Linking Calendars

You can share your Brightpearl Events and Activities with other software and other users by connecting with a Google calendar. A single Google calendar will allow you combine selected calendar events from a number of different places - so that you can see everything that relates to your business all on the same system.

• Sync with Microsoft Outlook
• Sync with Mozilla Sunbird
• Sync with Apple iCal
• Sync with iPhone, Blackberry and other mobile devices
• Sync with other Google calendar users

1. Setup a Company Calendar in Google

You'll need to have a single calendar location that Brightpearl will synchronise with. It's a good idea to create a new, independent "company" calendar account, different from your personal Google calendar. You may or may not actually log in to this calendar, but a separate calendar allows you to keep your own personal events separate from your work events, whilst still maintaining full integration.

If you're using GoogleApps then you could create a new user account called "calendar@mycompany.com" or similar.

Set up a Google calendar using the Google help documentation here

If you're happy for everyone in the company just to have their own calendar within the Company google account, then it's just a case of adding extra calendars to the main account.

Jump straight to the setup section below if you are just connecting up one calendar.

2. Add Personal or Staff Calendars to the Company Calendar (Optional)

You need to request permission from other users to display their calendar(s) on the company calendar. Add users using an email address on the left hand side of the company calendar in Google. Once they have approved the request, you'll need to add that calendar to the company calendar:

Note that if you are not using GoogleApps (where the Company calendar lives on the same domain as your staff default calendars), you will only be able to view busy/free information for users, and not synchronise events with your other (personal) Google user default calendars - which means that you need to add extra calendars to your personal calendar with different sharing settings: Your company calendar will then be able to access and share with these extra calendars on each user account.

To Create a NEW Shared Calendar for a User

You need to create additional calendars in each user account, perhaps called "work calendar", and then allow the company calendar account to view and change the events on this extra calendar. You can of course just choose to show the user's default calendar, but they may be using this for personal events.

1. Log in to the user's personal calendar account.
2. Create a new calendar, call it "work calendar"or similar.
3. Allow others to view and change events on this calendar by adding the company calendar email address to the sharing options.
4. Go to Settings > Calendar details tab in your personal calendar account.
5. Click the green ICAL button to get the ICS link for your new "work calendar". It will look a bit like this:
   http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/pearldemo.co.uk_tu5628nk%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
   We're going to need to paste this into the company calendar, so copy it.
6. Go to your company calendar account and add this staff work calendar using the Add by URL feature on the left hand side of the screen.
7. You'll now see your shared "work calendar" there in the company calendar.

Now it's on the company calendar, Brightpearl can synchronise with it.

Share a User's DEFAULT Calendar on the Company Calendar Account

Just add the user to the main company calendar by adding their email address. They will get a request that they can approve for sharing.

Adding the Company Calendars to Your Personal Google Calendar (optional)

You might want to see other calendars on yours - it's the same procedure as adding your calendar to the company calendar.

1. Log in to your company calendar, and open up the calendar that you wish to show on your personal calendar.
2. Update the sharing options for the calendar you want to view by clicking Settings on the left.
3. Click to edit settings for the relevant calendar.
4. Click the Calendar details tab.
5. Click the green ICAL button near the bottom to get the ICS URL (which you will paste into your own calendar). It will look a bit like this:
   http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/pearldemo.co.uk_tu5628nk%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
   We're going to need to paste this into your personal calendar, so copy it.
6. Go to your personal calendar account and add this company calendar using the Add by URL feature on the left hand side of the screen.
7. You'll now see the additional calendar in your account.

If you need to modify events on this shared calendar, you'll need to update the settings in the account that owns the calendar.