Calendar Sync

Notice: This feature is only supported in Business and Business+ editions.

BirchPress Scheduler Pro offers 2-way sync with other calendars which support iCal feed, like Google Calendar, Apple iCalendar and Outlook.

Note: Before you setup two way sync with other calendars, you need to ensure that your time zone setting is uniform. Precisely, you should use the same time zone settings with BirchPress Scheduler Pro and other Calendars.

If you are not able to make it work by following this instruction, please try to contact your web hosting provider to set:
memory_limit = 256M
allow_url_fopen = On

In Admin->Appointments->Service Provider->Calendar Integration, you can copy the iCal feed of each staff member and add it to other calendars. This will sync all your appointments in BirchPress Scheduler to your other calendars.

Example 1: Synchronization with iPhone

 1.1: Add the iCal feed to your iPhone Go to Appointments>Service provider page, in Calendar Integration section, find the Calendar Address.

Turn on your iphone, goto Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars->Add Account->Other->Add Subscribed Calendar, fill in your iCal feed address.

Click Next to finish the subscription.

Then go to iPhone->Calenders, you will find that all this service provider’s appointments are synced to your iPhone.

1.2: Import an iCloud calendar to BirchPress Scheduler Pro to block off  your busy time. Log in your iCloud calendar, in the left hand, find the link of your calendar.

Copy the link and go to the service provider page in Scheduler, paste the link to the ‘Import Calendars (iCal)’  field.

All your personal appointment times will be displayed as BLOCKED in Scheduler.

 

Example 2: Synchronization with Google calendar

2.1: Sync Scheduler appointments to your personal google calendar

We use Google API for syncing appointments from Scheduler to Google Calendar. Go to WP Admin>Appointments>Settings>Providers page, scroll down to Calendar Integration section, click ‘grand authorization’.

GoogleAPISync1

Follow the guide and log in your Gmail account, and give Scheduler permission to access your Google calendar.

GoogleAPISync2

 

Get the code and paste it to scheduler,

GoogleAPISync3

And click Update.

 

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If you do not want to use Google API integration, you can still add the iCal link to Google calendar:

iCalSync

Log in your google calendar, click on the drop down button in the ‘other calendars’ section on the left hand side. Choose ‘Add by URL’.

On the pop-up, paste the URL in the selected text field. Click “Add Calendar” to finish.

All your Scheduler appointments will be synced to your google calendar successfully.

Note: BirchPress Scheduler Pro cannot control how frequently external calendars pull from Scheduler. As a result your personal calendar may not display the same up to date live information that is in your Scheduler calendar. Google Calendar claims that it might take a few hours to get updated.

2.2: Import a Google calendar to BirchPress Scheduler Pro to block off your busy time. Log in your Google calendar, in the left hand, click on the drop down button of your calendar. Choose ‘Calendar settings’.

In the Private Calendar section, click on the ical button.

ImportFromGoogle2

Copy the address of your calendar.

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Go back to WordPress->Appointments->Service Provider, paste the address to ‘Import Calendars’ field.

Save the changes. All your personal events in your google calendar will be synced to BirchPress Scheduler automatically.

 

Example 3: Synchronization with Outlook

3.1  Appointments created in scheduler can be easy synced to Outlook:

Go to Appointments>Provider page, get the iCal feed

Then go to Outlook, and add a new Internet calendar.

Outlook-add internet calendar

 

Outlook-add internet calendar3

3.2 As events added in Outlook are stored in your local computer, there is no easy way for the scheduler to get the events info. You need have a outlook.com account and add your outlook.com calendar to Outlook, add your personal events to this calendar, then sync events from outlook.com account to the scheduler:

First you need add your outlook.com account to Outlook so that local events can be synced to your online outlook.com server. Go to Outlook>File>Add Account,

Outlook-add account

 

Outlook-add account2

 

You will see your outlook.com calendar listed below your local calendar. Please add all personal events to this outlook.com calendar so that they can be synced to scheduler to block those busy times. Events added to your local Outlook calendar will not be synced to scheduler.

 

Outlook-add account3

Then you need get your outlook.com calendar iCal feed and add it to WP Admin>Appointments>Provider page.

Log in Outlook.com, click Settings> Options,

outlookcomical3

 

Click Calendar> Publish Calendar, you will be asked to select a calendar, make sure you select ‘Calendar’.

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Then go to ‘Show availability, titles, and locations’, click Create.

outlookcomical6

Two links will be generated. Please copy the ICS link to WP Admin > Appointments > Provider page.

outlookcomical7

 

Example 4: Synchronization with Outlook.com or Office 365 account

4.1  Appointments created in scheduler can be easy synced to Outlook.com or Office 365 account:

Go to Appointments>Provider page, get the iCal feed

Log in your Outlook.com or Office 365 account, go to Calendar.

Click ‘Add Calendar’ > ‘From Internet’

office365_1

 

Paste provider’s iCal feed address, and name your calendar

office365_2

Click ‘Save’.

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4.2  Import an Outlook.com or Office365 calendar to BirchPress Scheduler Pro to block off your busy time.

Log in Outlook.com, click Settings> Options,

outlookcomical3

Click Calendar> Publish Calendar, you will be asked to select a calendar, make sure you select ‘Calendar’.

outlookcomical5

Then go to ‘Show availability, titles, and locations’, click Create.

outlookcomical6

Two links will be generated. Please copy the ICS link to WP Admin > Appointments > Provider page.

outlookcomical7

Go back to WordPress->Appointments->Service Provider, paste the address to ‘Import Calendars’ field.

Example 5 Sync to Mac Calendar

To sync appointments to your Mac Calendar, log in your Mac calendar, click File > New Calendar Subscription.

 

Go to Appointments>Provider page, get the iCal feed

Then input the your iCal link to your Mac Calendar, and click Subscribe.

Then click OK.

Customization of your synchronization:

Syncing custom fields to other calendars By default, our plugin will sync only a few system fields to other calendars. If you want to sync some of your custom fields, you can add some custom code to WP Admin>Settings>Custom Code>PHP section. The following is an example code:

add_filter('birchschedule_icalendar_get_appointment1on1_description_template', 
		   'birchschedule_cc_icalendar_get_appointment1on1_description_template');

function birchschedule_cc_icalendar_get_appointment1on1_description_template($template) {
return "APPOINTMENT DETAILS \n" .
"What: {service_name} \n" .
"When: {datetime} \n" .
"Where: {location_name} \n\n" .
"CLIENT DETAILS \n" .
"Contact: {client_name} \n" .
"Email: {client_email} \n" .
"Phone: {client_phone} \n" .
"Address: {client_address1} \n" .
"Notes: {appointment_notes} \n";
}
{client_address1} is an extra field synced to other calendars. You can add as many custom fields as you want.