Google Calendar Sync

The EQ appointments diary can be connected to Google Calendar. Your Google Calendar account can then be accessed online (in a browser) and shared with computers (e.g. in Outlook calendar) and mobile devices for easy access.

This feature sends data on one direction only, to Google Calendar from EQ. Your EQ diary is the master. It does not synchronise back in to EQ. This feature requires EQ Professional. Before beginning you should setup your EQ diary.

This article covers:

Setup a Google Account

Share your Google Calendar with EQ

Enter settings into the EQ Diary

Sync Appointments

Use Google Calendar in Outlook

Note for business users (Google Workspace)

Setup a Google Account

Before continuing you will need a Google Account with a calendar.

Sign up at https://calendar.google.com/ [Compusoft is not responsible for external websites]

Share your Google Calendar with EQ

You need to share your Google calendar so that EQ Software can access it.

Within your Google Calendar follow these steps:

1. Open Google Calendar in a web browser at: https://calendar.google.com/
   
   
2. On the left, next to your chosen calendar name, click the options button (dots) here:
   (you can repeat these steps if you need to share multiple calendars)
   
   
   
   It will show these settings:
   
   
   
   
3. Click Settings and sharing
   
   
4. Scroll down to the heading Share with specific people. Enter the email address api@easyquote-software.net and then change the permissions to Make changes and manage sharing.
   
   
   
   (Note if you do not see Make changes AND manage sharing then please see the note at the end of these instructions about Google Workspace users.)
   
   
5. Click Save and go back to your calendar. You have finished the settings in Google Calendar.
   Now proceed to the EQ Diary settings.

Enter settings into the EQ Diary

1. On the main EQ toolbar click Appointments Diary
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to Customise (at the top right)
3. Select Google Sync Configuration:
   
   
   
   
4. Tick Enable Google Sync to turn the feature on.
   
   
5. Complete the options at the top of this screen. Optimal settings are:
   14 days after, 7 days before. (that will sync 3 weeks of data)
   Select a Title Field and Where Field to show the appointment title and location when viewed in Google calendar.
   Time Zone GMT
   Tick Enable automatic Google Sync and set the number of minutes to refresh (e.g. 30 minutes)
   Select User which is the username that EQ will need to be running and logged in as this person for the sync to run.
   
   
    
6. Click Add at the bottom to add an individual name. The name can be only text you recognise that calendar by (it does not need to match any name in Google).
    
7. Under Google Calendar ID paste your ID.
   If you only have 1 Google Calendar in your account then your Calendar ID will be your email address.
   If you have more than 1 Google Calendar in your account then you can check/get your ID by following these steps:
    
   a) View your Google calendar in a web browser at https://calendar.google.com/
   
   b) Click the options button (...) by the calendar name and pick Settings and sharing:
   
   
   
   c) Scroll down the page until the heading Integrate calendar and your Calendar ID is shown directly underneath. Highlight and Ctrl + C the calendar ID to copy it.
   
   d) Return to EQ's settings as above and Ctrl + V to paste in the ID.

Sync Appointments

By following the settings above to enable calendar sync, your EQ system will automatically update the calendar so long as the user is logged in to a running copy of EQ.

Use your appointments diary as usual and if you require to update immediately, and not wait for the sync time, click the drop down arrow next to the Customise button and click Google Sync:

During sync you may temporarily see a progress message at the top right corner, as appointments are added, amended and deleted. Check your Google calendar and you will see the adjustments.

The data which is sent to Google Calendar relates to the data that you show on EQ’s diary. For example if you show Action, Resource and Customer on the appointment boxes, this will be the data within the Google appointment. You may want to show Notes so any text you enter against an appointment is also included.

Customise your diary in System Config> Appointments Diary. Here you can adjust the prompt sequence by picking headings. Only the selected prompts are synchronised to Google.

Use Google Calendar in Outlook

Google Calendar is a web-based tool which means you can access your calendar by logging in to a web browser, using a mobile app or you can use in third party software like Microsoft Outlook.

To add your calendar into Outlook follow these steps:

1. View your Google calendar in a web browser at https://calendar.google.com/
   
2. Click the options button (...) by the calendar name and pick Settings and sharing:
   
   
   
   
   
3. Scroll down the page until the heading Integrate calendar and find the grey box with Secret address in iCal format, then click the Copy icon shown below: 
   
   
   Keep this secret address copied on your clipboard
   
   
4. Open up Microsoft Outlook (on your desktop computer) and click File at the top left.
   
   
5. Click Account Settings and select Account Settings...
   
   
   
   
6. On the following window click the Internet Calendars tab then click the New... button:
   
   
   
   
7. In the following window click into the text box and press Ctrl + V on your keyboard. The private calendar address will be pasted into the box like this:
   
   
   
   
8. Click Add and the Subscription Options window opens:
   
   
   
   Type a name that you will recognise into the Folder Name and click OK. Then click Close on the account settings window.
   
   
9. In Outlook you can now go to your calendar view with the icon at the bottom left and select the name of calendar you just entered. Click in the box to tick it:
   
   
   
   
10. This will now display your calendar alongside other calendars you may have in Outlook.

Note for business users (Google Workspace)