newBBie.com

Another excellent review Kelly. I always look forward to these.
I’ve played with Google Sync before, and I liked the integration features, but since I’m not a professional or my work requires very little calendar work, I really don’t need it. If I have a doc appointment or something, I’ll put it into my Blackberry, simple as that. I just don’t have a busy life lol.
But for those that share calendars and are being constantly updated, and don’t use BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) the Google Sync is the perfect solution.

I have been entering all of my appointments into my blackberry pearl 8130 and tried to sync with my new google calendar as an online backup. seemed like everything was going as it should according to your walkthrough, but then i checked my google calendar and only three of maybe 60 entries showed up on my google calendar. any ideas what i’m doing wrong?

Kelly:

I found your post very helpful…what I am still trying to figure out is my blackberry seems to only sync with the Default Calender…I can’t seem to get it to sync with my calender.

Any suggestions?

@David,
What’s different about the entries that are NOT getting synced? Are they too far into the future for your choice of “Sync Events for next X weeks”?

Surely you’re not making the mistake I made of Signing Out so that synced events are getting deleted?

An easy thing to try that resolved a problem for me is that I deleted the Google Sync app from my phone, then did another OTA download and install. Easy enough to try and I don’t know of any risk entailed.

Please let me know what progress you make.
Kelly

@Kevin,
During my experimentation, I saw the label “Default Calendar” come up on my screen, but as I continued to fool around with it, that label changed to “Kelly Carter,” the actual name of my calendar. I haven’t seen “Default Calendar” since. For example, when I start Google Sync, then do Menu Key > Options > Sync These Calendars:, I see highlighted the calendar(s) I have set to sync. If I click the trackball while that/those calendar(s) are highlighted, I go to a screen where all my Google calendars (owned by me or shared from others) show up–ALL of them. On that screen I can “check” the ones I want to sync to. NOWHERE does “Default Calendar” show up. I’m wondering if when it DOES, that means Google Sync hasn’t successfully retrieved from Google what calendars you “have.”

One thing I’ve read about on the web is that it matters which login you use for Google Sync. You can log in with a username or with a full Gmail address. If you want to try an experiment–that might have the side effect of deleting your synced calendar events–do the Sign Out inside Google Sync. Then log in using your full Gmail address. See if that changes anything.

Please let me know what progress you make.
Kelly

no some of the events are on the same days as the events that got transferred. do you think it could have somthing to do with the fact that the events that didnt get transferred seem to be the ones that are indefinately recurring?

i took a closer look and some of the events that didnt get transferred are not reaccuring. but none of the ones that are reaccuring got transfered, although this may nt have anything to do with it.

David,
I’m sure all that is a clue but we’re probably still missing a piece of the puzzle. Thanks for sharing that. Stay in touch.
Kelly

Kelly: I think I figured out the Default calender problem…I did what you recommended by uninstalling the google sync, reinstalled the google sync, re-synced, and it picked up my calender, not the default calender.

Ok, I fugured it out, only the appointments that i have entered into my pearl since i dwnloaded the google app are getting uploaded to my google calendar. every time i enter a new event it seems to automatically get uploaded.

David,
So, what you entered BEFORE installing Google Sync are not getting synced, but what you entered AFTER installing it are getting syned?

Thanks for your follow-up!
Kelly

@kevin,
I’ve had to try that trick, too, and it sure cleans things up. But it’s certainly not a practical way to deal with repeated problems. As of today, my Google Sync was working but then got stuck unable to complete a sync. Once it gets stuck, I haven’t found any way to get it unstuck other than to delete and reinstall. Even battery pull doesn’t clear it up. That’s not acceptable. If I can’t find a better way, then I may need to wait till Google gets that fixed.
Kelly

any idea how to change the sounds for txt messages and voicemail? i feel like it should be simple but i cant figure it out.

David,
It’s way more complicated than I wish it was. Here’s a start: From the Home Screen, click Profiles and scroll to the profile you want to change, for this example let’s change the Loud profile. With Loud highlighted, do Menu Key > Edit. Scroll to the message type that you want to change the sound for, for this example let’s change SMS Text. With SMS Text highlighted, do Menu Key > Edit. Notice that you can have a different sound for when the phone is “out of holster” and “in holster.” For each you can change the tune, volume, number of beeps, etc. It’s way more complicated that regular cell phones, but maybe some people like it that way.

