This guide is designed to help BusySync users transition from MobileMe to iCloud. If you are a BusyCal user, please see Transitioning BusyCal to iCloud.
iCloud Requirements
iCloud is Apple's new cloud-syncing service for Mac and iOS that replaces MobileMe. Calendar syncing with iCloud is nearly identical to MobileMe with some notable exceptions:
- iCal requires Lion, BusyCal does not — iCal requires Lion for syncing with iCloud, BusyCal does not. BusyCal can sync with iCloud on a Mac running Leopard 10.5, Snow Leopard 10.6, or Lion 10.7. So, if you have a Mac that is not running Lion that you want to sync with iCloud, BusyCal will enable you to do that. See upgrading to BusyCal for more info.
- Sharing calendars through iCloud — If you are sharing calendars with others through MobileMe, you must transition all users to iCloud to continue sharing calendars with them. You cannot share calendars between MobileMe and iCloud users.
- Separate calendars for Events and To Dos — iCloud calendars are type-specific. Each iCloud calendar may contain either Events or To Dos, but not both. When you move your calendars to iCloud, each calendar will be split into two calendars — one for Events and one for To Dos.
Upgrade to BusyCal (optional)
Unlike iCal, which requires Lion for syncing with iCloud, BusyCal can sync with iCloud on a Mac running Leopard 10.5, Snow Leopard 10.6, or Lion 10.7. So, if you have a Mac that is not running Lion that you want to sync with iCloud, BusyCal will enable you to do that.
You can evaluate BusyCal free for 30-days. Download the BusyCal 30-day trial, then launch BusyCal to automatically convert your iCal and BusySync data to BusyCal format. BusySync customers can upgrade to BusyCal for $20. For more information, please see transition BusyCal to iCloud.
Transitioning to iCloud
Please follow these instructions when transitioning BusySync to iCloud.
- Reset BusySync
- Transition MobileMe to iCloud
- If you are running Lion:
- If you are not running Lion:
- Delete orphaned calendars on iCloud and/or reconfigure your calendar sharing workflow
- Local calendars — All local calendars will be moved to iCloud.
- MobileMe calendars — All MobileMe calendars will be moved to iCloud. If you were previously sharing calendars through MobileMe, you will have to transition all users to iCloud and share calendars through iCloud.
- LAN calendar subscriptions — All calendars you were subscribed to on the LAN will be copied to iCloud and will no longer be syncing on the LAN. To clean things up, you must delete the orphaned calendars on iCloud, and resubscribe to the LAN calendars. Or you may want to stop sharing calendars over the LAN, and host your calendars on iCloud and share calendars through iCloud instead.
- Google calendar subscriptions — All calendars you were subscribed to on Google will be copied to iCloud and will no longer be syncing with Google. To clean things up, you must delete the orphaned calendars on iCloud, and resubscribe to the Google calendars. Or you may want to stop syncing with Google, and host your calendars on iCloud and share calendars through iCloud instead.
- Published calendars — All calendars you were publishing on the LAN or to Google will be unpublished. You can republish the iCloud calendars on the LAN or to Google after they have been moved to iCloud. Note: iCloud calendars will be published on the LAN or to Google as read-only.
- Start BusySync
It is recommended (but not required) that you reset BusySync before transitioning to iCloud. Resetting BusySync will clear your publish and subscribe settings and prevent subscribed calendars from getting orphaned on iCloud during the transition process (as described in step 3).
To reset BusySync: Open System Preferences > BusySync > Reset, and click the Reset BusySync button. Your publish and subscribe settings will be cleared, BusySync will quit and its database will be deleted. Your local calendar data will be preserved in iCal. After resetting BusySync, you may transition to iCloud as described below.
If you are running Mac OS X Lion 10.7, you may transition to iCloud by opening the iCloud System Preference pane, signing in, and following the instructions to move your data to iCloud.
After your data has been moved to iCloud, launch iCal. It should detect that your calendars have been moved and automatically start syncing with iCloud.
Note: iCloud will split each calendar into two calendars — one that contains Events, and one that contains To Dos. For example, if you had a Work calendar prior to the transition, it will be transformed into two Work calendars on iCloud — one for Events and one for To Dos.
If you are not running Mac OS X Lion 10.7, you may transition to iCloud by launching Safari and going to me.com/move and following the instructions to move your data to iCloud.
Note: iCal requires Lion for syncing with iCloud. If you're not runing Lion, you will need to upgrade to BusyCal to sync with iCloud.
If you did not reset BusySync prior to transitioning to iCloud (as described in step 1) you may have to perform some clean up. Since the iCloud transition process moves all calendars to the iCloud server, you may end up with orphaned calendars on iCloud that you were previously subscribed to on your LAN or on Google. Following is a description of what happens during the iCloud transition process and how to reconfigure things.
If you are able to convert to an iCloud-based calendar sharing workflow, you may not need to use BusySync anymore. However, you can continue using BusySync if you want to republish iCloud calendars on your LAN or to Google as read-only; or if you want to sync some calendars on the LAN or with Google independently from iCloud. If so, you can re-enable BusySync by opening System Preferences > BusySync, and clicking Start BusySync. Then reconfigure your publish and subscribe options.