How to sync multiple Gmail calendars on your BlackBerry PlayBook
The release of OS 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook and its integrated calendar is a dream come true for me. It's one of the features I use the most on my BlackBerry Bold 9930 and it was sorely missed on my PlayBook. Now that it's available, a lot of us are trying to figure out how to make it do exactly as we'd like. Over in our CrackBerry forums some helpful users found a way to sync multiple Google calendars on the PlayBook. We thought this was so great that it deserved a post on the front page and a shout out to all the members commenting in that forum. Also a special shout out to forums member tubbycyclist for such detailed and easy to follow instructions and @jcarty for letting us know you can do the same using Google Chrome. Keep reading to see step by step instructions on how to sync your multiple Gmail calendars with your BlackBerry PlayBook!
How to sync multiple Gmail Calendars on the BlackBerry PlayBook
First let me start by saying you can do this in Chrome or Firefox. I'll list the differences in ( ) for Chrome in the instructions for those who prefer it over Firefox.
Step by Step Guide
- If you don't have Google Chrome or Firefox, click the links above, download and install (you only need one or the other).
- Go to your Toolbar at the top and select Tools > Add Ons. In the search field (circled in red in the picture below) type User Agent Switcher (for Chrome users you can use UA Spoofer). Select and install it.
- Once the User Agent Switcher has been installed, close and restart Firefox.
- Open Google and login to your account.
- Go to Tools and use the UA Switcher to select iPhone 3.0 (Chrome users will select iPhone 4) as shown in the picture below.
- In your web browser, go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/welcome and you should see PlayBook listed like the picture below.
- If you do not seePlayBook listed, check to make sure your UA Switcher is on iPhone 3 (or 4 for Mac) and try closing your browser or refreshing.
- Now select Tools > Options > Content (Mac users Edit > Preferences > Content) and disable Javascript by unchecking the box.
- Once you have disabled Javascript, select PlayBook on the Mobile Sync page.
- You will see a screen like the one below with NO calendar options. In the browser address bar change the word "false" to the word "true" and then refresh the page.
- The page should now show all your calendars like the pic below. Simply select those you would like to sync and hit the save button.
- Once you see a message saying all settings have changed, you can reset your browser settings and you're all set!
Sync Away!
My PlayBook started to sync right away but some users in the forums have reported a 10 minute wait or so before seeing there other calendars on their PlayBook Calendar. Thanks again to all the wonderful forum readers out there for passing this info on to us. Remeber, if you have any more great tips and tricks, email them on over to editorial(at)crackberry.com!
sen_ Feb 23, 2012 at 1:57 pm
If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch handy (or any of your friends have one you can use).
You can do it from there as well. Just remember to turn off javascript as mentioned above. Worked like a charm for me.
Thanks for the tip :) and just remember to log out of the borrowed iphone.. :P
L_T#CB Feb 23, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Amazing.....Thank you to all who figured this out!!!
abeath Feb 23, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Thank you so much to the person who figured this out, I am still waiting for the refresh to happen but I am hoping this will finally get my work ical (subscribed to on google) on my playbook.
Now all I need is the ability to invite attendees with my gmail accounts and I am all set.
footose Feb 23, 2012 at 2:09 pm
thank you! helpful.
ekv Feb 23, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Any such way to achieve the same on the blackberry too?
tymateusz Feb 23, 2012 at 4:55 pm
yes, download simplebrowser from appworld. you can choose agent there.
steelguy Feb 23, 2012 at 10:44 pm
In fact I used SimpleBrowser on my Playbook to do this entire process - I don't need no stinking computer! PB 2.0 is rockin!
rp_koko Feb 24, 2012 at 10:56 am
i don't see my Playbook in the browser... what i do wrong?
jordandrews90 Feb 23, 2012 at 2:12 pm
"Go to your Toolbar at the top and select Tools > Add Ons. In the search field (circled in red in the picture below) type User Agent Switcher (for Chrome users you can use UA Spoofer). Select and install it."