Let me know how it goes.
Kelly

I offer this suggestions if you don’t need anything as robust as Google calender. My boyfriend and I both have new pearls, and one of the features that I was looking for in a smart phone was the ability to set up meetings, and ‘invite’ him to those appointments that we both need to be aware of. It is a common function on outlook, but I have seen it lacking in other smartphones.

The pearl is wonderful for that. Invites can be sent through the Blackberry messenger or email.

Elizabeth,
Thanks for pointing that out.
Kelly

This is awesome. I have previously installed Google sync but couldn’t get it to successfully sync with my Google calendar and my BB one. Whenever I would put a new appointment through my phone, I never figured to “sync” it. I always assumed it would do it automatically. But it never did. Maybe I had it set incorrectly? Anyway, this is a great tutorial. Keep them coming.

PS The next thing you should show everyone how to do is “AutoLock” found here: http://www.geekandproud.net/blackberry-software/

Its great because I always throw my pearl into my purse and accidentally call random people. Very helpful and easy to install.

Ilona,
Be aware that Google Sync is far from “ready for prime time.” I have frequently had to uninstall it and reinstall it to clear up problems. But it’s working great for me right now.

I’ve been trying out GeekandProud’s SoftReset (an app that substitutes for a battery pull to reset the phone). I don’t really have memory problems but it’s great for people that do. AutoLock sounds interesting but I don’t happen to need it, as I keep my 8130 in its holster and then put the holster in a case that clips on my belt. I never have accidents pressing keys. But for those who do–AutoLock sounds very useful.

Still, I might do a review on SoftReset and AutoLock since they’re from the same source. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kelly

I had the same problem. I simply signed out (it deletes everything). Then, I signed in, synced my “default” calendar, then under “options choose some other calendars of mine (3 others). Synced and all was good, like before. I signed in with my gmail EMAIL account.

Tracy,
Glad it’s working for you. I’ve gotten myself into a problem where I’m getting duplicate calendar events. I need to find a way to wipe all my BlackBerry Calendar events and try to sync FROM Google Calendar TO BlackBerry Calendar. Haven’t had the time to figure that one out. Anybody got an answer?
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

I just wanted to say THANK YOU. I’m a newbie to the smartphone/blackberry’s. I was very frustrated with my BB 8130 and was ready to exchange it for something else. I wasn’t able to figure out how to sync a calendar (which is part of the reason I bought it) or how to dowload my contacts to my computer to edit them. I found your site and I have now done both. Your site is very easy to understand. I have been able to find others things I never know I could do with this phone. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!

Lisa B.

Lisa,
That was as nice a comment as I could ever hope for. I’m so glad you didn’t swap your phone. I hope you continue to find useful info here. And don’t hesitate to ask questions, in case I can help or steer you to help.
Kelly

HI, I just downloaded google sync and it was working great…but now i keep getting a message of ” No connection found, make sure your wireless radio is on” ?? Not sure what that means and everything else is running great..ie browser, email, etc..Any help with that? And by the way, i love your website…VERY helpfull!!!!

Jake,
If your phone is working–meaning you can make phone calls–then Google Sync is dead wrong about your radio being off. If you can’t get it to clear up, you can do what I’ve had to do several times, delete Google Sync and reinstall it. I know that’s drastic, but I haven’t found any other way to resolve some problems with it. At the moment it’s working super for me–knock on wood.

And thanks for the kind words about the site. That’s part of what keeps me going.
Kelly

Guess when all else fails..uninstall!!! Thank you! My google sync is back up and running. It really is a great tool!

Thanks again,
Jake

I’m just wondering if anyone else is still having troubles with only having the Default Calendar Show up. On Google, I have my calendar (which successfully syncs, but without the proper name), and three other calendars which are all iCals, which still do not show up.

I’ve noticed that many of you said that logging in with your gmail account clears this up, but I am not using a gmail account (nor do I have one), but my business account. If anyone else has this problem, or knows of a good solution that would be great!

love the site!

