How to Sync a CalDAV Calendar with Google Calendar

You can bring a CalDAV schedule into Google Calendar as a read-only subscription or copy its appointments into a Google calendar. If you want to edit the original CalDAV events, use an app that supports both accounts. For work bookings, first find out which calendar the booking page checks.

Subscribe for a reference view

Many CalDAV services can publish a calendar as an iCalendar feed. This is a web address another service reads periodically. For this connection, use the feed address rather than the CalDAV account address.

On a computer, open Google Calendar. Beside Other calendars, select the plus button, choose From URL, paste the feed address, and add it. Google describes this for published calendars in its subscription instructions.

The result is a separate calendar in Google's sidebar. You can show or hide it, but cannot edit the publisher's appointments through that subscription. Changes depend on the subscriber fetching the feed again. Keep checking the original schedule for urgent changes.

Do not make a private calendar public merely to follow a tutorial. Check what the feed reveals and whether an account connection offers a better privacy boundary. If the schedule contains only a few appointments, manual Busy blocks in Google may be easier.

Editing both accounts in one app

For viewing and editing, a multi-account app avoids extra copies. A compatible calendar app can connect Google and CalDAV separately. Apple Calendar on a Mac, for example, supports multiple internet accounts; its account guide explains setup.

Add each account using its proper sign-in method, enable the calendars you want, and choose the intended calendar when creating an event. An appointment saved to CalDAV stays in that account; another saved to Google stays in Google.

The CalDAV appointment remains in its own account. Colleagues checking only your primary Google calendar may still see that time as open.

Google's conflict-calendar settings

Google appointment schedules have a setting for calendars to review for conflicts. Checking secondary calendars has plan requirements. Inspect that setting before adding a sync tool; the native option may already solve the problem. Google's availability documentation explains the current behavior.

For occasional appointments, add a neutral Busy event to the Google calendar the scheduler checks. Record the real appointment at its original source and remember to move the work block if it changes.

For a changing schedule, Avum's Sync Rules can copy from a supported CalDAV source into a writable Google calendar. Connect both accounts, select the actual source calendar, choose the destination, and decide what details it needs. For a private appointment, the Google destination usually needs only the occupied time; leave out the title, notes, and location.

Start with one direction. If you also want Google events represented on CalDAV, configure that requirement separately and confirm the CalDAV calendar is writable. Two rules running in opposite directions do not turn each destination copy into an editable original. Choose where to make changes before enabling one-way or two-way copying.

The first copy and later changes

Create a test appointment in the CalDAV service's web interface. Check its Google copy, move it, then cancel it. Inspect Google's free/busy status and open the booking page to confirm the slot is unavailable. Also try one changed occurrence of a recurring event.

If something stops, compare source and destination web calendars before reconnecting everything. Trace the missing update through the source, connection, and destination. Check the server credentials and shared-calendar permissions at the step that fails.

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