I'm already stuck, I'm using Chrome and can't go to "tools > add ons" and I have no idea what a UA Spoofer is or how to find it and install it.
Kerri Neill Feb 23, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Go to the "Wrench" icon on the right > Tools > Extensions > Click get more Extensions near the bottom of the page :)
jordandrews90 Feb 23, 2012 at 2:20 pm
I went the Google Chrome store and found "user-agent switcher" but when I click install it says "it can access: 1. Your data on all websites, 2. Your tabs and browsing activity." is that safe? It sounds like a huge invasion on privacy. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something...
Kerri Neill Feb 23, 2012 at 2:22 pm
It's basically making your browser think you're on a mobile device. You're literally going to have it turned on for a few mins so not much to worry about :)
jordandrews90 Feb 23, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Okay, thank you!! :)
sen_ Feb 23, 2012 at 2:17 pm
You can go to the Chrome Webstore and get User-Agent Switcher for Chrome. Pretty much the same thing.
Angus_CB Feb 24, 2012 at 8:41 am
The good thing about using Chrome (I didn't try Firefox) is that you can set User-Agent Switcher and JavaScript settings for specific web pages. m.google.com in this case.
thanhyboi Feb 23, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Finally! This has been killing me. Thank you!
I have one question: Once I get the syncing up and going, can I uninstall the Agent Switcher or is that something I have to have running at all times in my browser?
bkhouri80 Feb 23, 2012 at 2:47 pm
The User Agent Switcher can be uninstalled. It is used to trick the website into thinking your computer is a different web browser all together.
Kerri Neill Feb 23, 2012 at 2:47 pm
I didnt uninstall mine just in case but I did disable it...
TgeekB Feb 23, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Thank you sooooooo much! One more thing to make my Playbook great!!
tommy2tone67 Feb 23, 2012 at 2:47 pm
thx great post followed all the steps, calenders show up on top of calender app but they dont sync, so i tried these steps again and i have duplicate calenders on top
adamschuetze Feb 23, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Don't forget, if you're on Google Apps, make sure your administrator has enabled "Mobile Sync" in the administrator dashboard for your Google Apps domain. That had me stuck for a bit. Also, I think you have to add the Gmail account to your playbook *before* you do the procedure outlined above.
tommy2tone67 Feb 23, 2012 at 3:03 pm
thx for reply i cant seem to find Mobile Sync.
Divefire Feb 23, 2012 at 3:21 pm
It's worth pointing out you can do all of the above from your PlayBook, with the use of Simple Browser.
primusd Feb 23, 2012 at 3:34 pm
This is an amazing hack that dealt with a huge shortfall for me, but I'm now running into the issue on my BB handset of having a new Default calendar (that duplicates everything from all calendars). Anyone else? (I am using google sync, which I'm sure is implicated somehow....)
Kerri Neill Feb 23, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Most likely...hate Google sync with a passion
diegonei Feb 23, 2012 at 3:54 pm
I don't get it why you're using google sync when your BB can do that by itself with no app at all. Unless you're not on BIS, ofc...
ice4u2 Feb 23, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Because BB can't sync multiple calenders. But with this short cut...maybe I can finally get rid of it.
pinkert11 Feb 25, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Wow, works for the BB as well! Sweet
ElSteve9 Feb 24, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Did you figure this out?
I'm not seeing anything listed when I go to m.google.com/sync
-Stephen
rjedge54 Feb 23, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Excellent, thanks to those involved. I can now sync my Vancouver Whitecaps Calendar for the 2012 season onto my PB calendar. Woohoo!
BearSnout Feb 23, 2012 at 4:02 pm
This is great!!! ... but you said you do this on your 9930? How? Please share!!!
tubbycyclist Feb 23, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Thanks for the mention, nice to feel welcome. Glad it has helped users on the forum.
A couple of other things to add -
Any browser that can set User Agent can do this, just so Safari users don't feel left out.
