Integrate a Finalsite Calendar with a Google Calendar

Misty Flowers

January 05, 2017 15:01

This article is for our Calendar Manager module. There is a newer product currently in closed beta. Additional information for current clients will be sent as soon as possible. Please see the following for additional updates:

Click the orange bell icon to subscribe to our Composer/CMS Software Release Blog.
Check out our New Calendars module section and reach out to your Client Success Manager or email clientsuccess@finalsite.com to learn more.
Don't know which module you have? Read "New Calendars module and Calendar Manager compared."

Integrate vs upload

An integration initiates a one-way dynamic sync to flow events in from another calendar source to continually appear and update in Calendar Manager and anywhere you have linked that calendar using a Calendar Element. However if you are interested in single bulk upload of events, check out our article, "Add calendar events in bulk."

This article shows you how to integrate a Google Calendar so that it will dynamically push events into multiple areas of your platform.

Step 1: Login to your Google Calendar

Once you've arrived, find the list of calendars on the left. Click the vertical three dots next to the one you want to configure, and select Settings & Sharing.

settings and sharing in google calendar.png

Step 2: Set calendar to be available to public

Set your calendar to be available to the public by scrolling down to the Access permissions for events section of the settings area and clicking the box next to Make available to public. Select See all event details to ensure that event details are visible to those viewing your calendar.

make available to public.png

Step 3: Integrate calendar to connect to Finalsite

On the same Calendar settings screen, scroll down to the Integrate calendar section. There is a Public address in iCal format box, which lets you share the calendar with other users.

Important Note

If size is larger than 3MB, the calendar will not successfully upload. Try deleting events or even creating a new calendar from scratch to meet the size limit.

Find the gray box titled Public address in iCal format.
Copy the URL ending in .ics. It's important to choose the correct link, the one ending in .ics. This is the only link that will create a dynamic connection between the two calendars.

integrate ical format public address.png

Step 4: Paste to connect the calendar in Calendar Manager

1. Next, open up Calendar Manager in Finalsite. Click the New Calendar button on the Dashboard.

create new calendar.png

2. Set Calendar Type to Live iCal, and paste the copied URL into the Live URL field before clicking the Create button at the bottom of the window.

create live ical calendar.png

Now, events from Google will automatically populate the calendar. As new events are added to the Google Calendar, they'll be pulled into the Finalsite calendar, as well.

The fields that are synced between Google and Finalsite are:

Start Date / Start Time
End date / End time
Title
Location
Description

Step 5: Allow time for iCal sync to complete

iCal refresh rates are based on the file size of the iCal feed coming over (in other words, how many events have been created on that calendar). This is explained in the article Using iCal feeds to synchronize multiple calendar systems.

The sync rates are:

For a calendar 0 - 500 kilobytes: hourly
For a calendar 500 kilobytes - 1.5 megabytes: nightly

Integrate a Finalsite Calendar with a Google Calendar

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