Kevin L,
I have been through the wringer with Google Sync. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve deleted then reinstalled it. It’s hard to remember all the steps I’ve been through to get it where it’s working acceptably for me. I would say I (1) moved all my calendar entries to Google, (2) wiped my BlackBerry’s calendar totally clean, (3) uninstalled Google Sync, (4) reinstalled Google Sync, (5) resynced, and (6) filled in a few mysteriously missing events in Google Calendar. I’m afraid to tinker with it any more since it’s been working a while now without problems. I do manual, not automatic, syncing.

In the process above, I’m pretty sure my Default Calendar got replaced or renamed to my Google primary calendar. Then I manually added a couple more separate Google Calendars that I have (personal, work/personal, work/departmental–something like that) and resynced.

I’m clinging to this version in hopes that there will be a major release soon that isn’t so buggy. I love how it’s “meant” to work, but am disappointed at how problematic it has been.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

I’ve replied to the post you wrote today/late last night on the crackberry.com forums regarding Google Sync. I’m still having issues and hoping you’ll take a look at my reply and tell me if I’m doing something wrong. My Google Sync was running flawlessly with shared folders and everything, and then just mysteriously stopped working yesterday. I’m at a loss. Thanks.

VaguelyDissatisfied,
I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. I just had to do it over and over until it finally worked. There may be some little thing I did different the time it worked. Or maybe not. I don’t know. I’m just glad I stuck with it till I got it working. I’m afraid to put it on automatic sync, however. Every time I tried that, I woke up one day to find it stuck and VERY hard to get unstuck (meaning, it seemed to be stuck trying to do the sync in the background, and I never could find a way to stop it, including a battery pull).

I left a similar message for you back on CrackBerry forums.
Kelly

Any idea how to create two separate calendars on the Blackberry Pearl–one calendar for home and a separate calendar for work?

Thanks,
Julie

Julie,
I haven’t experimented with this, but it appears you can have multiple calendars, each associated with a different email account set up on your phone. The User Manual has a caveat about “IF your BlackBerry device supports multiple calendars.” I don’t know what determines the “if.” Do all Pearls? I don’t know. I see that mine does. I have two email accounts set up on my Pearl. Somehow, all my calendar entries got associated with one of the two calendars. No entries are associated with the other. If I wanted to have a second, separate calendar, I’d enter Calendar, do (press Menu key) > Select Calendar, and select the desired email account. Then I’d input my new calendar entries. After that, I’d set it back to select All Calendars so I could see them all. Here are some more useful tips from the User Manual:

Use color to differentiate calendars

Verify that you have multiple calendars on your BlackBerry® device.
1. In a calendar, press the Menu key.
2. Click Options.
3. Click a calendar.
4. Click Options.
5. Change the Color field.
6. Press the Menu key.
7. Click Save.

Change the calendar that reminds you of appointments

Verify that you have multiple calendars on your BlackBerry® device.
1. In a calendar, press the Menu key.
2. Click Options.
3. Click a calendar.
4. Click Options.
5. Change the Show Reminders field.
6. Press the Menu key.
7. ClIck Save.

Now, I have absolutely no experience doing the above AND trying to sync with Google Calendar. I strongly suspect that you couldn’t sync the separate calendars with separate Google Calendars. But I’m not sure you were asking about doing that anyway.

If you learn more, please return to let us know.
Kelly

Great job with the explanations, Kelly. Your descriptions (and even the later comments) helped me figure out an issue I was having, namely I had several duplicate entries.

I didn’t read every comments super closely (but did a “find” and didn’t see the option mentioned) – and I know it’s been about a week or so since anyone has left another comment – but my version of Google Sync has an option for “re-setting the sync” which I think will keep from having to re-download/install the app. After I used your post script and deleted all my calendar entries from within the BlackBerry Desktop Manager I needed to get my calendar back full again. I knew my online Google Calendar had all the correct appointments – and no dupes – so I needed to get all that back on the Blackberry. But each time I would sync only two or three appointments appeared on the calendar.

I couldn’t figure out what was wrong either, but figured it had something to do with only looking at entries that had changed when it synced. The “reset” option answered that question. Re-setting told the app that it was time to look at the whole calendar again – not just changed entries – and download them all. I did it; it worked. I’m stoked.

Thanks for this entry. It’s been super helpful.

-Joe, in Cincinnati, Ohio

Kelly, Kevin,

Kelly – wanna say thanks for this very helpful log

Guys, think I may be able to contribute potential solutions to just getting the “Default Calendar”
As a matter of trial and error, I finally got it to work.
Afraid, whilst the above were helpful in getting me in the mindset of what ‘buttons to push’, it didn’t quite solve the problem immediately (perhaps different pple have different other settings on their devices).