Users of Google whose language is not English may need to set their language to English (US) in settings to get this to work. It does not appear to work with other languages.
diegonei Feb 23, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Yes, I had to learn this the hard way. :)
diegonei Feb 23, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Oh, btw, this is one AWESOME tip.
abeath Feb 23, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Great Tip...but upon further review it still does not allow you to invite attendees on those calendars. To enable the invite attendees with a gmail account you have to tell your main account to not Sync Calendar and set up a separate CalDAV for each calendar you wish to have the ability to invite people with. There is help in the Forums to get this done as well.
monotok Feb 23, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Thanks, I had to do this with Windows Phone before mango came out!
ice4u2 Feb 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm
How long does it take to sync up typically?
sshogrin Feb 23, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Thanks! Now if RIM can implement this themselves thru the OS, that would be even better.
joesworld Feb 23, 2012 at 7:28 pm
This is perfect, why can't we do this by default is anyone's guess... what's up with that Google?
russ.mtc Feb 23, 2012 at 7:41 pm
AWESOME! This was my biggest complaint with 2.0; what am I going to whine about now? ;-) Thanks so much to the folks that figured this out!!!
Giallo Feb 23, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Sometimes dreams come true! ;-)
Big thanks to tubbycyclist!
frisco49ers Feb 24, 2012 at 11:14 am
Anyone else notice after this that you don't have the bigger numbers on the days with items anymore.
Ignore,,, this issue fixed itself.......
I am loving it...
Martijnb Feb 24, 2012 at 5:14 am
I can't get it to work :S :-( when I navigate to m.google.com/sync it states that this device isn't supported by Google Sync.
gesc Feb 24, 2012 at 8:37 am
same here... suggestions?
(both FF and chrome)
tubbycyclist Feb 24, 2012 at 10:20 am
Two potential reasons for this, either
The user agent switcher has not worked, which you can check by going to a website that lists your user agent. You can do it in other browsers too (including one or two for the Playbook)
OR
If you have followed the instructions correctly, you may be using a language other than English (US). If so - change this in settings first before carrying out the instruction.
gesc Feb 24, 2012 at 10:59 am
living in austria, the second reasons makes sense.
reason one can be ruled out as other websites have been shown in mobile mode. thanks, will try that out.
Martijnb Feb 24, 2012 at 11:01 am
Thanks for the tips but still no luck :(. I have no clue why it would not work :-(
rp_koko Feb 24, 2012 at 11:27 am
which language? from playbook of from googlecalender?
tubbycyclist Feb 24, 2012 at 11:52 am
Google preferences should be set to English
tommy2tone67 Feb 24, 2012 at 10:04 am
Help, get to the last screen as posted, i set up account on playbook, calenders show up but they don't sync. When i get to the last screen i don't get a message saying settings changed i just have a save button
djjmaddox Feb 24, 2012 at 11:22 am
Thank you! Been trying to figure this out on my own with no success until I saw this post.
rp_koko Feb 24, 2012 at 11:32 am
Will it work with my BlackBerry Bold to?
BearSnout Feb 24, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Any help I can get with this would be appreciated. Check this post and screenshot I added:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-tablet-os-f228/synch-multiple-gm...
hoopitz Feb 24, 2012 at 1:32 pm
This is awesome! Got it working on my Bold also!
On my bold, i downloaded google sync and when i went into the options, at the bottom, underneath "Sync these Calendars:", I clicked on my gmail email address that was there and then i had the option to check off all the other calendars i wanted to sync!
I'm not sure if this was important in getting it to work or not, but before i did that (already having google sync installed on my phone), i followed the instructions in this thread, but instead of clicking on the Playbook on the sync page, i clicked on Smartphone. Then i continued following the steps and clicked the additional calendars i wanted.
Hope this helps anyone looking to get this done.
ElSteve9 Feb 24, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Is it possible to use this on os6? I have a 9650 and this would be uber-handy.
-Stephen
fuzzytomato Feb 25, 2012 at 9:01 am
This was an amazing tip. Having used a Rogers pop email for almost 15 years I didn't realize that there were so many options available through webmail
.. I naively viwed webmail acEcounts as inferior. Either way I exclusively have used Outlook and all its tools for both work and personal and have shared a calendar with my wife through bbm.
