Sync to Google Calendar

The sync to Google Calendar does not appear to be working. I noticed this on 1/12/14. I went through the steps to restart the sync by initiating and copying the new URL, however Google says it is unable to communicate with the URL. This appears to be on the Church side, as my other calendars are working and syncing correctly.

brucejay wrote:The sync to Google Calendar does not appear to be working. I noticed this on 1/12/14. I went through the steps to restart the sync by initiating and copying the new URL, however Google says it is unable to communicate with the URL. This appears to be on the Church side, as my other calendars are working and syncing correctly.

The sync to my Google Calendar is working just fine from my LDS.org calendar.

Are you aware that there is a 9-minute throttle on the sync service for LDS.org calendars? That means that after accessing your personal sync URL in any way (on any device, or application, or directly accessing the URL in a browser to download the iCal file), you will not be successful in accessing it again until at least 9 minutes later.

Is there any chance your unsuccessful sync attempt was less than 9 minutes after some other sync attempt?

I waited at least nine minutes. I went to the calendar sync page and generated a new sync URL. I then copied the new sync URL and then signed out of the calendar.
I then signed on to Google calendar and added the URL per the instructions. (I have done this before.) Google calendar showed the calendar was importing. The importing message then disappeared and loading flashed for about 10 minutes. The URL was visible in the other calendars section.
"Loading" then stopped flashing and the error message below appeared. The URL also disappeared from the other calendars section. (The address in the error message showed the full sync URL from LDS.org sync page).

Settings Error
Failed to import calendar from "http://www.lds.org/church-calendar/serv ... subscribe/..."

There is an obvious communication issue, either on the Church servers or on Google's. I assume it is on the Church's side because my other calendars (work, etc.) seem to be syncing fine. However, it is possible it is a Google Sync issue.

I'm not sure what affect creating a new URL has on the 9 minute timer. It may start over.

I was looking at my calendar on my Android device (which syncs via Google calendar), and can see that there must have been a successful sync today as I have new events added.

brucejay wrote:There is an obvious communication issue, either on the Church servers or on Google's. I assume it is on the Church's side because my other calendars (work, etc.) seem to be syncing fine. However, it is possible it is a Google Sync issue.

It's not necessarily a communication issue. It's easy enough to verify whether the Church's sync servers are producing content -- just take the sync URL and paste it into your browser's address bar. If the sync service is producing the iCal feed, then that action will result in your browser prompting you to download a file. You can then save that file on your computer.

There have been reports in the past where particular content in one or more events was not accepted by Google Calendar. Generating the iCal file can help you narrow down where the problem lies.

This appears to be a problem in Google. I have tried this with two different GCAL accounts (both mine). I receive a failed to fetch URL error. I did some searching and found this has been an intermittent problem with GCAL for some time. I have validated the file from the Church and am able to import it into a private calendar in GCAL. It just won't sync as an other calendar via the add by URL option. Strange issue.

I appear to be running into the exact same problem that brucejay described, beginning at about the same time earlier this week (on or about 1/12/2014). My calendar no longer reflects updates or additions I make through lds.org to my ward's calendar, even after waiting a couple of days for it to trickle down. I followed the troubleshooting steps in the Calendar Help, and encountered the same "failed to import calendar" error when I attempted to re-add the ward calendar URL back to Google Calendar.

Are there any additional steps we can try?

If the breakdown is truly on Google's end, does the Church have a relationship with them through which to inquire further?

Are you able to get a iCal file when you paste the URL into your browser?

Yes, I can.

I am also having the same problem with my calendars as well. My recent additions in the lds.org calendar are not showing up on my google calendar but it is not showing up on my lds tools calendar also.

dawnettedaugherty wrote:but it is not showing up on my lds tools calendar also.

To ask a silly question - even after a sync?

What about if you past the URL in the browser? If you get I iCal file, does it contain the missing events? (Keeping in mind that the sync does have date limits. I know it won't have events that are past.)

I am having the same issue. GCAL wasn't updating correctly after modifying lds.org, so I deleted the link to resync. After resync, no lds.org calendar items were displayed on GCAL. Others in my stake experienced similar issues. Not good.

