Calendar backup / Google sync

hi all

I managed to get my BB sync up to my Google account (mail & calendar) without any (well, many!) problems.

however, somehow, I've managed to delete all entries in my Google calendar on the PC :( but have my BB to sync manually, so all my calendar entries are still saved on my BB.

however I'm worried that if I tell my BB to sync with my google calendar now, it's going to update from the PC and I'll lose all my entries?

so 2 questions...

1) is it possible to create a backup file of the calendar on my BB, in case something goes wrong while I try and fix things

2) if i do hit sync (with BB full of calendar entries, and Google calendar empty) is the Google calendar going to take preference and will wipe my BB calendar?

You can backup your BB using Desktop Manager (Always a good idea anyway). You can also use DM to do an ASCII sync of your calendar. This will create a .csv file on your PC.

I would delete Google Sync from your BB, delete the empty calendar in Gmail, install Google Sync again and then sync. It will see all your BB entries as "new" and copy them to Gmail's calendar.

thank you :)

haven't yet hooked my BB to my PC... not seen the need until now!
i'll do that, and make backups, then try and sync to see what happens.

if it wipes all calendar entries, I can just restore from the DM backup?

Originally Posted by secretmachines

thank you :)

haven't yet hooked my BB to my PC... not seen the need until now!
i'll do that, and make backups, then try and sync to see what happens.

if it wipes all calendar entries, I can just restore from the DM backup?

You can restore from your DM backup, using selective restore. Or you can restore directly from the ASCII sync file as well.

Originally Posted by trucky

You can restore from your DM backup, using selective restore. Or you can restore directly from the ASCII sync file as well.

good to know :) will give it a go when i get home :)

ok, great... I've managed to export the calendar from the device > PC.

however if I do a Google Sync, the blank calendar in my Google account seems to take preference and wipes the BB calendar.

i can't seem to import the CSV into Google (comes up with an error).

any ways round this?

edit - trucky's suggestion makes sense, but rather do this as a last resort.

Did you delete your "empty" Gmail calendar first? Even though it's empty, Google Sync doesn't see it the same way. Delete it and you'll have another "empty" calendar, only with the right flags for GS to do it's thing.

thanks Trucky, giving this a go, though having trouble changing/deleting the 'primary' calendar in google...

Go to your Calendar, Settings, Calendar Settings, Click the Calendar tab and choose Delete, over to the right of your calendar.

i don't think you can delete your primary calendar, only delete the events from it (which I have done).

am googling at the mo how to change your primary calendar... I've set up a new one, which Google Sync would hopefully recognise as new... then i'd like to set the current/primary calendar as an archive one.

hmm, i deleted and reinstalled google sync, but still have an empty google calendar and a full BB calendar :(

Originally Posted by secretmachines

i don't think you can delete your primary calendar, only delete the events from it (which I have done).

am googling at the mo how to change your primary calendar... I've set up a new one, which Google Sync would hopefully recognise as new... then i'd like to set the current/primary calendar as an archive one.

You sure can delete your primary calendar, exactly as I described above. Unless you delete it your Google Sync will never see it as "new" and then populate it with the entries from your BB. Always make sure to keep a good backup tucked away somewhere...

Originally Posted by trucky

You sure can delete your primary calendar, exactly as I described above. Unless you delete it your Google Sync will never see it as "new" and then populate it with the entries from your BB. Always make sure to keep a good backup tucked away somewhere...

hiya
I'm afraid it won't work :( it just deletes the entries, and not the calendar itself. this is the pop-up i get when i click 'delete'

imm.io - www.google.com

That's the pop-up you want to see. When you choose Delete it will create a new instance of your default calendar.

Originally Posted by trucky

That's the pop-up you want to see. When you choose Delete it will create a new instance of your default calendar.

:) sorry, once I get the hang of this, I'll know for future!

I just ran a Google Sync after clicking 'delete', but there are no updates either way. the calendar remains in tact on my BB, but my GCal remains empty :(

It does seem like black magic at times.

Here is what I would do now, in order:

1. Make sure you have a good backup.
2. Delete Google Sync, don't even bother to sign out. Reboot required
3. Go to Gmail and delete your default calendar... again
4. Install Google sync at http://m.google.com/sync
5. Configure GS, Sync Now and go get a cup of tea

Originally Posted by trucky

It does seem like black magic at times.

Here is what I would do now, in order:

1. Make sure you have a good backup.
2. Delete Google Sync, don't even bother to sign out. Reboot required
3. Go to Gmail and delete your default calendar... again
4. Install Google sync at http://m.google.com/sync
5. Configure GS, Sync Now and go get a cup of tea

i like the sound of the last bit! I have a back up of the calendar in excel on the laptop (which i have already sent back and forth from the BB, so know it works!... annoyingly i can't send that to GCal!)

right, I'm going in!

:( didn't work

nothing changed :(

edit - i've put in a test entry to GCal and run Sync, and the event gets added to BB


edit - i've put in a test entry to BB and run Sync, and the event gets added to GCal

GCal just won't recognise any of the 'old' BB entries

well, raspberries...

That process has cured every device I've had to "fix" so far.

There has to be a way to make this happen... If I can just think out loud here for a minute. You say you have an export of your calendar on your PC that you can open with Excel, but it won't import into Gmail Calendar. How about making a couple of sample entries in your Gmail Calendar and exporting that? With that file open you could probably cut and paste from your backup and then import it back in. If that works and you have all your calendar entries now in gmail you would want to clear your BB calendar before trying to sync again to avoid getting duplicate entries.

Originally Posted by trucky

well, raspberries...

That process has cured every device I've had to "fix" so far.

There has to be a way to make this happen... If I can just think out loud here for a minute. You say you have an export of your calendar on your PC that you can open with Excel, but it won't import into Gmail Calendar. How about making a couple of sample entries in your Gmail Calendar and exporting that? With that file open you could probably cut and paste from your backup and then import it back in. If that works and you have all your calendar entries now in gmail you would want to clear your BB calendar before trying to sync again to avoid getting duplicate entries.

that's a good idea... the excel/csv i have on the desktop is obviously not in the 'right' format for GCal...

man this is a pain!
GCal will only export as an .ical, which can be opened in Excel, but looks horrendous :(

edit - i've done some testing, and the sync works perfectly: deleting both ways, adding both ways... the ONLY problem is GCal not picking my 'old' entries. guess i'm just going to have to manually input them into GCal *sigh*

Originally Posted by secretmachines

man this is a pain!
GCal will only export as an .ical, which can be opened in Excel, but looks horrendous :(

edit - i've done some testing, and the sync works perfectly: deleting both ways, adding both ways... the ONLY problem is GCal not picking my 'old' entries. guess i'm just going to have to manually input them into GCal *sigh*

Ahhh, sounds like progress. GCal will not get any "old" entries... unless you do the Delete Calendar thingie.

Originally Posted by trucky

Ahhh, sounds like progress. GCal will not get any "old" entries... unless you do the Delete Calendar thingie.

but that's back to square 1, as we've tried that? :(

i've stripped everything back, deleted from GCal, deleted calendar from BB, deleted GSync... and but everything back, but no import of the 'old' backup calendar to GCal :(