I do have a question though.....I have successfully set up my native email on both my 64g and my wife's 16g, and did the exact same steps outlined in this thread with my Torch thinking it would work......nothing has happened :(. I even did a battery pull thinking that would help but no. Is the google sync app necessary for the management of multiple calendars from my torch?
Mine Torch9810 Bridged to 64GB PlayBook
Wife's Bold 9700 Bridged to 16GB PlayBook
fuzzytomato Feb 25, 2012 at 9:59 am
So I experimented and now i have a problem. My PB syncs to BB...and my PC...but now my BB is wonky....arrrgh....couldn't need well enough alone I wanted more.......help....gonna play with the option
Cheers
Mine. Torch 9810 Bridged to 64GB PlayBook
Wife's Bold 9700 Bridged to 16GB PlayBook
fuzzytomato Feb 25, 2012 at 10:29 am
It's been sorted out...i am not getting hung up on the multiple calendars on my bb.
Cheers
Mine. Torch 9810 Bridged to 64GB PlayBook
Wife's Bold 9700 Bridged to 16GB PlayBook
cbrodeur Feb 25, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Thank you so much guys. I wonder how you can come up with that stuff. You're doing a great job helping us all!
ChristopherSharp Feb 26, 2012 at 10:29 am
Thanks for posting. I completed all of the steps, including the final screen, and still cannot get the calendars to sync. This is beyond frustrating. Help please.
acijam Feb 28, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Is anyone experiencing the wrong time zone on the calendars?
robxb Mar 2, 2012 at 2:18 pm
CHROME USERS! PLEASE NOTE...
In order to disable Javascript, you go to wrench menu - options - under the hood - content settings and then "Do not allow any site to run JavaScript".
If you'd like to go one step further, you can leave it enabled and click "manage exceptions", and then enter the m.google.com/sync/settings/.......supportMultiCalendars=true address, and select BLOCK as the behavior.
moyjoy Mar 2, 2012 at 3:24 pm
i love you.
gruzzi Mar 2, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Thank you to all who figured this out!!! just great! works fantastic!
fanchettes Mar 4, 2012 at 9:42 am
Okay this will probably be a stupid question, but do I have to do this every day to sync calendars, or does this set it up to sync automatically?
kpmel Mar 6, 2012 at 3:11 pm
I haven't read every single comment here nor am I a real tech savvy person so apologies if someone has remarked on this already but, if my Blackberry Smartphone already had the built in capability to sync multiple Google Calendars, why do I have to jump through so many hoops to make my PlayBook do the same thing? Am I missing something here or does one hand at RIM not know what the other is doing?
runnerpete Apr 9, 2012 at 8:14 pm
How do I delete old, unused google calendars I've previously entered onto my BB PB native calendar? I've tried unchecking the m.google.com/sync calendars, yet the calendars are still on my Playbook.
DanishHaidri Apr 22, 2012 at 11:22 pm
Guys I can't figure this out. I have downloaded the simplebrowser on my PlayBook but what's next? I can't download Chrome or Firefox?
angelus1969 Apr 30, 2012 at 3:43 am
Hi,
Is this 'suddenly' broken somehow? I can see the extra Google calendars in the PB calendar list, but the entries are just not there anymore. Perhaps something to do with the latest software update on the PB?
stephenmaly08 May 14, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I set this up (thanks btw) but I have a 3 hour time difference when I set up appointments on my handset and how it appears on the playbook (I use google sync on the handset). Any ideas?
conski04 Jun 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Okay so I have a bit of a dilemma, I have gotten to as far as the last step, but firefox won't let select any boxes. This in turn makes it impossible to sync my calendar. Appreciate any help you can throw my way.
internalaudit Jun 15, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Thank you so much for the walkthrough! I can now access my one and only Google Calendar on my Playbook.
