Calendar Sync

[Brian]

What do people use to sync their diary across multiple devices?

I just want to access and update my diary on my desktop machine running Outlook, a couple of Windows laptops, an Android tablet, and an Android phone.

I am loathed to hand Google all my personal data.  Likewise all the paid-for, and free, services want my login details, which goes against the first rule of data security.

I can't believe it's difficult but I'm blowed if I can find a solution. In my mind it's simple; I have a Dropbox account, I run something on each device which syncs my diary to a file in Dropbox, no-one but me needs to know any of my login details.

[timsabre]

I share your pain about Google but I have ended up using Google calendar because it just works and can be linked to pretty much everything.

[Robin D]

Ditto. I have a Gmail account anyway. 

[Tom Baldwin]

I couldn't find a solution to this problem either, so I ended up self-hosting a calendar server. Not especially difficult if IT is your thing, but certainly a step or two beyond plug and play.

[vlfaudio]

If you already trust Microsoft with your privates,perhaps the simplest solution would be to use the Outlook app for Android:- Outlook for Android 🙂

 

[richard_cooper]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:04 AM, Brian said:

I am loathed to hand Google all my personal data.  Likewise all the paid-for, and free, services want my login details, which goes against the first rule of data security.

I use encrypted email from tutanota.com which has a calendar and apps for all the usual platforms, plus Linux and web. I've not used the Android client, but the iOS, windows, and Mac clients work well for me. There's free and paid tiers, and it possible to import a calendar file. I've not tried the import function so YMMV.

[mnorwood]

Personally, I maintain a plain-text file with events written in the form specified by RFC5545 ("Internet Calendaring Specification"), which I then upload to a web host. This then gives me a URI that I can "subscribe" to within various calendar applications (MS Outlook, Apple iCal, etc.) as needed. I try to remember to re-upload the file every time I update it locally, and Outlook et al. poll the URI occasionally and keep themselves up to date.

As simple as it gets, really - although this approach admittedly does require a certain familiarity with RFC5545 syntax. But ultimately what I have is just a file on a web server - no Google (or Microsoft), no calendaring software required to update it, no additional financial expense (I'm paying for the web hosting anyway).