This guide is designed to help BusyCal users transition from MobileMe to iCloud. If you are a BusySync user, please see Transitioning BusySync 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.
- 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.
- Repeating To Dos — The Reminders app in iOS 5 supports repeating To Dos, and they sync with BusyCal through iCloud. However, the Reminders app uses a different model for handling repeating To Dos that BusyCal has adopted to ensure compatibility. In the new model, only the next undone occurrence of a repeating To Do is shown. When you complete an occurrence of a repeating To Do, the next occurrence will appear. Therefore, you can no longer see future repeating To Dos in BusyCal, beyond the next one due.
Transitioning to iCloud
Please follow these instructions when transitioning BusyCal to iCloud.
- Install BusyCal 1.6.2
- Reset BusyCal
- Transition MobileMe to iCloud
- If you are running Lion:
- If you are not running Lion:
- Launch BusyCal
- 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 (by control-clicking on them in BusyCal and choosing Delete), 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 (by control-clicking on them in BusyCal and choosing Delete), 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.
You must be running BusyCal 1.6.2 or later to sync with iCloud. Direct customers may install the latest version of BusyCal by selecting Check for Updates from the BusyCal menu. Mac App Store customers may install the latest version from the Updates tab in the Mac App Store.
It is recommended (but not required) that you reset BusyCal before transitioning to iCloud. Resetting BusyCal will clear your publish and subscribe settings and prevent subscribed calendars from getting orphaned on iCloud during the transition process (as described in step 5).
To reset BusyCal: Launch BusyCal, and select Help > Reset > Reset BusyCal.
When resetting BusyCal, your calendar data will be saved in a backup file, your publish and subscribe settings will be cleared, BusyCal will quit and its database will be deleted. Your MobileMe calendars will be preserved on MobileMe, your Google Calendars will be preserved on Google, and your local calendars will be preserved in Sync Services.
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. Then launch iCal and wait patiently while it syncs with iCloud. It may take a while. Wait until the process completes before continuing.
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.
Launch BusyCal and it should begin syncing with iCloud. If the iCloud calendars do not automatically appear in BusyCal, select Connect to iCloud/CalDAV Server from the Calendar menu and enter your Apple ID and password.
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. BusyCal will display a checkmark next to each of the To Do calendars and will automatically group them under a new calendar group called To Dos to help differentiate them from the Event calendars.
If you did not reset BusyCal prior to transitioning to iCloud (as described in step 2) 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.
Note: Unique data types in BusyCal (such as Stickys, Journals, Graphics, Attachments, Tags, and Recurring To Dos) will be preserved when migrating from MobileMe to iCloud. But unique data types stored on local calendars, LAN calendar subscriptions, or Google Calendar subscriptions will be lost when migrating to iCloud. To restore them, see Restoring BusyCal unique data types.