Anyway settings to tweak on my Playbook to speed up sync both ways? I already have Calendar sync turned on as well as Push synchronization for my gmail account.
nogoodatthis Sep 7, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Sorry to be thick, but i followed the steps and took a wrong turn. Downloaded ifrefox onto my mac, did as instructed but did not get to the illustrated page when I entered m.google.com/sync in the web browser. Any idea what I have done wrong?
GJHmf Oct 3, 2012 at 11:39 am
This worked in f/w versions 2.0.1.358 and 2.0.1.668 for me; but ever since f/w 2.1.0.1032 rolled out today, all my shared Gmail calendars seem to have vanished.
Coxwain Oct 3, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Same here. With this update it cleared my calendars and I cannot put them back on using this method. It doesnt allow me to add a checkmark to the calendars.
Coxwain Oct 3, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Spoke to soon, you have to TURN OFF javascript. then I could select.
thanks
too bad we even have to go through this.
GJHmf Oct 4, 2012 at 11:40 am
I did this before on 2.0.1.358, which carried over to 2.0.1.668.
Annoying that I had to do it again for 2.1.0.1032, but I guess my PlayBook flagged up as a new 'PlayBook' entry in that page since the firmware update.
Cheers for the head's-up though, very much appreciated.
gambit47 Oct 11, 2012 at 12:34 am
I also lost my secondary Google calendar after installing 2.1.0.1032. The following steps just worked for me to get it back:
1) re-apply the instructions on this page (there was indeed a new Playbook device entry listed on Google)
2) go into the Playbook account settings, make a tweak to the Gmail account to enable the Save button. Reset the tweak before pressing Save.
3) go into the Calendar app. The secondary Google calendar has re-appeared.
4) Re-sync.
bluemorph Nov 4, 2012 at 7:25 pm
We have three PBs in our house so on 'm.google.com/sync' there are three listed (makes sense). I followed the steps listed above for the first PB and everything worked great. I have 7 google calendars and they all sync fine.
I tried the same steps with my son's PB and there were never any error messages so I assumed it would start to sync just like the first PB but nothing happened.
Any ideas on why only one PB will sync?
P.S. On the second PB I also tried using simple browser and it still wouldn't sync.
Coxwain Dec 14, 2012 at 1:46 pm
https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect
the old link m.google.com/sync no longer works for calendar selection. Try the above link
not_a_spy Dec 20, 2012 at 2:14 am
Seems like m.google.com/sync now redirects to the desktop website. I was able to complete the steps from this page using https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/welcome.
Amy Gibbs Dec 27, 2012 at 4:37 am
I've followed this but I don't have playbook listed in the list. I do have our various iphones and ipads listed so the UA switcher is working. I already have the default google calendar in the playbook but I can't see it in the list to add the others?
Amy Gibbs Jan 14, 2013 at 6:11 am
Turns out this no longer works for new set ups as google have switched something off, still looking for a way to sync multiple google calendars,
Amy Gibbs Jan 18, 2013 at 9:04 am
After a few phone calls with BB I have multiple google calendars....
By default the Playbook will only sync the primary calendar on your gmail account. The other calendars have to be added as caldav calendars.
You will need your google account info and the calendar id from google. To get your calendar id go to your calendar on a desktop machine (It doesn't show you all the info on a mobile site), in the my calendars list choose the calendar you want and click calendar settings. At the bottom is your calendar id
Settings - Accounts - Email calendars and contacts - advanced setup - caldav account
description - this can be whatever you want
username - this is your gmail username, the bit before @gmail.com
email address - this is your calendar id
password - this is your gmail password
server address - this is as below, swapping in YOUR calendar id
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/CALID/events
That should do it!
:)
OmegaRoach Jan 20, 2013 at 7:51 pm
Amy!!!! Thanks so much for doing the "leg work" on that. I had previously set up google calendars on other playbooks with the old way, but just got a new playbook and wasn't able to find it on the sync list . The old way was 100% easier than this way, but after 45 minutes of copy pasting, I was able to get all of my 8 google calendars set up on my playbook!
respibob May 6, 2013 at 5:43 pm
Thanks Amy! Worked perfectly