iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

Discussions about the Calendar Tool at lds.org. Questions about the calendar on the classic site should be posted in the LUWS forum.
snoel1
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:23 pm

iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#1

Post by snoel1 »

Upon inserting the URL from the Church website, it says that there was an error. Any ideas?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#2

Post by russellhltn »

Are you aware of the 9 minute throttle? You can only use/request a refresh once every 9 minutes. That includes all devices that sync to your calendar. So if you had another device that synced in the 9 minutes prior to your attempt, then it would fail.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
snoel1
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:23 pm

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#3

Post by snoel1 »

I was not aware of that. Seems like a tricky window to identify. How does one know when another device (of which I have two) sync's with the Church calendar?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#4

Post by russellhltn »

I would assume these devices are under your control. You'll have to set them up or use them in a way that works with that Window. Since it's a "pull" the sync is controlled by the device, not the website as it would be in a "push".
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
snoel1
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:23 pm

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#5

Post by snoel1 »

New problem. Now I get the following notice:

"The data downloaded from http://www.lds.org/church-calendar/serv ... 1367936872 isn’t valid."
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#6

Post by russellhltn »

When you get nailed by the 9-minute window you end up with a empty file. It seems most devices fail to recognize it as a empty file and declares it as "invalid" or "corrupt" or some other less-than helpful label.

Of course its possible that there really is a problem with the file. You can put the URL in your browser. It should cause a file to be downloaded. Feed that file to a iCal validator of your choice. (After making sure it's not a empty/zero byte file.)
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
mistercrowley
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:38 am

iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#7

Post by mistercrowley »

I was able to add the calendar to my Google calendar but Outlook 2013 won't add this one like it did the other calendars.

I just have an "untitled" calendar with no events.
I am not an expert at the calendar portion of OL.

What else do I need to do to get this to work?

I followed the instructions that were on the site for syncing the calendar on my machine...

Thanks
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#8

Post by aebrown »

mistercrowley wrote:What else do I need to do to get this to work?
Did you carefully read the posts in this topic that deal with the 9-minute limit? If you got your Google calendar sync to work, and less than 9 minutes later tried Outlook, your Outlook sync would definitely not work.

Note also that you can't always control exactly when third-party tools such as Google choose to do a sync. So the first recommendation is to wait well over 9 minutes after you do a sync before trying another one, and realize that even then you might have gotten unlucky and another sync occurred in the meantime. You may need to wait and try again.
mistercrowley
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:38 am

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#9

Post by mistercrowley »

Been WAY more than 9 minutes. Still not getting updates at all.

Also... this is on OL NOT GOOGLE - GOOGLE works... OL is a different animal.

Again. This is in Outlook, NOT Google Calendar.
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

Re: iCal is not allowing set up for syncing

#10

Post by aebrown »

mistercrowley wrote:Been WAY more than 9 minutes. Still not getting updates at all.

Also... this is on OL NOT GOOGLE - GOOGLE works... OL is a different animal.

Again. This is in Outlook, NOT Google Calendar.
If you will review my post, you'll see that I am perfectly aware that you are having trouble with Outlook and that you said that you succeeded in syncing with Google. I'm not sure why you would think I misunderstood that important point.

What you need to understand is that the Calendar's sync service doesn't care who the request comes from -- it could be from you entering your sync URL in a browser, or from Google, or from Outlook. I was trying to help you understand that once you set up your Google calendar to use your Sync URL, you are no longer in control of precisely when the sync occurs. Google will make its choice when it wants to, and you might get unlucky and have Google do a sync request a few minutes before you happen to be trying to do an Outlook sync request.

That said, it's possible that Outlook is having difficulties with this sync process that are independent of the 9-minute limit. One approach that could shed some light on that is for you to capture the iCal file from the sync. If you are able to capture the iCal file, then the sync service is doing its job. Then you can import that iCal file into Outlook. If that succeeds, then the problem is most likely with controlling the timing of sync requests (since that will prove that Outlook can handle your LDS calendar's data). But if that fails, then there is something in your particular data that Outlook can't handle, and you can work on narrowing that down.

If you need help with the steps to capture the iCal file, let me know.
Post Reply

Return to “Calendar”