How much does BusySync cost?

BusySync costs $25 per computer. A separate license is required for each computer. For example:

• If you are syncing two Macs on your LAN, you will need two copies.
• If you are syncing between multiple user accounts on a single Mac, you will need one copy.
• If you are syncing a single Mac with Google Calendar, you will need one copy.
• If you are syncing a Mac at home and a Mac at work with Google Calendar, you will need two copies.

Multi-unit discounts are available and applied automatically during checkout:

• 5+ computers = 10% discount
• 10+ computers = 20% discount
• 25+ computers = 30% discount

When purchasing multiple copies, you will receive a single serial number that can be used on all licensed computers. If you need more licenses in the future, you can purchase additional serial numbers that can be used along with your existing serial numbers.

How can I share calendars with BusySync?

BusySync can be configured to support many different scenarios:

• Share iCal calendars on a LAN
• Share iCal calendars over the internet (WAN)
• Share iCal calendars between multiple user accounts on a shared computer
• Sync iCal calendars with Google Calendar for access on the web
• Sync iCal calendars between Home and Work using Google Calendar as a conduit
• Share iCal calendars with remote users using Google Calendar as a conduit

Share iCal calendars on a LAN

BusySync will allow you to share calendars with others on your local area network using Bonjour zero-configuration networking. When sharing calendars over your LAN, any changes made to a shared calendar are automatically synchronized within seconds to all users on the network. For more info, see Configuring BusySync.

Share iCal calendars over the internet (WAN)

BusySync is designed to automatically share calendars on your local area network via Bonjour. If you wish to share calendars with a user in a remote location, you may do so by configuring BusySync for remote access over the public internet. This method requires a public IP address and port-forwarding on your router. As an alternative, you may wish to use Google Calendar as a conduit to sync calendars between Home and Work or to share calendars with remote users, which won't require a public IP address or any modifications to your router. For more info, see Remote Access (WAN).

Share iCal calendars between multiple user accounts on a shared computer

BusySync will allow you to synchronize iCal calendars between multiple user accounts on a single Mac. Using BusySync on a shared computer is the same as using it on a LAN -- except you are sharing calendars with other user accounts on the shared computer, rather than sharing calendars with other users on the network. You'll have to enable fast user switching and periodically login to all user accounts simultaneously so that BusySync can sync calendars between the different accounts. If only one account is logged in, any calendar edits made on that account will be treated as "offline" edits and will be synchronized the next time all accounts are logged in. For more info, see Configuring BusySync.

Sync iCal calendars with Google Calendar for access on the web

You may use BusySync to sync iCal with Google Calendar, so your calendars will always be accessible on the web from any computer (even on a Windows PC). Changes made in iCal are automatically sync'd to Google Calendar and vice versa. For example, if you have a Mac at home and a PC at work, you can sync your Home iCal with Google Calendar, and then from work you can access your Google Calendar using a web browser on a PC. And changes you make in Google Calendar will automatically sync back to iCal on your Mac at home. For more info, see Google.

Sync iCal calendars between Home and Work using Google Calendar as a conduit

You can keep your iCal calendars in sync between your Home and Work computers by syncing both of them to the same Google Calendar account. For example, Fred has a computer at work and a computer at home and they are both configured to sync with the same Google Calendar account. So, if Fred makes a change on his iCal calendar at work, that change will be sync'd to Google Calendar, and from there it will be sync'd to iCal on his home computer. It is not even necessary to use Google Calendar's web interface — you can just use Google Calendar as a conduit between your home and work computers. This is a great way to keep remote Macs in sync (like home and work, a husband and wife, or a boss and an assistant), particularly if you travel a lot and need to be able to sync from any location. For more info, see How to sync iCal calendars between Home and Work with Google Calendar.

Share iCal calendars with remote users using Google Calendar as a conduit

Users in remote locations can share calendars with each other through Google Calendar without having to share a single Google Calendar account, as in the above example. Each of the users can sync iCal to their personal Google Calendar account, and then use Google Calendar's sharing features to share certain calendars with each other. For example, Fred syncs to his personal Google Calendar account, and Mary syncs to her personal Google Calendar account. Then Fred shares a calendar with Mary using the Google Calendar sharing interface, so that the calendar shows up in Mary's Google Calendar. Once there, it will sync to Mary's iCal through BusySync. And Mary can make changes to that calendar in iCal and it will sync back to Fred's iCal through Google Calendar. For more info, see How to share iCal calendars with remote users with Google Calendar.