For what it’s worth, here’s ALL of what I did to try and ‘force’ the sync:
1. Did all that Kelly described above (ie backup, delete, re-download, re-sync)- but didn’t work
2. Added new ‘TEST’ calendars with ‘TEST’ events to my google calendar
3. Reset sync (wipes out all entries on bb)
4. Logout of google sync immediately w/o syncing first (warning msg that this will delete all events – whatever…)
5. Log back in again – and this time sync everything.

On step 5, google sync started to download my “NAME” calendar rather than just “Default Calendar”.

6. Once that was done, the rest is a breeze in following the standard procedure of options -> menu -> add the other calendars in.

Hope that helps someone facing the same problem. It has certainly frustrated me for a full 24 hours! Painful stuff a new blackberry!

@Joe Wessels,
I didn’t remember noticing the “Reset Sync” option, so I just looked and there it is–in the menu where you Save or Close from within Options. This may be a major “find” on your part for which we all should be thankful.

So, to repeat what you’ve posted, and list what I see now from playing with the option, here’s what I would say in my words:

If at any time your BlackBerry Calendar needs repair, and if your Google Calendar(s) is up-to-date, doing Google Sync > (press Menu key) > Options > (press Menu key) > Reset Sync does the following:

1. Removes all events from your BlackBerry Calendar.

2. Allows you to go add additional Google Calendars and save those and any other options you may have changed.

3. Allows you to do Sync Now to resynchronize your Google Calendar(s) with your BlackBerry Calendar.

4. It appears to sync backward one week from the day you do the previous steps and as far into the future as you set in Options.

Joe–great work and THANKS for returning to give back. I know this has helped me and will help lots of others in the future.

Kelly

@Jess,
Your comment was waiting for moderation at the same time Joe’s was, and you two both were independently discovering pretty much the same thing: Reset Sync helps a lot.

Collectively, we may now have reached the point where we understand Google Sync well enough to make it work and be reliable enough to trust.

Thanks, Jess, for your valuable contribution, too.

I need to take time to go back and do some clean-up in this article to reflect the new stuff we’ve learned.
Kelly

@Kelly:

You’re most welcome. Glad that seems to be a big “find” for everyone.

It’s kinda fun when we all work together, eh?

Joe,
A day will come where I won’t be able to respond as quickly and frequently as I am now. So, I definitely hope more readers will jump in and contribute and help each other. This blog kinda arose by chance and it has exploded beyond my wildest dreams. It’s only been in serious use for 2-3 months, and I have no idea where it will be within a year. If readers like you keep contributing like you just did, we’ll all be in great shape. Thanks!
Kelly

Jess, Kelly,

Thanks for all the help! I actually did everything you just mentioned, and still had no luck – Default Calendar was the only thing I could pull up.

I had been signing in with my business e-mail account, not Gmail. I created a Gmail account, logged in with that, and now everything shows up – my regular calendar, and all of the other calendars I’m linked to through the Google calendar. Finally!

Kevin L,
Glad to hear you got the problem resolved. Thanks for returning to share what worked for you.

Since last hearing from you, my Google Sync has been working flawlessly, and I’m very happy with it.
Kelly

Kevin L,
Glad to hear you got the problem resolved. Thanks for returning to share what worked for you.

Since last hearing from you, my Google Sync has been working flawlessly, and I’m very happy with it.
Kelly

So I have switched jobs and I’m trying to erase (change, switch) my default calendar from the work account (partner page) to a new personal/business account I have just created. I guess I should reinstall as the easiest option, but I can’t figure out how to uninstall or delete sync off my blackberry (world edition).

HELP

Paul,
I have only a moment to reply. My article on Google Sync needs revision to account for everything I and other readers have learned since I first wrote it. And the story really isn’t even final yet with GSync being in beta and hopefully due to have some bugs fixed.

My general advice would be to (1) make sure your Google calendar(s) are correct and complete (”authoritative,” I’d call it), (2) do the Reset Sync option (described in a comment just above here) to wipe your BlackBerry Calendar totally clean, then (3) do a Sync Now to get everything (hopefully) back in order. I’m not advising a removal of Google Sync any more since I’ve found the Reset Sync seems to do the trick I’ve needed.