Do we just wait for a fix?

sdbillings wrote:Do we just wait for a fix?

Not much in the way of alternatives. Especially until the regular employees come to work on Tuesday. (Monday is a holiday.)

But defining the extent of the problem would be helpful.

dawnettedaugherty wrote:... it is not showing up on my lds tools calendar also.

Had you attempted to sync your LDSTools? Calendar events are only updated when you synchronize. This is no done automatically.

Hi folks, I have had the same problem as described here but fixed it this way (I did all this on a MacBook Pro not a Windows PC).
1. Generated a new Google calendar sync URL from LDS Calendar - saved this URL in text document
2. Waited about 20 minutes (just in case the 9 minute refresh was an issue)
3. Copied the new URL into web browser (Firefox) and was able to download the LDS Calendar ics file successfully.
4. Imported the ics file into Apple Calendar to check that all the events were there (just to confirm)
5. Exported all my Google Calendar items from my personal calendar account to an ics file (https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37111?hl=en)
6. Checked that they were all there by importing them into Apple Calendar (just to confirm)
7. Unsubscribed from all other calendars in Google Calendar - I have a number of other calendars in addition to the LDS Calendar
8. Went through the process of deleting my personal Google Calendar (https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37188?hl=en - Be aware of the "Note" in the middle of this article)
9. Followed the procedure given by user "esskay08" (6th entry from top) in this forum: https://productforums.google.com/forum/ ... discussion, for the task of renaming the exported Google Calendar ics file and changing "UID:" statements to "UIDZ:" statements.
10. Imported events from the modified ics file into renamed Google Calendar (https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37118?hl=en)
11. Resubscribe to other calendars
12. Resubscribe to LDS Calendar from the sync URL generated earlier - imported events successfully
13. Create dummy event in LDS Calendar
14. Wait the 24ish hours for Google to import
15. Import successfully
16. Stop stressing - go get a cool beverage!

Sorry for the long winded post but hope this may help. As the Exec Sec in a Ward that to this point haven't used the online tools including Calendar, getting this right has been part of my "sell" to get these tools working properly.

Kind regards,

Jeff Thornton.

bigphatsound wrote:10. Imported events from the modified ics file into renamed Google Calendar (https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37118?hl=en)
...
12. Resubscribe to LDS Calendar from the sync URL generated earlier - imported events successfully

Thanks for the detailed post. It seems like you were particularly careful, doing steps "just to confirm" multiple times. It's clearly not essential to do those confirmation steps all along the way, but if it builds your confidence, then that's a great approach. I've had success with a much smaller set of steps, but it's great to share your personal experience.

The one question I have regards steps 10 and 12. In step 10, it looks like you are importing an .ics file into your Google Calendar. That will of course only import the events in the calendar as they existed at the time that you saved the .ics file -- it will not be dynamic at all as events change in the future.

But then in step 12, you mention subscribing to the sync URL from the LDS.org Calendar. That will dynamically link your LDS.org subscribed calendars into your Google Calendar. That is clearly the ultimate goal. But if you are subscribing to the sync URL, then what is the purpose of importing the static .ics file? I suppose it would give you confidence that the feed from the sync URL is good, but it seems like a duplication of effort, and could result in duplicated events.

Why did you find it necessary to do both an import of the static .ics file and a dynamic subscription to the sync URL?

The import of the ics at Step 10 was the import of my personal Google calendar events not the exported LDS Calendar events. I had previously deleted everything from my personal Google calendar and had to get the back in. And yes, I was overly cautious with saving and checking!

Also, having tried a few different steps with no success, I had to go through this laborious process to get things working again. Why? No idea!

bigphatsound wrote:Also, having tried a few different steps with no success, I had to go through this laborious process to get things working again. Why? No idea!

One thing I've noticed with Google calendar, it never really forgets a URL. If you try to resubmit a URL you've used previously, something happens (I can't remember for sure - I think it defaults to a cached copy.)

One of the things - I don't think you can go in a change from "public" to "private" if you re-use a URL. That step is skipped.