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FAQs

BusyCal vs. BusySync

Upgrading from BusySync to BusyCal

Migrating from iCal to BusyCal

General Questions

Technical Questions

BusyCal vs. BusySync

How much does BusyCal and BusySync cost?

  • BusyCal costs $49 for a Single User or $79 for a Family Pack*.
  • BusySync costs $39 for a Single User or $69 for a Family Pack*.
    * Family Packs may be used on up to 5 computers in a single household. This license does not extend to business or commercial users.
  • For business and commercial users, a 20% volume discount is applied when purchasing 5 or more Single User licenses.
  • BusySync registered users can upgrade to BusyCal for $20 per copy.

What's the difference between BusyCal and BusySync?

BusySync is a System Preference pane that adds calendar sharing capabilities to iCal, allowing you to sync calendars on a LAN and/or with Google Calendar.

BusyCal is a desktop calendar application that replaces iCal and provides the sharing and synchronization capabilities of BusySync in one integrated application. In addition to calendar syncing, BusyCal also provides the ability to enter and view event details in a non-modal floating window or an embedded info pane; create To Dos, including recurring To Dos, that display in the calendar and auto-forward until completed; display events in several customizable views including a List View and scrolling Month and Week Views; display graphics, sticky notes, live weather feeds and moon phases in your calendar; apply custom font styles and colors to events; display alarms in a window and on the menu bar; and more.

What are the system requirements?

  • BusyCal supports OS X 10.5 Leopard, and OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
  • BusySync supports OS X 10.4 Tiger, OS X 10.5 Leopard, and OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Is BusyCal compatible with BusySync?

BusyCal and BusySync are compatible with each other. You can sync calendars between a mix of computers running BusyCal and BusySync.

Note: You must be running BusySync 2.2 or later.

Upgrading from BusySync to BusyCal

How do I upgrade from BusySync to BusyCal?

You cannot run BusySync and BusyCal on the same computer. If you are a BusySync user, a confirmation dialog will appear when you first launch BusyCal informing you that your BusySync data will be converted to BusyCal and BusySync will be stopped.

How do I downgrade to BusySync from BusyCal?

If you attempt to start BusySync after running BusyCal, a dialog will ask you if you wish to convert your BusyCal database to BusySync format. Once you convert the database, you will be able to start BusySync. If you don't plan to use BusyCal anymore, it is recommended that you delete it from your Applications folder.

Migrating from iCal to BusyCal

How do I migrate my data from iCal to BusyCal?

When you first launch BusyCal, all of your iCal data is instantly imported. The data is actually imported from Sync Services, which is the underlying technology on Mac OS X that syncs calendar data between iCal, MobileMe, the iPhone and other apps/services like BusyCal.

Since BusyCal syncs with Sync Services, any changes you make to your calendars in BusyCal will continue to be synced with iCal. If you later decide not to use BusyCal, all of your data will be current in iCal.

How do I revert to iCal from BusyCal?

If you wish to stop using BusyCal as your primary calendar and switch back to iCal, you should reset BusyCal. To reset BusyCal, launch BusyCal and select Help > Reset > Reset BusyCal. BusyCal will clear its publish and subscribe settings, delete its database, set iCal as your default calendar application, and quit. If you don't plan to use BusyCal anymore, it is recommended that you delete it from your Applications folder.

General Questions

How does BusyCal differ from iCal?

BusyCal is a superset of iCal. It contains most of the basic functions found in iCal, plus the ability to share calendars with others on your LAN; sync with Google Calendar; create To Dos, including recurring To Dos, that display in the calendar view and auto-forward until completed; view events in a customizable List View; display graphics and live weather feeds in your calendar; and apply custom fonts, styles and colors to events.

For upgrade instructions see how do I transfer my data from iCal to BusyCal?

How does it differ from MobileMe?

Comparing BusyCal/BusySync to MobileMe is not an apples-to-apples comparison. MobileMe offers a wide range of services including email, iDisk, Back to My Mac, Web Galleries, and wireless iPhone syncing of calendars and contacts. BusyCal/BusySync, on the other hand, is focused solely on syncing calendars (both over the LAN and with Google Calendar). The primary difference when syncing calendars is that MobileMe is designed to sync calendars between computers owned by a single individual, while BusyCal/BusySync is designed for syncing calendars between different users.