Why can't I see other BusySync users on my LAN in the BusySync Subscribe tab?

If you do not see calendars being published by other users in the BusySync Subscribe tab, it may be because they have their system firewall turned on and it is blocking incoming BusySync connections. They should either turn off their system firewall, or allow BusySync traffic to pass through the firewall, as described in the Firewall Settings section of the user's guide.

BusySync has stopped syncing with iCal. How can I fix it?

You may be experiencing iCalExternalSync errors. The symptoms are that iCal will no longer pull changes from external apps/devices (like BusySync or an iPhone), but will continue to push changes to other apps/devices. The solution is to reset your sync history, by doing the following:

• Open the BusySync prefpane
• Select the Reset tab
• Click the Reset Sync History button
• Wait a few minutes while your Sync Services database is rebuilt and synced with iCal

Can I sync Events, To-Dos and Alarms with other iCal users on my LAN?

BusySync will sync all of your calendar data with other iCal users on your LAN, including Events, To-Dos and Alarms. If you do not wish to sync Alarms and/or To-Dos, you have the option to remove them when subscribing to a calendar in the Subscribe Options dialog.

Can I sync To-Dos with Google Calendar?

No, Google Calendar does not support To-Dos, so BusySync does not sync them with Google Calendar.

Can I sync Alarms with Google Calendar?

By default, Alarms are not synced between iCal and Google Calendar. If you wish, you may choose to sync Message Alarms in iCal to one of the following Google Alarm types:

• Sync message alarms to pop-ups on Google
• Sync message alarms to SMSs on Google
• Sync message alarms to emails on Google

See Google Settings for more info.

Some of my event titles have the calendar name appended in [brackets]. Why?

iCal allows you to schedule meetings with others by adding Attendees to an event and sending meeting invitations via email. This is a handy way to invite people to meetings but it can result in duplicate events appearing on a user's calendar when creating meetings on shared calendars. The original event on the shared calendar will get synced to the user's calendar via BusySync, and the event will get added to the user's calendar when they accept the meeting invitation received via email.

The duplicate meetings are bad enough, but what's worse is that Sync Services considers two events on your calendar with the same name and same start time to be a conflict. The Conflict Resolver will appear, and force you to resolve the conflict by choosing one of the events to keep and one to delete. This is a nuisance and can lead to data loss and frustration.

To circumvent this problem, BusySync will automatically append the calendar name in [brackets] to the title of a meeting on a subscribed calendar. That way if a "Lunch Meeting" is created on the "Company Calendar", and invites are sent to all employees, each employee will receive a meeting invitation via email with the original title, "Lunch Meeting", that they will add to their calendar. Plus, the "Lunch Meeting" on the shared calendar will sync to their calendar via BusySync and automatically be renamed "Lunch Meeting [Company Calendar]". This will avoid the Conflict Resolver problem of having two events with the same name and start time. And it may help users to better understand why they have duplicate meetings on their calendar (one was added via email and the other was synced via BusySync).

Can I sync meeting attendees with Google Calendar?

Google Calendar automatically creates duplicate events on your primary calendar for all meetings (events with attendees) created on secondary calendars. If an event contains you as a Meeting Organizer or Attendee, Google Calendar will automatically create a copy of that event on your primary Google Calendar. It will not create a copy if the event is on your primary Google Calendar to begin with. Google Calendar does this in order to block out your free/busy time on your primary calendar for all events you are attending.

To avoid these duplicate events from being created on Google Calendar, BusySync does not sync attendee information for events created in iCal. It will, however, sync attendee information for events created on Google Calendar. Therefore, if you want to attendee information to sync between iCal and Google, you must create the event in Google Calendar.

Should I host my calendars on Google or iCal?

When syncing with Google Calendar, it's important to understand who the Host, or Publisher, is for each calendar, because only the Host can delete a calendar.

