Getting subscription calendars to the iPhone via MobileMe

All your calendar data is syncing from your Mac to MobileMe (it would be nice if it pushed, but hey it’s early days). Except not all of your calendars are — only your local calendars and not your subscriptions.

Using Google Calendar + BusySync

Set up your subscriptions in Google Calendar and then use BusySync to sync them with your Mac. BusySync will create local calenders that sync just fine with MobileMe so the data can then get pushed to your phone. 

The downside is that you have to buy some more software. This also won’t work for calendars that need authentication. The upside is that you can share your Google Calendar with other users so they can have access to and edit your calendar.

Read more about how to set this up on the BusySync blog

Using AppleScript

I’ve hacked together a very simple AppleScript that will copy events from subscribed calendars to local ones. 

WARNING: This script has been tested with a few users but THERE IS NO GUARANTEE that it will work for you. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I strongly suggest that you back up your calendars first: File > Back up iCal…

If you still want to go ahead then here’s how to install:

1. Dowload iCalCopy.scpt. I recommend putting it in ~/Library/Scripts.

2. Double click on the file to open it in the Script Editor and change the “calendarTitles” settings. You will need to enter the exact names of the subscribed calendars that you want to make syncable.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The script will make a new calendar with a copy of your events in. All the events in this new calendar will be erased each time the script runs and replaced with the latest events from the subscribed calendar. Any events that you add manually to the generated (Local) calendar will be lost.

4. Run the script with the toolbar button. If all goes well you should have some new local calendars with names ending (Local). These will then sync with MobileMe. I recommend unticking the original subscribed calendars so that you don’t see duplicate events.

5. If this works for you then you will probably want to schedule this script to run every 15 minutes or so. Details of how to do that are in the next post.

Let me know in the comments if it works for you…