campbrain web | how to document setting up your ical feed · 2017-09-27 · look like, for google,...

CAMPBRAIN WEB | HOW TO DOCUMENT

Setting Up Your iCal Feed

Revised: September 26, 2017

Phone: 416-485-8885 | Toll Free: 1-866-485-8885 | www.campbrain.com

Index

1.1 Introduction to the iCal feed

1.2 Google Calendar (Gmail)

1.3 Outlook 2007

1.4 Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016

1.5 Mac Computer Calendar App

1.6 Mac iOS device via iCloud Account (accessible from iPhone, iPad,

iPod Touch)

1.7 What Can I Expect to See on My Calendar?

1.8 Notes and FAQs

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HOW TO DOCUMENT – Setting Up Your iCal

Feed

1.1 Introduction to the iCal Feed

Subscribing to your CampBrain iCal feed allows you to automatically display your CampBrain

Conference Center Bookings on a Google, Outlook, or Apple / Mac iOS calendar. Basically, you are

introducing a read-only copy of your CampBrain Bookings Calendar to a personal calendar, external of

CampBrain.

Each CampBrain Business Unit has its own Bookings Calendar - which means that each Business Unit

also has its own iCal feed link. This iCal feed link is what allows the automatic syncing of events from

your Bookings Calendar to your personal calendar. The iCal feed link is provided in Step 2 of your

Conference Center Builder (bottom right corner):

A user requires the “Edit” Conference Centre Configuration Permission in order to access Conference

Center Configuration.



Once you’ve found your iCal feed link, all you need to do is paste this link into your personal calendar’s

configuration. This document will discuss how exactly this is done, and what the configuration options

look like, for Google, Outlook, and Apple / Mac iOS Calendars.

PLEASE NOTE: The iCal feed link is all that is required to sync your bookings to a personal calendar

and once it is synced it operates outside the boundaries of CampBrain permissions. Once it is synced to

a personal calendar, the owner of that calendar must unsubscribe from the feed in order to stop seeing

your bookings, even if their CampBrain Office account or permissions have been revoked. It is

recommended that the iCal feed is only synced to calendars owned, managed and shared by your

organization, not personal calendars.

IN THIS DOCUMENT: Sections 1.2 through 1.6 discuss iCal feed configuration, specific to the calendar

you are using – you only need to read one of these. However, Section 1.7 What Can I Expect to See on

My Calendar? and 1.8 Notes and FAQs contain general information which applies to all configurations.

Once you are successfully configured, these sections will be useful regardless of which calendar you are

using.



1.2 Google Calendar (Gmail)

To subscribe your Google Calendar to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar iCal feed:

1) Navigate to your Google Calendar.

2) On the left hand task bar, click the drop down arrow to the right of “Other Calendars”, and click “Add

by URL”.

3) Paste your iCal feed link, copied from Step 2 of your Conference Center Builder.

4) UN-check “Make the calendar publicly accessible”, and click “Add Calendar”.



You can now determine which Calendar’s worth of events you would like to see, by clicking the coloured

squares to the left of each Calendar name. Events will maintain their colour, indicating which Calendar

they are from.

Click the drop down arrow to the right of your Calendar name for a variety of other options, including

changing calendar colour and notification options. Opening “Calendar Settings” will allow you to change

the name of your Calendar, as well as view your other settings.

For more information on subscribing to iCal feeds from a Google Calendar, please visit:

https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37100?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

PLEASE NOTE: In Google Calendar, there is no way of manually prompting or forcing a re-syncing of

your iCal feed. Google is very vague about this: “It might take up to 12 hours for changes to show in your

Google Calendar.” This means that any changes made to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar (new

bookings, or modifications to pre-existing ones), may take up to 12 hours to be reflected on your Google

Calendar. Unfortunately, CampBrain does not have any control over this.


https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37100?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en


1.3 Outlook 2007

To subscribe your Outlook 2007 Calendar to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar iCal feed:

1) Open Outlook 2007. From the “Tools” menu, select “Account Settings”.

2) Select the “Internet Calendars” tab.

3) Click the “New” button.

4) Paste your iCal feed link, copied from Step 2 of your Conference Center Builder, and click “Add”.



