Can't import my iCal into Entourage

[jp122163]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Email Client: imap I just purchased Entourage and mail and addresses all moved over but am unable to get iCal into Entourage Calendar. I follow the instructions on this site (export from ical, then from Finder, open with Entourage). That's where nothing happens. What am I missing?

Thanks.

 

[Kerry]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Email Client: imap I just purchased Entourage and mail and addresses all moved over butam unable to get iCal into Entourage Calendar. I follow the instructions on this site (export from ical, then from Finder, open with Entourage). That's where nothing happens. What am I missing?
Thanks.

Actually, you just need to turn on sync iCal in Entourage. In
Entourage go to preferences then choose sync services. Turn on
Calendar by clicking and I'd choose the combine method the first time
to see how it works. To ensure you don't get any sync messes run
Entourage with only one module for sync turned on at any one time.
More than one module turned on at a time leads to numerous sync errors.

 

[jp122163]

Hi and thanks for the reply. I did turn on sync in Entourage, then opened my calendar in Entourage and none of my calendar events were there from iCal.

I actually just added anything that I had upcoming into Entourage and will use it from now on. When I did that though, I noticed that all the events I added, were also added into iCal which duplicated the events, but doesn't matter because I don't want to use iCal anymore.

Isn't that the point? That with Entourage, you don't use iCal or Address book anymore? It seems weird to turn on a sync for a calendar that I never intend to use.

Thanks,
Janice

 

[Diane Ross]

Hi and thanks for the reply. I did turn on sync in Entourage, then opened my
calendar in Entourage and none of my calendar events were there from iCal.

Entourage only syncs to the Entourage calendar in iCal. Move the events in
iCal to the Entourage calendar.

Sync Services and Spotlight FAQs
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/syncservices/index.html>

Sync-Services and iCal FAQs
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/syncservices/ical.html>

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>

 

[Kerry]

Hi and thanks for the reply. I did turn on sync in Entourage, then
opened my calendar in Entourage and none of my calendar events were
there from iCal.

I actually just added anything that I had upcoming into Entourage and
will use it from now on. When I did that though, I noticed that all the
events I added, were also added into iCal which duplicated the events,
but doesn't matter because I don't want to use iCal anymore.

Isn't that the point? That with Entourage, you don't use iCal or
Address book anymore? It seems weird to turn on a sync for a calendar
that I never intend to use.

Thanks,
Janice

You only need to turn on Ent sync if you sync to say a handheld.
Otherwise don't turn it on as there's no reason then to sync your
items to iCal. You're right; if you use Ent you don't use iCal. I sync
simply because I have two handhelds, a Palm TX and an iPhone that have
to be kept in sync.

 

[jp122163]

I do have a Blackberry that I sync to, so yes, I will need to have sync set up.

So if I just input all my events into Entourage going forward, I never have to open or worry about iCal again, right?

Thanks.

 

[jp122163]

Now I have another problem/question.

I just added a couple of meetings into my calendar on my blackberry. I then synced up to my computer. the meetings do not appear in Entourage but i opened iCal and they are there.

I don't really understand why I just can't use Entourage ONLY. Why does iCal have to be involved in any of this. Is there somewhere that I can read up on this? It seems much more complicated than it needs to be.

What if I had originally just loaded up Entourage and never even used ical --- how would that work? Why can't I just have Entourage and ditch ical.

Thanks for any help on this.

 

[Kerry]

Now I have another problem/question.

I just added a couple of meetings into my calendar on my blackberry. I
then synced up to my computer. the meetings do not appear in Entourage
but i opened iCal and they are there.

I don't really understand why I just can't use Entourage ONLY. Why does
iCal have to be involved in any of this. Is there somewhere that I can
read up on this? It seems much more complicated than it needs to be.

What if I had originally just loaded up Entourage and never even used
ical --- how would that work? Why can't I just have Entourage and ditch
ical.

Thanks for any help on this.

This is both simple and complicated at the same time. The reason the
BlackBerry item is in iCal is simply iCal uses sync services to
populate itself. Apple developed a universal sync architecture for all
vendors to use called sync services. Anyone that wants to provide sync
to the Mac can use sync services so tons of vendors are able to sync
their devices to a Mac without writiing proprietary software. So
theoretically sync services is beautiful.

In reality it has a lot of issues as it is an incredibly complicated
piece of OSX - probably the most complicated piece.

In your case like mine you have to tell Entourage to sync to sync
services. You never have to look at iCal except to make sure what is
getting sync'd is right. If you have more than one module in Ent
turned on at any one time you will get a sync mess e.g. dups etc. So
in Ent just have one module like Cal and Tasks turned on only all the
time and switch to the other modules when you need to sync them. Make
sure when you switch you turn off the current active module as you
only need to accidentally sync once w two modules turned on and you
will get a sync mess. I know how to clean this up well now but its not
fun or pretty.

 

[jp122163]

Yep, complicated and not well explained in the tutorials. I had to call Microsoft tech support to get help... just needed a live person to make sure that I had this all set up properly.

Now I realize that I had to delete all the 'calendars' in iCal (which I always thought of as categories) and just have &quot;Entourage&quot; as the only calendar in there. And maybe it was explained here somewhere but I just needed a live person to talk me through it.

It's all good now and I'm all set up. Now, to enjoy Entourage

Thanks for your help.

 

[Kerry]

Yep, complicated and not well explained in the tutorials. I had to call
Microsoft tech support to get help... just needed a live person to make
sure that I had this all set up properly.

Now I realize that I had to delete all the 'calendars' in iCal (which I
always thought of as categories) and just have "Entourage" as the only
calendar in there. And maybe it was explained here somewhere but I just
needed a live person to talk me through it.

It's all good now and I'm all set up. Now, to enjoy Entourage

Thanks for your help.

Good if you have any problems with sync let me know. Entourage is very
flaky around sync except under one scenario which I've posted numerous
times here as the workaround.