birthdaygadget

Birthday Google Calendar Gadget

General Description

What?

You are about to read a general description to a simple gadget which converts a list of birthdays to an iCal formatted text that can be imported to Google Calendar.

Who?

This gadget was developed by Hani Ayoub.

Where?

Click here to add the gadget (or press on the button below). Note that you must have an iGoogle account in order to add the gadget and if you have a Gmail then you already have one.

Note: It's not necessary to add the gadget, you can use the gadget below.

How?

Step1: Create the file which have the list of the birthdays. Each line on the file presents a birthday, and it should be in the following format: <Name>,<dd.mm>

Example:

Kylie Minogue,28.05

George Clooney,06.05

Step2:Upload the file. you need to upload the file in order to give the gadget it's URL, the simplest way to do so is uploading it using Google Pages. (Click here for instructions)

Step3: Convert the list. In order to be able to import the birthdays list to Google Calendar we need to convert it first, and we do this using the gadget.

• • Open iGoogle and paste the file URL you've uploaded in step2 to the empty box (Or do it on the gadget below).

  • press Convert button.

  • Wait until you see the Export tab and then peress on it.

• you'll see a test box... select the text and copy it to a new file which it's type is: ics (for example: out.ics).

Step4:Import to Google Calendar.

• • Open Google Calendar.

  • Press on the add button resides on the left side upon the calendars list.

  • Choose Import Calendar.

  • Browse the file you've created (out.ics on the example)

  • Choose the calendar you want to Import the events to. Since this is a Birthdays events, it's recommended to create new calendar named "Birthdays" and import the events to it.

• Press Import. Make sure the import process ended successfully.

Note 1: the events created are repeated annualy (since it's a birthday) so you don't need to add events every year. In order to make add recurring event I had to use iCal format since CSV format does not support recurring event. Click Here to read someones solution about the same problem using CSV format without recurring events.

Note 2: the gadget is very basic and doesn't alert on problems, be carfull using it and be sure you're providing the correct URL and the file is in correct format.

If you've any issues, Qs or feedback please contact me at: hani.ayoub at gmail.com

The Gadget