Mozilla Thunderbird and Google calendar.

A few months ago I got fed up with my other email software (I don't even remember what I was using) so I started using Mozilla's Thunderbird, another open source application from the Firefox folks.

I hadn't used a calendar on my pc except to upload my work schedule to Google Calendar. I hadn't really looked into using calendar software...the last one I used was with Outlook about a decade ago.

I have been using Google calendar because it easily syncs with my iPhone and Android phone.

So fast forward to today. I start up Thunderbird, and the autoupdater goes through its thing, and as usual an additional tab opens up to announce what is new with Tbird. (it uses tabs a lot) This time I happen to actually read the tab, and it says there is a calendar plugin called Lightning. So I installed it (download file from Mozilla, open it with the Tbird Tools-Add On- menu.

I restart Tbird, the calendar tab is there with my email tab (it is all about tabs). I right click on the calendars to add mine...and oh, iCal etc are supported, but those are read only. So I can view the calendar but not sync it...

A quick search leads me to Calendar:GDATA Provider . It is compatible with the Lightening calendar plugin of course.

The only hard part about the setup is for any calendar you use, you need to get the web address of the actual calendar...for that, if they are part of your Google Calendar, Google will supply the address. Just log into Gcalendar, go to the settings (gear icon) get to the tab with the list of calendars you use, click on the appropriate calendar on the left side, then click on the XML icon to use the sync option of a calendar you own, or click the iCal icon to use a public calendar. the popup will give you the web address you need.

It is straight forward, copy paste at this point.

I will admit I haven't yet synced a calendar, but it should work.

(no screenshots because all they would show is personal data...but if necessary I can add some sanitized pics)