A Family Calendar (for the Extended Family)

How tedious it is to keep track of family events... even more difficult when trying to keep track of the extended family. Fortunately, with so many of us online, these days, we can take advantage of calendar sharing. With calendar sharing, family members can use their favorite calendar application (or calendar web site) to either view or modify calendar events. (This works with any groups, as well, of course).

And it is getting easier. In the old days, everyone had to create and manage their own calendars. Later, the ability to share a calendar allowed one person to create and manage a calendar, allowing others to view the changes. Today, it is becoming easier for everyone to participate in adding deleting events on a single calendar.

Creating the Calendar

In order to share a calendar, it needs to be reside somewhere. In the old days of a couple of years ago, this was awkward or complex. Today, Google Calendar (and others) do this for us for free.

Using Google Calendar as an example, one person in the family with a Google account must create a calendar on Google Calendar. This becomes the primary calendar for the family into which family events can be added. As with any calendar program, repeating events such as birthdays and anniversaries can be added there as well.

Sharing a Calendar with Other Google Users

In the simple case, this calendar can be shared with others who want to “subscribe” to it. Any calendar events that appear on the primary calendar will appear on each subscriber’s own calendar. This means that the calendar owner needs to maintain the calendar on behalf of everyone else.

It is trivial for the calendar owner to share a calendar with anyone else with a Google account.

1. Make sure the list of calendars shows your calendar (under “My Calendars”),
2. Click on the menu for the calendar you want to share and select “Calendar settings.”
3. Select the “Share this calendar” section.
4. At the bottom, you can enter the settings for everyone that should have access to the calendar. You can also set whether they can add or change events on the calendar.

Note that, for this method to work, the others must have a Google account before they can see the calendars shared in this fashion. If they do, however, it is very easy for everyone to participate in managing the calendar.

For current or more detailed information, see “Share your calendar” for more details.

Sharing a Calendar with Non-Google People

For those who do not have a Google account, Google Calendar provides URL address that allows others to view the calendar with a browser.

Also, if you have another favorite (modern) calendar program, you can also use an address to subscribe to the calendar events and integrate their display with each person’s own calendars.

1. Make sure the list of calendars shows your calendar (under “My Calendars”),
2. Click on the menu for the calendar you want to share and select “Calendar settings.”
3. At the bottom of the “Calendar details” page, in the “Private address” section, there are buttons on the bottom that will display “iCal” and “XML” buttons that can be used calendar programs to integrate the calendar events. Calenders can be shared with Outlook, Mac Mail, and iPhone calendars, for example.
4. The “HTML” button, in the same section, allows others to view the calendar in a browser.

See “Share with people who don’t use Google Calendar” for more details.

Sharing Ownership of a Calendar with Non-Google People

Google can share calendars with other programs, allowing the calendars to be managed without going to the Google site. This also allows non-Google users to modify the calendar. This feature relies on a technology called CalDAV. This is not yet universally supported by calendar programs, so not everyone will be able to modify the calendar, if they are also not Google account holders.

This works with calender programs such as Outlook, Mac Mail, and the iPhone's calendar. I may fill in more information about how to set this up; in the mean time, see the details at “Get Started with CalDAV” (or leave a comment requesting more information, and I will add more info here).

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