MobileMe syncs calendars across multiple Macs sharing a single MobileMe account. This works fine for an individual with multiple computers but is not ideal for a group of users who wish to share calendars. Everyone must use the same MobileMe account; you cannot sync calendars between users with different MobileMe accounts.

BusyCal/BusySync allows you to sync calendars with others and you can choose which calendars you wish to sync, making some calendars public (with optional password protection) while keeping others private.

Does it support MobileMe?

BusyCal/BusySync is compatible with MobileMe, so you can use it to sync calendars with others on your LAN or with Google Calendar while also using MobileMe to sync with an iPhone or a remote Mac. For more info, see the BusyCal Configuration Guide: MobileMe.

Does it support Exchange?

BusyCal/BusySync does not directly support Exchange. If you are subscribed to an Exchange calendar in iCal, you will have read-only access to that calendar in BusyCal/BusySync. In order to make changes to that calendar, you'll have to launch iCal.

Does it support CalDAV?

BusyCal/BusySync does not directly support CalDAV. If you are subscribed to a CalDAV calendar in iCal, you will have read-only access to that calendar in BusyCal/BusySync. In order to make changes to that calendar, you'll have to launch iCal.

How does it differ from Google CalDAV?

BusyCal/BusySync offers several advantages over Google CalDAV, including the ability to publish calendars to Google, store To Dos on calendars locally that you are syncing with Google, sync alarms with Google, and easily sync Google subscribed calendars to the iPhone via MobileMe. For a detailed comparison see Google CalDAV versus BusySync.

Does it support WebDAV?

BusyCal supports subscribing to calendars on a WebDAV server, but does not support publishing to a WebDAV server. If you want to publish to a WebDAV server, you'll have to do that in iCal. If your primary interest is in making a calendar available for others to subscribe to via WebDAV, there is a work around. You can use BusyCal to publish a calendar to Google Calendar. Once your calendar is published to Google Calendar, you can then make it available as a WebDAV feed for others to subscribe to, as described here.

Does it sync with the iPhone?

Yes, you can sync with the iPhone using any of the following methods:

Does it sync To Dos with the iPhone?

BusyCal/BusySync will not sync To Dos to the iPhone because the calendar app on the iPhone does not support To Dos. We're hoping Apple will eventually add To Do support to the built-in calendar app on the iPhone, at which point BusyCal/BusySync will support it.

Does it sync Address Book contacts?

Currently, BusyCal/BusySync only supports syncing calendars. Address Book syncing has been a popular request. We plan to provide an Address Book syncing solution in the future but we don't have a specific time-frame to announce at this time.

Does it sync with Entourage?

Short answer: Not very well.

Long answer: BusyCal/BusySync is designed to work with Sync Services, which Entourage also supports to a limited degree. You can sync Entourage with Sync Services in Entourage Preferences > Sync Services > "Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and .Mac". This will create an "Entourage" calendar in iCal and BusyCal containing all of your Entourage events. Once there, you can use BusyCal/BusySync to sync the Entourage calendar with others on your LAN or with Google Calendar. However, Entourage will only sync that single calendar and will not sync with any of the other calendars in iCal or BusyCal, so it is rather limiting. In addition, Entourage doesn't play well with Sync Services, which may result in duplicate events and other strange behavior. Therefore, it's not recommended that you use BusyCal/BusySync with Entourage.

Does it sync with Google Apps for your domain?

Yes, you can sync with Google Apps accounts and regular Google accounts.

Does it sync To Dos with Google Calendar?

Google hasn't released an API for third-party developers to sync with Tasks yet, so BusyCal/BusySync is unable to sync To Dos with Google Calendar. It is something we hope to do in the future.

Does it sync Alarms with Google Calendar?

Yes, but Alarms are not synced with Google Calendar by default. If you wish, you may choose to sync Message Alarms on your Mac to a popup, SMS or email alarm on Google. Note: when enabling Alarm syncing, the change is not retro-active and will only affect new events that you create and not existing events in your calendar. If you wish to make it retro-active, you must unpublish and/or unsubscribe from the calendars you are syncing with Google, enable the Alarm syncing preference, and then republish or re-subscribe to the calendars. For more info, see the Google Settings section of the BusyCal User Guide or BusySync User Guide.