In the example above, iCal is the Host (Publisher) of the "Work" calendar and Google is the Client (Subscriber). If the "Work" calendar is deleted in iCal, it will also be deleted on Google Calendar, because iCal is the Host. But if the "Work" calendar is deleted on Google Calendar, it will not be deleted in iCal, because Google is the Client and not the Host. What will happen instead is the "Work" calendar will be automatically unchecked in the Publish to Google list and stop being Published to Google Calendar.

To take it a step further, suppose you have a Mac at the Office and a Mac at Home you want to sync through Google Calendar. At the office, you could publish your "Work" calendar to Google Calendar. Then, at home, you could subscribe to the "Work" calendar on Google Calendar. In this scenario, the Office Mac is the Host, and both Google Calendar and the Home computer are the Clients.

Regardless of how you set it up, there is always only one Host for each calendar. Whether you Host the calendars in iCal or Google is entirely up to you. There's no right or wrong way to do it. You can consolidate all of your calendars and Publish them from one Host, or Publish calendars from multiple Hosts. Whatever makes sense for you.

How can I backup my calendars?

To backup/restore iCal

BusySync automatically backs up iCal every day and stores the last 10 backups in ∼/Library/Application Support/BusySync/Backup. However, you may manually backup individual calendars or all calendars in iCal, as follows:

• To backup all calendars, launch iCal, and select File > Back up iCal. This will create a complete backup of all of your calendars in a single ".icbu" file.
• To backup a single calendar, launch iCal, select a calendar in the iCal source list, and choose File > Export. This will save the calendar as an ".ics" file.

You may restore an .icbu backup or .ics export file by simply double-clicking it, which will launch iCal and begin the restore/import process.

To backup/restore Google Calendar

You can backup your calendars stored on Google Calendar by exporting each of them as an ".ics" file to your desktop, as follows:

• Login to Google Calendar on the web.
• Click on the small down arrow to the right of a calendar name and select "Calendar settings".
• Scroll down to the "Private Address" section, right click the green ICAL button, and select Download Linked File. This will save the calendar as a .ics file to your desktop.
• Repeat this process for each calendar you want to backup.

You can restore/import an .ics file into Google Calendar, as follows:

• Login to Google Calendar on the web.
• At the top of the calendar list on the left, click the "Add" down-arrow button and select "Import Calendar."
• Click "Browse" and choose the file you wish to import.
• Select the Google Calendar where you'd like to import events, then click on "Import."

How can I merge calendars in iCal and Google Calendar?

You may have multiple calendars in iCal and Google that you would like to merge into a single calendar. For example, let's say you have a Google calendar called "Fred", and you have a "Home" calendar in iCal that you want to merge. This is how you can merge them:

1. Subscribe to the Fred Google Calendar in BusySync. It will be added to iCal.
2. Export the Home calendar in iCal by selecting the calendar and choosing Fie > Export.
3. Delete the Home calendar in iCal by control-clicking it and selecting Delete
4. Double-click the file you exported in step 2 to re-import it into iCal. When prompted, choose to add the new events to the Fred calendar. This will merge the events from the old Home calendar with the Fred Google Calendar.

Now you're left with one Fred calendar that is hosted on Google and kept in sync with iCal.

Can I sync with multiple Google accounts?

BusySync will only sync with one Google account. If you have multiple Google accounts, however, you can sync with all of them indirectly by sharing calendars between your various Google accounts:

1. Login to one of your Google Calendar accounts and select Settings > Calendars.
2. In the Sharing column, click Share this calendar and enter the email address for your other Google Calendar account and click Save. Now, that calendar will appear in your other Google Calendar account. Repeat this process for all calendars and accounts you want to sync with.
3. Last, setup BusySync to sync with the Google account that contains all of the calendars from your multiple Google accounts.

Does BusySync support Google Apps?

Yes, you can use BusySync to sync with a Google Apps account, or a regular Google Calendar account.

Can I use BusySync to sync Entourage calendars with others on my network?

BusySync does not support Entourage. It is designed to work only with iCal.

How does BusySync differ from the group scheduling features in Leopard iCal?

Leopard iCal supports CalDAV, a client/server scheduling protocol for large workgroups. It requires a dedicated server like the iCal Server included in Mac OS X Server. If you are not running a CalDAV Server on your network, the new group scheduling features in Leopard iCal will not be available to you.

