Blackberry cal sync with Google

Well, that was easy. Turns out the biggest problem with kludging a unidirectional sync from Google Calendar to the BlackBerry (using a Mac as the agent of change) is procrastination.

Step 1. Fire up iCal, the calendar application that comes with Mac OS X. Subscribe to the private iCal-formatted feed(s) from the Google Calendar(s) you want to put onto the Blackberry. The calendars should then appear within iCal. These are unidirectional links: changes to iCal won’t be pushed up to Google.

Step 2. Launch PocketMac SyncManager, BlackBerry’s desktop sync application. Click on the Calendar tab. Check the “Sync Calendar between the BlackBerry and Mac.” Select the iCalCalendar button, and choose Advanced Preference. Choose to sync all categories, and “overwrite device.”

Step 3. Now, when it’s time to sync the BlackBerry calendar, I have to start iCal, and wait for it to sync itself from Google Calendar. And then I have to plug in the BlackBerry, launch PocketMac SyncManager, and let it overwrite the calendar items in the device with what’s in iCal.

This is a kludgy and suboptimal solution, because

• It requires multiple manual steps for a sync
• It requires being tethered to the Mac for a sync
• If other people change my calendar(s), I won’t know without a sync
• I can’t enter new events into my Google calender using the BlackBerry

However, this is a good first step, since at least I can take my Google Calendar(s) with me on the device and use them for a reference. It’s better than nothing.

The best solution would be an over-the-air transactional update whenever events change on Google Calendar or on the device.

A second-best solution would be a scheduled bi-di sync over the air.

Alternatively, we could skip a uni-di step if PocketMac SyncManager could subscribe to iCal feeds directly, and not have to use the iCal application.

If you know of a better solution, please let me know.