Calgoo: Syncing Calendars

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Calgoo: Syncing Calendars

Nikhil Rastogi, Mar 16, 2008 0900 hrs IST

If you're the organised kind, you might want to check out Calgoo, a cross-platform app that lets you sync calendar data with many popular calendars -- including Google and Outlook

Easy to set up and use, good syncing, very Outlook-like.

A memory hog, still a bit buggy, sluggish at times.

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Interoperability

You'll love the fact that Calgoo is compatible with several popular calendaring applications:
-- Google Calendar
-- Microsoft Outlook 2003 and higher
-- Microsoft Exchange 2003 and higher (through Outlook)
-- 30 Boxes
-- Facebook (through Facebook Agenda Share)
-- Any iCal compliant calendars (*.ics) including Apple iCal

To top that off, this fantastic app is cross-platform: it works not only on Windows 2000/XP/Vista but also on Linux distros and Mac OS X. For a free app, that is one heavy feature list.

Naturally, this wouldn't have been possible without financial backing, which brings us to the commercial version of the app. No, no ad-supported version (thankfully); the commercial counterpart is Calgoo Pro, which syncs automatically, has an unlimited number of parallel calendars, and provides e-mail tech support for $30 a year as an early bird pricing -- which is fantastic for Rs 1,200, if you are sure about Calgoo, that is.

Like the syncing bit but not in a whole different app? Outlook users rejoice: say hello to Calgoo Connect, which lets you do just that. As an added bonus, it lets you collaborate your calendar with whomever you wish. The catch? There's no free version; you'll need to purchase after the trial period expires. This, too, is $30 a year for a single-user license, but in order for multiple users to collaborate on a single calendar, additional licenses would be needed. So look before you leap, here.

Calgoo Alternatives for Outlook Aficionados

Outlook fans can eat their cakes and have them too, so to speak, by using their favourite program and still syncing with Google Calendar -- without having to download a separate calendaring app that does this for you. SyncMyCal is one such program; it works with all Outlook versions -- XP / 2003 / 2007 -- except Outlook 2000. All it does is add a convenient button to sync your Outlook calendar online. The main page is here. This one, too, has a free and a paid version; compare the differences here. There's also a PDA syncing version here.