BusySync, on the other hand, is targeted at families and small workgroups that wish to share calendars without the need for a dedicated server or IT administrator.

Can I use BusySync and CalDAV together?

Yes, you can use BusySync and CalDAV together. For example, you can connect to a CalDAV server from your laptop at the office, while using BusySync on your laptop to share calendars with your spouse at home.

How does BusySync differ from .Mac?

Comparing BusySync to .Mac is not an apples-to-apples comparison. .Mac offers a wide range of services including email, iDisk, Back to My Mac, Web Galleries, as well as synchronization of calendars and contacts. BusySync, on the other hand, is focused solely on syncing calendars. It's perfectly fine to use BusySync for syncing calendars, while simultaneously using some of the other services provided by .Mac. Following are the primary differences between .Mac and BusySync for syncing calendars.

Syncing calendars

.Mac syncs identical copies of your calendars across multiple Macs. This works fine for an individual with multiple computers. However, it is not ideal for a group of users who wish to selectively share calendars. It forces everyone to use the same .Mac account, thereby granting all users access to all of your .Mac info (email, iTunes purchases, keychains, etc.).

BusySync allows you to sync calendars directly with others on your LAN in a peer-to-peer fashion with no dedicated server. Changes made to a calendar on one Mac are synchronized with other Macs on your network in a matter of seconds. BusySync also allows you to choose which calendars you want to share and set different access privileges for each (read-only, or read-write).

Publish and Subscribe

iCal allows you to Publish calendars to .Mac that other users can Subscribe to with read-only access. BusySync allows you to Publish calendars over your LAN or the internet that other users can Subscribe to with full read-write access.

Web Publishing

iCal allows you to publish a single calendar to a .Mac web page where it can be viewed only. BusySync will allow you to sync multiple calendars to Google Calendar where they are fully editable.

Can I Publish calendars with both BusySync and .Mac?

You can publish calendars with BusySync and .Mac (WebDAV) simultaneously. For example, you can publish a calendar in iCal to a WebDAV server like .Mac for users to access with read-only privileges, while simultaneously using BusySync to publish that calendar on your LAN for users to access with read-write privileges. Note: Those who subscribe to that calendar should only subscribe via BusySync or WebDAV, and not both.

Can I sync calendars with both BusySync and .Mac?

Avoiding a Sync Loop

If you have multiple BusySync users on your LAN syncing with the same .Mac account (both Fred and Mary syncing with the fred@mac.com account), you will end up with a sync loop, which will result in duplicate calendars and events.

Disable .Mac calendar syncing

You should not use both BusySync and .Mac to sync calendars to avoid creating a sync loop. You should disable .Mac calendar syncing on each Mac that is using BusySync, however, you can continue to use .Mac to sync Address Books, Bookmarks, Keychains, and other items.

Migrating from .Mac to BusySync

If you have used .Mac to sync calendars in the past, each of your Macs may contain a duplicate set of calendars. Since BusySync uses a publish and subscribe model where each calendar has only one host/publisher, you will need to decide which Mac will host each calendar and then delete any duplicate calendars that exist on the client Macs where you will be subscribing.

Using BusySync for LAN syncing and .Mac for remote syncing

Although you can't use both BusySync and .Mac to sync calendars on your LAN, you can use BusySync on your LAN while using .Mac to synchronize calendars with a remote Mac (e.g. home and office). However, it is recommended that you use BusySync with Google Calendar to sync remote Macs instead.

How can I migrate from Spanning Sync to BusySync?

You should not use both BusySync and Spanning Sync to sync iCal with Google Calendar. If you are migrating from Spanning Sync to BusySync, please read on.

BusySync and Spanning Sync use different models for syncing with Google Calendar. Spanning Sync requires you to create parallel calendars in iCal and Google Calendar and map them to each other. BusySync uses a Publish and Subscribe model where one side is the host (the Publisher) and the other side is the client (the Subscriber). You can host a calendar in iCal or Google. Regardless of whether your are the host or the client, you can make edits in iCal or Google Calendar and synchronize between the two.