Just make sure you don’t lose any calendar events that are on your BlackBerry but not on Google, or you’ll end up losing them when you wipe the BB.
Kelly

kelly -

i have had issues again with googly sync and had to uninstall and reinstall again. however i have noticed that i have two duplicate email address (both from gmail). i have no idea why it is listing two of the same email addresses. any clue on how i can delete one of them?

Ilona,
I assume you mean that when you do Options inside calendar, you see two email addresses that are associated with calendar entries.

Multiple calendars are possible when you have multiple email addresses associated with your phone. I have two email addresses on my phone, so I have two calendars.

Is it possible that you associated the same Gmail account twice on your phone? On your Home Screen, can you find the icons that represent those email accounts? If you have a duplicate icon for the same Gmail account, perhaps you could delete one (carefully) and the Calendar will drop the duplicate calendar.

Other than that, I’d consider another approach: Make sure the Google online calendar is correct, then I’d clear the BlackBerry Calendar (instructions above on this page) and do the Reset Sync, etc. to start the Calendar anew.

Or, if all that sounds too risky and the duplicate calendar isn’t causing a problem, you could try ignoring it. If it were me, I’d probably clear out the calendar and try to get it perfect. And my family would probably continue complaining I spend too much time with my !#@$% phone.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Yes I think that I’m going to clear the blackberry calendar. I went to my email settings and only saw my gmail address once.

i was going to just ignore it, but the entires that i want to delete don’t stop until july or so and it would be annoying to just have entires that i can’t even modify.

so hopefully i do this right! i will update if it goes smoothly.

success! first i backed up my my blackberry. then i deleted the calendar all. uninstalled google sync, did all the rebooting as necessary. reinstalled googly sync and all those duplicate entries are gone! this is awesome. the only thing is i still see duplicates of the only gmail address i have. but thanks so much for all your time. i find your info/blog very helpful and always see if there are any new things you’re sharing. =) have a great weekend.

Ilona,
Great news! Thanks for returning to share what worked so that others may know.
Kelly

Kelly,

So it seems from my experience that google sync will crash during the auto sync about once a week or so, and then you have to do to reinstall to get it to “unfreeze” from syncing mode. While its crashed, anything you create on your bb will not be updated to google, even after you reinstall google sync.

Has switching to the manual sync been your solution to this problem? Great users guide above, and thanks for all the effort!

-Tyler

Tyler,
I’ve left my Google Sync in manual mode and I’m pretty sure that has helped. It still isn’t perfect by any means. I’m pretty sure Google Sync is loading corrupt calendar entries into BlackBerry Calendar, as evidenced by problems trying to export CSV files using Desktop Manager.

Here’s something odd: even though I have it in manual mode, every time I open GSync, I have a message in red sayng that the last sync failed. I don’t know what’s up with that!
Kelly

I got a few failed syncs as well today. It was trying to upload a new bb entry to gcal, and google wasn’t having it. The problem, though, was that I set the reminder time to 0 minutes. There is no setting on google to have a reminder at that time, so it wasn’t working. When I changed the reminder, it worked fine.

Not totally sure if that helps with your situation, but could one of many things that google needs to looks into. Thanks again.

I had Google Sync running ok for several weeks (BES/Lotus Notes setup) but it randomly started messing up my Notes scheduled meetings with attendees and replacing them with regular appointments without attendees!

Real pain as all attendees got cancellation messages and half did not see the reschedule in time and did not turn up!

I deleted Google Sync for the time being which is a shame as it was great to keep my wife up to date with my schedule.

Thanks for all the great articles.

OB,
Google Sync has a lot of potential. Hope it gets perfected soon.
Kelly

Hm…

What do you think will happen when I sync with multiple google calendars and then with Outlook?

Will this work or will it spread my meetings over all calendars after another sync?

Btw, greeting from Germany,

Ineffabile

Ineffable,
Your guess is as good as mine. If you try it, I’d like to know. Hey, nobody needs to be so busy that they need that many calendars!
Kelly

Kelly,

You’re right.

The pain one feels when everythink gets messed up has no meaning when it get’s compared to the knowledge gained.