Note: If you edit an alarm on an existing event on your Mac, the change will be synced to Google immediately. However, any alarm changes made on Google Calendar won't sync to your Mac unless you edit some other attribute of the event as well, like the event title or description. This is a bug in the Google Calendar API. Google is aware of the bug and will hopefully fix in a future update.

Does it sync meeting attendees with Google Calendar?

Attendee information is synced with Google Calendar only when an event with attendees is created on Google Calendar. Attendee information is not synced when an event with attendees is created locally in iCal or BusyCal. Therefore, if you want attendee information to sync, you must create the event on Google Calendar. And for best results, you should edit meeting requests on Google Calendar as well.

Does it have to be running to sync?

  • BusySync — is always running invisibly in the background, constantly syncing iCal with other users on the LAN, and with Google Calendar. iCal does not have to be running for BusySync to keep your calendars in sync.
  • BusyCal — must be running in order to sync. If you are publishing many calendars that other subscribers need constant access to, you should leave BusyCal running as often as possible. You may want to add BusyCal to your Login Items so that it launches each time you restart your computer.
  • If a user you are sharing calendars with shuts down or goes offline, you can still view and edit shared calendars. The next time you are both online, the changes will be synced.

Technical Questions

I replaced my old computer with a new one. Can I use the same serial number?

Yes, you can use the same BusyCal/BusySync serial number on a new computer that you were using on an old computer. You just need to make sure you are no longer running BusyCal/BusySync on the old computer.

BusySync might complain when you move serial numbers from one computer to another, claiming that you are exceeding your number of licenses. This can happen because BusySync caches the number of serial numbers in use for 24 hours. You can clear the cache by stopping/starting BusySync on each computer and that should clear up the error messages. You should also uninstall BusySync from the old computer.

How do I transfer my calendar data from an old computer to a new one?

The best way to handle this would be to reset BusyCal/BusySync on the old computer, backup your calendar, transfer the backup file to the new computer and restore it there, then configure BusyCal/BusySync on the new computer the same way as the old one, as follows:

BusyCal

Old Computer

  1. Select File > Back up BusyCal, and save the file.
  2. Select Reset BusyCal from the Help menu, and click Reset BusyCal. This will remove all subscribed calendars that you were subscribed to from other users on your LAN and/or Google Calendar.

New Computer

  1. Download and install BusyCal on the new computer.
  2. If you were already running BusyCal on the new computer, you should reset BusyCal as described above.
  3. Transfer the backup file from the old computer to the new computer.
  4. Launch BusyCal and select File > Restore BusyCal, and select the backup file you transferred from the old computer.

BusySync

Old Computer

  1. Select the Reset tab, and click Reset BusySync. This will remove all calendars from iCal that you were subscribed to from other BusySync users on your LAN and/or Google Calendar.
  2. In iCal, select File > Back up iCal, and save the file.

New Computer

  1. Download and install BusySync on the new computer.
  2. If you were already running BusySync on the new computer, you should reset BusySync as described above.
  3. If there are any calendars in iCal on the new computer that you wish to keep, select them one at a time and choose File > Export, and save them.
  4. Transfer the backup file from the old computer to the new computer.
  5. Launch iCal and select File > Restore, and select the the backup file you transferred from the old computer.
  6. If you exported any calendars in step 3, double-click each one to import it.
  7. Start BusySync and configure your Publish and Subscribe options.

Why am I getting duplicate events?

Duplicates are usually a result of a sync loop where you are syncing the same calendars from multiple sources. The most common cause is a MobileMe sync loop where you are syncing multiple computers on the same LAN with BusyCal/BusySync and with the same MobileMe account. The solution is to turn off MobileMe calendar syncing or BusyCal/BusySync on one of the computers in the loop.

Another possibility is that you are subscribed to a Google CalDAV or WebDAV calendar in iCal that you are also subscribed to via BusySync. The solution is to remove the redundant CalDAV or WebDAV subscriptions in iCal and just sync those calendars via BusySync.

A third possibility is that you received a meeting invitation via email that you added to your calendar, and are subscribed to the calendar where the event originated, so you're seeing both copies of the event. See meetings for more info.

