Sync with multiple google calendars

[Oystein]

Here is my challenge:
I have multiple (100-150) artists around the world that each manage their own google calendar with performance events.
None of them are in the same google organization and have individual google accounts.
I need to be able to merge those calendars into one manageable calendar for fans, displayed on a wordpress site.
Preferably it should be possible for the visitor to choose which artists calendar they want to see.
They should also be able to see the events from all artist in the same calendar.

Can your software do this?

[Geoff]

Hello Oystein,

That’s a great question! It sounds like our iCal Importer add-on will be a nice fit. You can import events from any number of external calendars (including Google Calendar) on an automated basis directly into The Events Calendar and then manage them from there in WordPress.

Note that these will not be individual calendars once they are imported, but you can choose to categorize events on import and then use the category URL to show events for only those categorized events.

Does this help answer your question? Please let me know. 🙂

Cheers,
Geoff

[Dani Weymouth]

Hi. I am kind of in a similar situation in that I manage artists who all use Google Calendar. BUT, we would be adding them in your app first and then wanting to sync up to their individual calendars. I am assuming this would be the best way to go about it. I currently use Ai1ec which doesn’t really allow the same fields once going from Google to Ai1ec. If your calendar can not sync with theirs, your calendar is out just on this. We need one place to manage events and not have to ask people to enter the same information in multiple places.

Another Google related question: is it possible to display multiple events on a single Google map?

If your calendar can do both of these things, I’d switch today and buy all your stuff. 🙂

[Oysten, I’d love to swap insights on tech for what we do. If you get this, email me at [email protected].]

[Dani Weymouth]

Update: See your Map View now.

[Geoff]

Hi Dani and thanks for chiming in.

The iCal Importer does pull events into The Events Calendar but I’m afraid it does not push events into other external calendars–at least on a regular, ongoing basis.

That said, if Google Calendar has a feature that allows you to pull in events on a scheduled basis, then you could use the iCal feed supplied by The Events Calendar and iCal Importer to do that, but note that it does require that the calendar pulling those events provides that functionality.

Oystein, let me know if you have any other questions and I’d be happy to help. 🙂

Cheers,
Geoff

[Zack]

Hi Geoff,

I too am looking at both “The Events Calendar” and the “iCal Importer” add-ons to replace our current clunky community calendar (Current Calendar). I have a couple questions, if we have community members adding events using the iCal Importer would we be able to regulate whether they can publish immediately versus submitting multiple events for apporval? I know that is a feature for the events calendar but wasn’t clear as to if it carried over.

Also, I would really like to be able to have our community calendar available to sync with Google Cal and iCal accounts for ease of use on mobile devices. Is this a capability of your plug-ins?

Thanks!
– Zack

[Geoff]

Hey Zack,

We do indeed have a Community Events add-on intended specifically for allowing guests (you determine whether they need to be logged in or not) to submit events directly to your calendar.

If you’re looking to automatically import from an external source and that source has a valid iCal URL, then our iCal Importer is a great option. That allows you to import from any number of external sources, set the frequency the plugin checks for new events, and decide whether those events are imported as Drafts or as Published posts.

I’m afraid that neither plugin is designed to export events. The Events Calendar itself does include an iCal URL and that can be used by other calendar to export events to those calendars — but The Events Calendar itself will not actively push those events; the other calendars would be responsible for grabbing them.

Does this help answer your questions? I hope these options are a good fit for your site. 🙂

Cheers,
Geoff

[Zack]

Thanks Geoff! It’s looking more and more like these add-ons will be a fantastic fit for us. I’m going to have to do more research on pulling the information from the calendar because I selfishly want that capability, but I think it would be beneficial for our community as well.

Thanks for the speedy response! I still need to figure out how to use this calendar through our current website if we’re not moving to a full WordPress site. So, if we move forward with purchasing these add-ons, what kind of safety net do we have if they end up not working out for us? I was also curious about customer support but I would assume that takes place mostly through these forums?

[Geoff]

Hey Zack, thanks for following up!

Absolutely–The Events Calendar itself is a free download, so there’s not cost to entry there. The premium add-ons (e.g. Community Events) do come backed with a full refund within 30 days of purchase should something not site well with you for any reason. And once you have a premium license, you gain access to our forums here where we provide technical support and guidance.

Cheers!
Geoff

[Support Droid]

This topic has not been active for quite some time and will now be closed.

If you still need assistance please simply open a new topic (linking to this one if necessary)
and one of the team will be only too happy to help.

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