So, I tried it and here’s the answer:

1.) When you have multiple calendars on your handheld device and then sync with Outlook, you have everything in your main outlook calendar and it’s impossible to tell which entry belongs to which calendar. At least I have not found any means to do so since it does not create a new outlook calendars. Btw, it’s the same for the handheld: Entries from another person’s calendar are just there and are indistinguishable from yours. If you make a new date, it always lands in your own calendar.

2.) After that I synced with Outlook and found the same, followed by a sync with Google Sync to sync with the Google online calendar and found that nothing was messed up. All the entries were in the right calendars even after a resync and there were no double entries. My expectation was that then at the latest everything would end up in a mess, but it didn’t.

I think it’s interesting to have multiple calendars on my device because I am looking for a way to coordinate my activities with my girl friend and other friends. Additionally, it’s an easy way to grab bank holidays from one of the many foreign Google calendars… However, given the fact that my calendar entries are indistinguishable from the other person’s calendar entries, I’m not sure what the better solution is: to use the online Google calendar on the Blackberry via the browser or to check the other calendars off in the regular handheld calendar before executing a manual snyc.

Maybe someone who’s reading this knows whether or not it’s possible to create entries in someone else’s calendar? I have the delete option though but do not dare to try it with my honey’s dates…

Regards,

Ineffabile

So, here’s my over long, complex issue. I’m new to BBs, and Google Sync seemed like a great idea. I installed it and it seemed to work fine. But, I then noticed that none of my appointments created on my phone transferred. Weird. I checked my Calendar options and it says that my Wireless synchronization is set to “no” and I can’t change that option. No matter what I do it’s not changeable. As a side note, I hadn’t yet set up my email on the phone yet before this. So, after I did that, I now have 2 new calendar options (to the same email address) neither one has wireless sync set to yes, nor is it changeable, and when I tried to Google sync, nothing synced, something on my Google calendar was deleted, AND even though my appointments still show up in my wireless calendar, when I try to edit them they now say “Appointment deleted externally. changes will be lost, and the viewer closed” and I can’t open it.

HELP! I’m totally lost, and I’d thought I’d done everything right

Eric,
I don’t have time for a lengthy reply at this moment. Let me say that I struggled long and hard to get Google Sync working reasonably well, and it has been holding up pretty well now for a few months. I’ve recorded above a lot of what I had to do to get it working. Key was to keep Google Calendar online up-to-date and accurate, because you will probably need to clear out your BlackBerry Calendar and uninstall Google Sync a few times before you get things working. Also, I stick with manual sync, not automatic.
Kelly

I installed google maps, and love it. I was looking for a better way to sync a calendar/contacts with my berry. I was using Outlook and blackberry desktop manager. I installed Google sync, and it was syncing my new calendar entries fine, but I also wanted to sync contacts, PLUS, I couldn’t get my current calendar events to sync from my 8130 to Google calendar. Anyway, my problem is I removed google sync from my phone, and now I can’t sync my phone with outlook and the desktop manager. When I hit “synchronize now” I receive the error message “Unknown error” very quickly. I talked with Verizon for a while about the problem, and they referred me to blackberry. I called blackberry, and they started quoting me tech support rates, so I hung up and thought maybe I could find help on the net. Any ideas?

Steve,
So you’ve discovered that the web is the best place to get tech support for your BlackBerry. Welcome to the gang.

There is one report of a problem like yours that was related to file permissions. Does your login account have administrator privileges? If not, can you log in as administrator? If so, one user uninstalled Desktop Manager and reinstalled it when logged in with administrator privileges. After doing that, eventually things started working. That’s not a lot to go on, but its an idea to try.

In all my struggles with Google Sync and also with Desktop Manager, many solutions came after uninstalls, reboots, and fresh installs–getting everything clean and orderly.

Remember to back up your phone data as thoroughly as possible, as you may need to clear our your phone calendar (but not your contacts) along the way. Or you may just have an accidental data loss.

I will doing syncing with Outlook this summer when my employer switches to an Exchange server. Till then, I’m not much help with Outlook syncing. Sorry.
Kelly

Thanks for the review. I had tried gcalsync, an open-source program which tries to do the same thing. That one, like this one, also duplicates entries.

So thanks to your review I’m going to save myself the frustration and just stick with the phone’s calendar for now until the sync features have matured a bit.