5) The “Subscription Options” box will pop up:

a) Re-name the Folder whatever you would like your Calendar to be named (you can always

change this later).

b) Add a Description if you like – not necessary.

c) Keep “Download attachments for items in this calendar” UN-checked.

d) UN-check “Update this subscription with the publisher’s recommendation”. Keeping this UN-

checked means your calendar will be updated every time you hit Send / Receive.

6) Click “OK”, and close the “Account Settings” box.

Once you’ve successfully subscribed to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar iCal feed, the default view is

“Side by Side Mode”. This shows all “checked” Calendars side by side. You can check and uncheck

Calendars depending on which you would like to see (click the checkbox directly to the left of the

Calendar name):



To see events from multiple Calendars superimposed on a single Calendar, right click over any Calendar

and select “View in Overlay Mode”. This combines the events of all checked Calendars into one. Events

will maintain their colour, indicating which Calendar they are from.

Right clicking on your Calendar will give you a variety of other options.

Your Outlook calendar will “re-sync” itself to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar every time you hit

“Send / Receive”.



1.4 Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016

To subscribe your Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, or Outlook 2016 Calendar to your CampBrain Bookings

Calendar iCal feed:

1) Open Outlook 2010/2013/2016, and navigate to your calendar.

2) Click on the “Home” tab at the top of the screen.

3) Click the “Open Calendar” button, and select “From Internet” from the drop down list.

4) Paste your iCal feed link, copied from Step 2 of your Conference Center Builder, and click “OK”.

5) The “Add this Internet Calendar to Outlook and subscribe to updates?” box will pop up. Click

“Advanced”, and the “Subscription Options” box will appear.

a) Re-name the Folder whatever you would like your Calendar to be named (you can always

change this later).

b) Add a Description if you like – not necessary.

c) Keep “Download attachments for items in this calendar” UN-checked.

d) UN-check “Update this subscription with the publisher’s recommendation”. Keeping this UN-

checked means your calendar will be updated every time you hit Send / Receive.



6) Click “OK” to exit the Advanced menu, then click “Yes” in the original “Add this Internet Calendar to

Outlook and subscribe to updates?” box.

Once you’ve successfully subscribed to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar iCal feed, the default view is

“Side by Side”. This shows all “checked” Calendars side by side. You can check and uncheck Calendars

depending on what events you would like to see (click the checkbox directly to the left of the Calendar

name):

To see events from multiple Calendars superimposed on a single Calendar, right click over any Calendar

and select “Overlay”. This combines the events of all checked Calendars into one. Events will maintain

their colour, indicating which Calendar they are from.

Right clicking on your Calendar will show you some other options.

Your Outlook calendar will “re-sync” itself to your CampBrain Bookings Calendar every time you hit

“Send / Receive”.



1.5 Mac Computer Calendar App

This section covers how to subscribe your Mac Computer Calendar App to your CampBrain iCal feed.

(Information on linking the subscription to your iCloud account, allowing you to view your CampBrain

Conference Center Calendar on your other Mac devices, is in the next section (1.6))

1) Open the Calendar App.

2) From the “File” menu, click “New Calendar Subscription”.

3) Paste your iCal feed link, copied from Step 2 of your Conference Center Builder, into the “Calendar

URL” field, and click “Subscribe”.

4) An options box appears:

a) Name your Calendar (you can always change this later), and give events from this calendar a

default colour from the drop down list.

b) Location: Choose “On my Mac” if you want this calendar only on your computer. (Choose

“iCloud” if you have an iCloud account and want this calendar on your other Mac devices. See

the next section (1.6) for iCloud configuration.)

c) Keep “Remove Alerts” and “Remove Attachments” checked.

d) Set “Auto-refresh” to the interval at which you would like this calendar to automatically sync

events from your CampBrain Bookings Calendar. You can always manually force a sync by

quitting your Calendar App and re-opening it.



5) Click “OK”.

You can now determine which Calendar’s worth of events you would like to see by clicking the coloured

squares to the left of each Calendar name. Events will maintain their colour, indicating which Calendar

they are from.

Right click on your Calendar name and click “Get Info” to view your Calendar options.