If there are too many duplicates to clean up by hand, you have a couple choices for batch deleting duplicate events:

  • If you're running BusyCal, select Help > Find Duplicates, and BusyCal will display a list of duplicate events. You can then choose to selectively delete some or all duplicate events.
  • If you're running iCal, checkout iCal Cleaner, an AppleScript utility that will remove corrupted data from iCal such as duplicate events, blank events, and duplicate alarms.

Why am I getting errors that Sync Services is not responding?

If BusyCal/BusySync is unable to sync with Sync Services, an error will display alerting you to the problem. Typically, restarting your computer will "wake up" Sync Services and solve the problem. If not, you may be able to solve it by resetting your sync history, which will rebuild your Sync Services database. Click the appropriate link below for instructions on how to reset sync history:

If resetting sync history does not solve the problem, you may need to manually reset and rebuild your sync services database:

Note: Before performing a manual reset, you may wish to send your logs to BusyMac technical support for help troubleshooting the problem.

How do I reset my calendars?

You can reset sync history to rebuild your sync services database, or reset BusyCal/BusySync and start with a clean slate, as follows:

BusyCal — select Reset from the Help menu, and choose one of the following options:

  • Reset Sync History — Click Reset Sync History if BusyCal has stopped syncing with Sync Services (MobileMe, iTunes, etc.). This will fix most syncing problems, and you will not lose any data. See Reset Sync History for more info.
  • Reset BusyCal — Click Reset BusyCal to clear your publish and subscribe settings and delete your BusyCal database. All calendars that you own in BusyCal and/or Google Calendar will be preserved. After performing the reset, you must reconfigure your Publish and Subscribe options.

BusySync — select the Reset tab, and choose one of the following options:

  • 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. See Reset Sync History on Mac OS X 1.05 (Leopard) or Reset Sync History on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) for more info.
  • 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.

Why does the Conflict Resolver display conflicts?

BusyCal/BusySync uses Apple's Sync Services to sync calendar data. Sync Services has a fundamental limitation that two events with the same name and date cannot exist on two different calendars. If they do, the Conflict Resolver will pop up and require you to choose which event to keep and which to delete. This can cause havoc when syncing calendars on the network.

To avoid such problems, you need to work within the limitations of Sync Services. This means you need to be careful when first setting up BusyCal/BusySync to remove any duplicate calendars on a subscribing machine that may be left over from using previous syncing applications (such as .Mac/MobileMe). Also, you need to design a workflow that avoids duplicating events.

Often companies want to create a shared calendar for each employee, but when several people put the same event on their calendars, that can lead to conflicts. One solution is to prefix such common events with the person's initials, so there won't be conflicts with other calendars. See below for related info on why BusySync appends calendar names in [brackets] when scheduling meetings.

Why do some event titles have the calendar name appended in [brackets]?

You can 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).

As an added precaution, you may wish to prevent iCal from automatically adding event invitations to iCal by opening iCal > Preferences > Advanced and disabling the option to "Automatically retrieve invitations from Mail".

Why can't I see other users on my LAN?

If you do not see calendars being published by other users on your LAN, it may be because they have their system firewall turned on and it is blocking incoming BusyCal/BusySync connections. They should either turn off their system firewall, or allow BusyCal/BusySync traffic to pass through the firewall as described in the Firewall FAQ.

Note: It is only necessary to modify your firewall settings on computers that are Publishing calendars. It is not necessary to adjust the firewall settings on computers that are only Subscribing to calendars.

Why are events synced with Google Calendar off by an hour or so?

Your local time zone settings and Google time zone settings probably don't match. Time zones are set in a number of different places. Here are the different places you need to check to make sure everything is in agreement.

  • Mac System Preferences > Date & Time > Time Zone
  • BusyCal > Preferences > Advanced > check "Show time zone menu". Then make sure the time zone in the top right corner of the window is correct
  • iCal > Preferences > Advanced > check "Turn on time zone support". Then make sure the time zone in the top right corner of the window is correct
  • Google Calendar > Settings > General > Your current time zone (you may need to check "show all timezones" to see your timezone)
  • Google Calendar > Settings > Calendars > Calendar Details > Calendar Time Zone (you may need to check "show all timezones" to see your timezone)

After all that, new events you create should sync properly. Existing events will need to be edited for them to get their time zones updated. The easiest way to do that is to unsubscribe/resubscribe or unpbulish/republish any calendars you are syncing with Google.