- RG>

RealGrouchy,
Yeah, I’m not fully depending on Google Sync although I do have it working fairly reliably right now and don’t dare risk changing anything. I’m wondering, though, if Google Sync isn’t one of these Google employee “pet projects” I’ve read about that doesn’t really have a corporate mandate or deadline to be finished. It doesn’t seem to be moving forward very quickly.
Kelly

Thanks for the review… I have tried everything listed here and STILL only get ‘Default Calendar”…. what am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Scott,
If you literally tried everything here…you are one persistent fellow.

As my writing above hopefully explains, I couldn’t tell what I did that caused my Default Calendar to be replaced by the one that used my name. It seemed to happen after I did a sync operation.

It’s been a few months since I wrote most of the above, so my memory is fuzzy on this. But I seem to remember that the login you use made a difference. And my best overall trick when all else failed was to uninstall and reinstall Google Sync. Also, I use manual not automatic sync.

This product is clearly not “ready for prime time” however once you do get it working (in my experience anyway), it can work acceptably for you.

Sorry I don’t have a more clear answer for you.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

I update google sync in my blackberry peral 8100 and it worked really fine.

thanks !

roko,
Now that it’s working, be careful not to break it. It’s fragile!
Kelly

Wow… what a great blog and service to mankind!!! You’re amazing!

Maybe I haven’t read thoroughly enough and the answer is somewhere in these posts… but, here is my problem:

My BlackBerry Pearl 8100 had Google Sync on it when I got it (go craigslist!) and I’ve recently become completely enamored of Google Calendars (I think it might save my life (not to be dramatic or anything). So, of course, I want the appointments I make on the fly, with my ‘berry, to show up on my Gcal, and vice versa…

So I went to the Mobile support site for Google Calendar and it sent a text with the url and invited me to download Sync, which of course was already there, so I tried to simply login, using my gmail address and password… and it just HANGS interminably.

So I thought it might be getting a little sentimental about it’s old user, and did it all over, re-downloading Google Sync (yes I have data) and letting the ‘berry reboot. I figured that would solve it and it DIDN’T… it still just totally sits there forever with the message “Starting Login”…

I can’t see where “Options” are, to change the settings as you suggest, above. When I open Google Sync (and get the login screen) and go to the Menu, “Options” isn’t there. I must be in the wrong place?

Eek. Sorry to be so long-winded. Can you help??? Thanks very very much, in advance!!

Mary

Mary,
Your opening compliments are humbling. Thanks!

Now, for Google Sync. Be prepared to try a lot of different things before we’re done.

First, I would have (and still) recommended deleting Google Sync and rebooting the phone before downloading and installing it again. That may be pure superstition but I think it has a chance of deleting and clearing out any trace of the previous owner’s use of GSync. To reboot the phone, I mean remove the battery, wait 10 seconds, replace the battery, and wait a couple of minutes for the phone to recover. Then reinstall a fresh copy of GSync.

When you first run your fresh copy, it should ask you to provide Gmail email address and password again. On the resulting screen, which is the same screen you should see when you login anytime thereafter, you should be able to press the Menu key and see a short menu with Options as one choice (as well as Help, Sync Now, Sign Out, Close). From your comment above, I’m wondering if you were looking at the menu before you logged in. If so, it probably makes sense that Options didn’t appear, since the options apply to the logged in account.

If you can muster the patience that is required to work with Google Sync, follow along with your phone and the above article, paying close attention to the screenshots. If you think you messed up somewhere along the way, it never hurts to go all the way back to the beginning and start over. I have had to do it countless times before I got things working satisfactorily, and then I don’t touch a thing for fear of upsetting it. Google Sync is clearly still a work in progress, so it’s not fair of us to expect it to be perfect. I just wish Google would put more priority on it as one of their projects.

Let me know how you do with the above suggestions.
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Ugh and more ugh. I was SO excited about writing the glorious “It worked! It worked!” post to you. But. And, I can’t believe how much time I’ve spent on this. Yuck.

So what did I do? Deleted Google Sync. Multiple times. Rebooted (battery out, etc.)… multiple times. Read on a forum that I should go to TCP and fill in APN: wap.voicestream.com and did that. Noticed that my Berry lacked Google Mobile Updater; got that. Every single @#$%^! time, it still hangs up on that login screen (and, yes, I don’t get as far as Options).