Your Calendar will automatically sync itself with your CampBrain Bookings Calendar at whatever

frequency you specified in “Auto-refresh” during configuration. You can always change this frequency by

right clicking the calendar name, clicking “Get Info”, and modifying the “Auto-refresh” field. You can also

sync manually by quitting your Calendar App and re-opening it.



1.6 Mac iOS device via iCloud Account (accessible from

iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

To view your CampBrain Conference Center Calendar on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you will

require a Mac computer, and an iCloud account. You first need to subscribe to your iCal feed on your

Mac computer, then link it to your iCloud account, before this calendar can be seen on any of your other

devices.

1) Make sure you are signed into iCloud with the same AppleID on all your devices.

2) Open your Calendar App on your Mac, and from the “File” menu, click “New Calendar Subscription”.

3) Paste your iCal feed link, copied from Step 2 of your Conference Center Builder, into the “Calendar

URL” field, and click “Subscribe”.

4) A box of options will appear:

a) Name your Calendar (you can always change this later), and give events from this calendar a

default colour from the drop down list.

b) Location: Choose “iCloud”.

c) Keep “Remove Alerts” and “Remove Attachments” checked.

d) Set “Auto-refresh” to the interval at which you would like your Mac calendar to automatically

sync events from your CampBrain Bookings Calendar. You can always manually force a sync to

your Mac computer by quitting your Calendar App and re-opening it.

5) Click “OK”.

6) On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, make sure “Calendars” is turned on in your iCloud Account

settings.

You will now be able to see your CampBrain Bookings Calendar on all your Mac devices. You can

determine which Calendar’s worth of events you would like to see by checking or un-checking specific

calendars in the Calendar App on your device. Events will maintain their colour, indicating which

Calendar they are from.

To manually sync your Mac devices to your iCloud Account Calendar, close your Calendar App on your

device and re-open it.



1.7 What Can I Expect to See on My Calendar?

Once you’ve successfully subscribed to your iCal feed, you will see your CampBrain Conference Center

Bookings appear on your personal calendar. The feed will ONLY include Bookings where:

The Arrival Date AND Departure Date are set

The Booking Status is set to Inquiry ( HOLD), in Progress or Fully Registered

This means that the feed will NOT include Bookings where:

The Arrival Date OR Departure Date are NOT set

The Booking Status is set to Inquiry ( No Hold), or Cancelled

The name of the event in your personal calendar depends on your Calendar Preferences – configured in

Step 2 of the Conference Center Builder. You can choose to include just the Booking Name, just the

Organization Name, or both.

Opening the event in your personal Calendar will give Booking Details, including Arrival and Departure

Dates and Times, Booking Stage, Booking Status, Organization Name, Organization City, Primary

Contact with Email and Phone Number, Expected Number, Booking Type, First Meal, Last Meal, and

Booking Notes.



1.8 Notes and FAQs

I want to modify the details of a Booking, add notes, etc. from my personal calendar

You cannot modify the contents of a Booking that has come from your iCal feed. This makes sense if you

think about it – the next time your calendar is synced, your changes would be overwritten. You can

always modify a Booking in CampBrain – then sync your calendar to get that new info into your personal

calendar. If you need to add notes, add them to the Booking Notes field in CampBrain.

Can I subscribe to multiple iCal feeds from the same Calendar, one for each of my Business

Units?

As mentioned previously, each CampBrain Business Unit has its own Bookings Calendar - which means

that each Business Unit also has its own iCal feed link. You CAN subscribe to multiple iCal feeds from

the same calendar – use the same process for each iCal feed link. You can then colour-code your

Booking Calendars, choose to only view one at a time, overlay them, etc.

I can display Resources and Accommodations on my Calendar in CampBrain – can I get this info

synced to my person calendar as well?

You can display Resources and Accommodations on your CampBrain Bookings Calendar, but not on

your personal calendar. The iCal feed will only show you the information described in Section 1.7 What

Can I Expect to See on My Calendar?

Will my iCal feed sync the entire history and all upcoming bookings, or is it limited to a certain

date range?

Your iCal feed will show bookings up to one month prior to the date you are accessing your calendar and

the next 950 bookings into the future, but none beyond that. This is a design choice which keeps the size

of the iCal feed under 1 MB and therefore allows you to load it into various calendar applications without

receiving loading errors.


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