit quietly in your taskbar’s notification area unless you have not set it to “Run Program at Startup.” That setting only starts the program but not the actual process of syncing. There are several items needed to successfully set up GCSM. First, set up your Gmail address which you have to also enter the password. Next, set “Sync Profile” to my computer. The next checkboxes are whatever you choose and are self-explanatory. I check both “Sync” and “Prompt Deletion” settings so that all deleted items are matched up. That way I get a warning in case something is being incorrectly deleted (has not happened yet). Now decide if I want to also “Sync Contacts” which will pull all of your Google Contacts into Outlook for you, or visa-versa. I personally do not use that at work, but I do at home.
Yes, last week I said I no longer use Outlook which is true. However, there is also a version of GCSM for Thunderbird which also works well.
The final step is to decide how you want it to sync. In other words, sync both ways between Outlook and Google or only in one direction so that one of them has everything. You can also decide which app wins if GCSM cannot figure it out (rarely after the first couple of runs).
There are more setup details on the Go Contact Sync Mod site at “rd.dblclx.com/GoSyncSetUp” if you care to check.
There are other alternatives on the web but for now this is the one that works best for me. Of course, in another couple of years I may be writing about a better option as I have done this time.