If you are migrating from Spanning Sync to BusySync, it is assumed that you have duplicate calendars setup in iCal and Google and you will need to remove the duplicate calendars before configuring BusySync, as follows:

1. Turn off Spanning Sync.
2. Decide whether to host each calendar in iCal or Google. You can host all calendars in iCal, host all calendars on Google, or host some in iCal and some on Google. Whatever makes sense for your situation.
3. Once you've decided where each calendar will be hosted, you need to delete the duplicate calendar that exists on the client. For example, if you are going to host the Work calendar in iCal, you should delete the duplicate Work calendar on Google (the client).
4. Once you've deleted the duplicate calendars on the client, you can then setup BusySync to sync with Google Calendar. For example, you can Publish the Work calendar in iCal to Google, and the Work calendar will be automatically created on Google.

For more info, see Google.

Why are calendars that I subscribe to being renamed with a "(2)" appended to them?

You cannot have more than one calendar of the same name in iCal. Therefore, if you subscribe to a calendar that has the same name as an existing calendar in iCal (e.g. Home) the new subscription will be renamed "Home (2)". You can then rename it whatever you want (e.g. "Fred Home") by double-clicking the calendar name in the iCal source list and renaming it.

Why is a BusySync user name appearing as "(OBSOLETE?)" in the Subscribe tab?

If a user appears twice in the Subscribe tab, and one is displayed as "(OBSOLETE?)", it means that they have reset BusySync. As a result, the old calendars they were publishing are no longer being published and are obsolete. In this case, you will need to unsubscribe from all of the obsolete calendars, and re-subscribe to the new calendars being published by that user.

Why are events appearing in the BusySync Conflicts calendar?

BusySync automatically creates a BusySync Conflicts calendar and places events in that calendar in the following scenarios:

• If a user has read-only access to a calendar and edits an event on that calendar, the edit will be rejected and the event will be placed in the BusySync Conflicts calendar. That way you won't lose the info and can move the event to a different calendar where you do have write privileges.
• If the same event is edited by more than one person since the last sync, one event will be accepted and the other will be rejected. The rejected one ends up in the BusySync Conflicts calendar. That way you won't lose the edits you made and can compare it to the event that it conflicted with and choose which one to keep.
• If you are subscribed to a calendar and have removed To-Dos from the calendar, and you attempt to add a To-Do to that calendar, the To-Do will be rejected and placed on the BusySync Conflicts calendar.

If your curious to know why a conflict occurred, check the Log tab where a description of the problem will appear and tell you whether or not you have write access or some other error occurred.

How do I reset or restore my calendar?

The BusySync Reset tab offers several options for resetting or restoring your calendar, as follows:

• Reset Sync History — Click Reset Sync History if iCal has stopped syncing with BusySync. This will fix most syncing problems, and you will not lose any data. After resetting your sync history, the Conflict Resolver may prompt you to clear conficts between iCal and BusySync. If so, select BusySync to resolve the conflicts.
• Reset BusySync — Click Reset BusySync to clear your publish and subscribe settings and delete your BusySync database. All calendars that you own in iCal and/or Google Calendar will be preserved. After performing the reset, you must reconfigure your Publish and Subscribe options.
• Restore iCal From Backup — BusySync automatically backs up your iCal database every day and saves your last 10 backups in ~/Library/Application Support/BusySync/Backups/. If you wish to restore your iCal calendar from one of these backups, click the Restore iCal From Backup button, select a backup file, and click Open. Then click Restore in iCal, and your iCal calendar will be restored from the backup.

How do I uninstall BusySync?

You can remove BusySync by doing the following:

1. Open the BusySync Preference Pane.
2. Select the Reset tab and click the Reset BusySync button.
3. Click Show All in the toolbar to return to System Preferences.
4. Control-click on the BusySync Preference Pane and choose Remove “BusySync” Preference Pane.
5. Optionally, delete the files located in ~/Library/Application Support/BusySync and ~/Library/Logs/BusySync.

I'm having a problem. Where can I get help?

If you run into a problem using BusySync, there are several options available for support:

• Forum — search the archives and interact with others at groups.google.com/group/busymac.
• Technical Support — If you're experiencing technical problems, send your logs to BusyMac.
• General Questions — Email BusyMac at info@busymac.com.