So, okay, work-in-progress, I get that. I played with Missing Sync, which I purchased right after getting the Berry… and have now downloaded and played with (rgh WORKED with) “Spanning Sync” and “GooSync” as well (I’m on a Mac, for what that’s worth).

I love my Google Calendar. I love my Blackberry. For now, it’s looking like I’m going to have to take turns with them. Geez. Life is complicated enough, you know?

I’ll let you know if I experience success. Thanks for trying to help!!

Mary

P.S. I love your comment about not expecting perfection. I actually feel that way about ALL of this… after watching Jeff Bozos’ talk at TED: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/105

Hi again, Kelly!

I’m here to keep my promise about reporting success. GCALSYNC is an Open Source (yay!) product made to “synchronize your phone with Google Calendar”… I just downloaded it to my Blackberry, ran it, and my events showed up! They’re at some pretty darn goofy times, but I’m sure that’s a simple setting change…

Cheers!
Mary

At the risk of exceeding your maximum comments from one person allotment, I feel responsible for reporting that the GCALSYNC solution proved to be – well, not a solution. I spent HOURS trying things… and the best I’ve come up with is that it downloads a few out of the many events on my google calendar (and they only come in at the correct time if I adjust it to -07:00).

I was hoping that maybe after all this fiddling around, Google Sync would magically let me login… but that didn’t happen either.

Signed,
Out of Sync, Out of Time

Mary,
Well, you sure gave it your best try(ies). I’ve written two articles: YouTube Mobile and Google Sync, that I’ve had regrets about. I was so excited about the possibilities of both, but after spending time with each, came to be severely disappointed. I have no doubt that in time both will work well, but we just aren’t there yet.

If I can put a positive spin on your experience at all, I’ll bet you learned something, some little thing, in your struggles that will pay off later. I teach computer science classes to college freshmen, and I tell them (sincerely) that in their struggles and frustrations with computers, they at least develop their intuition to know when the computer is at fault and when they are at fault. That kind of intution is of great value when dealing with inevitable problems with technology. Maybe the parallel with your case isn’t that close. I suppose I’m partly falling back on the optimism I’ve needed to fight daily, hourly struggles with technology for (literally) decades.

Thanks so much, really!, for returning to share your experiences. I know it ends up helping others. Please stay in touch.
Kelly

Hiya, Kelly,

Thanks for your good words! It’s nice to be on the receiving end of the encouragement. I’m right there with ya, being the one computer teacher in a largish (1600) high school (and 7 of my courses, and counting, are for college credit… so our worlds are probably pretty similar!)

You are right about the learning; this sort of thing is how I’ve learned everything I know. I’ve never taken a course in computers, but they call me a guru and they think I’m magical (well, the adults; most of the kids know better!)

I feel the same way I did a little while back when I spent no less than EIGHT hours with tech support, trying to get my wireless set-up at home to work properly. I figured it was a great and quick course on networking!

Here’s to us crazy people!!

Mary

P.S. Next time I have some extra time, I’m seriously going to play with Spanning Sync and Missing Sync. Meanwhile, I’m just gonna appreciate the fact that I don’t have to interrupt a phone conversation to find out what’s on, or add something to, my calendar!

Kelly,

I’m not sure if you still check this blog, as it has been inactive for 6 months or more, but I am using the most up to date version of Google Sync and am having a problem with my BlackBerry Pearl. I am using the Google Calendar and trying to create events on there that sync to my phone, and vice versa. The problem I am having is when I create an event in Google Calendar and sync it to my phone, with a pop up reminder of 10 minutes or 15 minutes, after it syncs, there is no reminder setup for the event on my BlackBerry. When I setup an event on my blackberry, with a reminder, it works. If I set it up on my BB, and then sync, it shows no reminder on Google Calendar, but it still works on my phone. This is a pretty big deal to me as I am using it mainly for the reminder feature. I have tried resetting the Sync, but the Sync is working fine. Do you have any ideas?

Chris,
I check this blog every day–I don’t have to check the comments on each article separately.

My Pearl is currently not activated, so I can’t experiment with Google Sync. I know that feature worked before the most recent version. The reminder feature is working OK on my Storm with the latest Google Sync.

I can’t think of anything you could be doing wrong. Surely you’re not setting Email reminder instead of Pop-up reminder on Google Calendar.
Kelly