Why am I getting a "Could not generate feed" error when syncing with Google?

You are encountering Google Calendar temporary server errors, which means the Google server is busy or experiencing errors. This is a temporary error on Google's end and usually clears up within minutes or hours, at which point syncing will automatically resume. This error is limited to apps that sync with Google Calendar using the Google Data APIs (like BusyCal/BusySync), and does not usually affect your ability to use Google Calendar on the web.

These errors are quite common and usually go unnoticed since BusyCal/BusySync recovers from them automatically once the server is back online. In rare cases, however, the errors can go on for many hours or days, particularly on weekends when there's nobody home at Google.

Trying to solve the problem by altering your Google sync settings or resetting sync history, etc., when these Google server errors are occurring will not solve the problem and may make things worse. The best course of action is to be patient and wait for the Google server errors to clear up, at which point syncing will automatically resume.

Why are events appearing in the BusyCal/BusySync Conflicts calendar?

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

  • 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 BusyCal/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 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 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 you're 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.

Why do calendars I've subscribe to have a "(2)" appended to them?

You cannot have more than one calendar of the same name. Therefore, if you subscribe to a calendar that has the same name as an existing calendar (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 in source list and renaming it.

How can I backup and restore my calendars?

BusyCal backup and restore

BusyCal automatically backs up your BusyCal database every day and saves your last 10 backups in ~/Library/Application Support/BusyCal/Backup.

If you wish to restore your calendar from one of these backups, select BusyCal > Preferences > Backup, click the Restore From Backup button, select a backup file, and click Open. Your calendar will be restored from the backup.

BusySync backup and restore

BusySync automatically backs up your iCal database every day and saves your last 10 backups in ~/Library/Application Support/BusySync/Backup.

If you wish to restore iCal from one of these backups, select the Reset tab, click the Restore iCal From Backup button, select a backup file, and click Open. Then click Restore in iCal, and iCal will be restored from the backup.

Google Calendar Backup and Restore

You can backup all of your calendars on Google Calendar by clicking the following link, which will create a zip file containing each of your Google calendars in ics format.

https://www.google.com/calendar/exporticalzip

Or, you can backup your Google calendars individually 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 an .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 do I migrate from Spanning Sync?

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

BusyCal/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. BusyCal/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 on your Mac or on Google. Regardless of whether your are the host or the client, you can make edits on your Mac or on Google and synchronize between the two.

If you are migrating from Spanning Sync to BusyCal/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 BusyCal/BusySync, as follows:

  1. Reset and uninstall Spanning Sync.
  2. Decide whether to host each calendar on your Mac or on Google. You can host all calendars on your Mac, host all calendars on Google, or host some on your Mac 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 on your Mac, 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 BusyCal/BusySync to sync with Google Calendar. For example, you can Publish the Work calendar from your Mac to Google, and the Work calendar will be automatically created on Google.

For more info, see the Google section of the BusyCal User Guide and/or BusySync User Guide.

How do I uninstall BusyCal?

You can uninstall BusyCal by doing the following:

  1. Launch BusyCal, select Reset BusyCal from the Help menu, and click the Reset BusyCal button. Then quit BusyCal.
  2. Delete the BusyCal application from the Applications folder.
  3. Optionally, delete the files located here:
    /Users/username/Library/Application Support/BusyCal
    /Users/username/Library/Logs/BusyCal.

How do I uninstall BusySync?

You can remove BusySync by doing the following:

  1. Open the BusySync Preference Pane.
  2. Select the General tab and uncheck "Show status in menu bar".
  3. Select the Reset tab and click the Reset BusySync button.
  4. Click Show All in the toolbar to return to System Preferences.
  5. Control-click on the BusySync Preference Pane and choose Remove “BusySync” Preference Pane.
  6. Optionally, delete the files located here:
    /Users/username/Library/Application Support/BusySync
    /Users/username/Library/Logs/BusySync.
  7. Restart your computer

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

In addition to these FAQs, there are several resources available for support:

Documentation

Other