Introducing the MaderaPTA Google Calendar
author: David Roberts
Last year, many parents showed interest in being able to integrate the Madera calendar of events into their own personal/business calendars. We have taken some steps
in that direction by first creating a dedicated Madera Google Calendar online. If you visit maderapta.com and click on the Calendar menu, you will now see a live view of this
Google calendar. From here you can view by Week, Month, Agenda and, for any given event, you can click on it to view more details or copy the event to your calendar.
Adding the Madera Calendar to your Google Calendar
If you are a Google Gmail user, you can easily add this calendar view to your account by clicking the +Google Calendar button at the bottom. You will then be able to view the calendar either by itself or overlayed on your existing Google calendars.
Synchronizing with Android Devices (Phone/Tablet)
Because this is a Google calendar, it is very straightforward to synchronize it with your Android Phone or Tablet.
- Open the Calendar app
- Go to the Menu > More > Calendars
- Check the ‘Madera Elementary Calendar’. Now those events will be synced to your phone/tablet along with your other events.
Synchronizing with iPhone/iPad
(disclaimer, I haven’t tested this since I don’t own one)
By default, only the default calendar is synced to your iPhone.The Madera calendar is considered a secondary calendar.
Here is a full discussion on how to configure sync
What I gather should work are these steps but you may need to check that site for other changes.
1. Go to this link
2. Log on
3. Click on all the calendars you want to sync to your iPhone
4. Hit save/submit
4. Go to your iPhone calendar
5. Wait about 3 minutes, and all the events will be there
Synchronizing with Outlook
Although there is a free application called Google Sync, I don’t believe it currently allows synchronizing with non-primary calendars. You can see the description here
Synchronizing with MAC/iCal
I am not familiar with how to sync to a Mac/iCal. I read about CalDev but couldn’t find anything related to secondary Google Calendars. The only link which seemed useful on general ways to sync is here.
The Madera Google Calendar is a great feature for those who use Google calendars and/or smartphones. I own an android phone and it was very easy to add the Madera Calendar to the calendar application on my phone (the instructions are very clear). Now I can see all the upcoming events on my phone. I highly recommend it. Great work and thanks!
A question was asked about syncing with Lotus Notes. The only solution I found is http://www.awesync.com/. It costs $20 and there is a 30% discount for educational uses so anyone would get that. Keep in mind you would need to be able to install their application on the system running Lotus so if it’s your work computer, make sure that’s allowed.
I used to manually input all the Madera events to my Google calendar. The Madera Google calendar saves a lot of my time! It was very easy and straightforward to synchronize with my iTouch. Great job!!
After working with a friend’s iPhone, I discovered much simpler steps to add this calendar:
From your iPhone…
1. Access Settings > Mail Contacts and Calendars > Add Account
2. Select ‘Other’
3. Select ‘Add Subscribed Calendar’
4. Server: https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/madera.elem.pta%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics
5 Save
Give it a few minutes and you should start seeing the events in your calendar app.
Outlook Sync Update:
Using the similar logic of the iPhone, I found two simple solutions for Outlook users.
Option 1)
1. Click this link from the computer
https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/madera.elem.pta@gmail.com/public/basic.ics
2. It should prompt to save, you can open it using Outlook. You should see the Calendar appear in your list.
Option 2)
1. Access Account Settings
(Outlook 2010) Open File > Info > Account Settings
(Outlook 2007) Open Tools > Account Settings
2. Select the Internet Calendars tab
3. Click New
4. Enter into the New Internet Calendar Subscription field
https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/madera.elem.pta@gmail.com/public/basic.ics
5. Click Add
You should see the new Calendar appear and can click the check box to see it side-by-side or right click on it and choose Overlay to see them merged.
Update on Outlook. I’ve learned that the Option 1) doesn’t work as well because it only really makes a copy of the calendar as opposed to a connection which gets updated. If the Google calendar is changed, you won’t see the updates if you go with Option 1) so I recommend Option 2) for everyone.
I absolutely love the addition of the Outlook Calendar. It has literally saved me hours of data entry. I now have my work, Madera and Team Snap calendar in one location (overlay view). The only suggestion I might have is to allow folks to do a bit more than read-only. I don’t want to have permission to change, but I would like to schedule reminders/alarms but am currently unable to. Thanks for the technological update – makes my life so much easier, one less stresser.
P.S. Could we add 6th grade activities to the Madera calendar (field trips, parties, etc.)?
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