Overview

VueMinder 9.1 has been updated to use v3 of the Google Calendar API. The new API fixes a number of bugs in the previous v2 API and adds many other improvements which VueMinder uses to full effect. Most significantly, the v2 API, which was working well in the past, has recently started misbehaving. If you've noticed any syncing problems with version 9.0.3 or earlier of VueMinder, those problems have been fixed in version 9.1.

Adding a Google Calendar to VueMinder

To add a Google Calendar, click the "Add Google Calendar" command on the File menu. VueMinder has been updated to use Google's recommended OAuth 2.0 method of authentication, meaning there's no longer a "Connect to Google Calendar" window every time a Google calendar is added.

If you're not already logged into a Google account, a secure web page will prompt for login. After logging into Google, another page will appear requesting permission to access your Google tasks, calendars, and email address. Note, the email address is only used to identify which account is associated with calendars that are added, so VueMinder can properly sync with calendars belonging to multiple accounts (more on this below). The request to access calendars and tasks should be self-explanatory. VueSoft's privacy policy can be found here.

Click the "Allow access" button to continue. This only needs to be done one time per account.

After granting permission, the "Add Google Calendar" window will appear. The window has been slightly redesigned and simplified.

Sync With Multiple Accounts

A drop-down list in the upper-left corner allows adding calendars that belong to any number of different Google Calendar accounts. When an account is selected from the drop-down, the list of available calendars will refresh.

If the desired account isn't listed, click the "Use a different account" command. The following window will appear, with instructions on how to connect to a different account.

After following these steps, the Add Google Calendar window will refresh to show the calendars associated with the account that is signed in.

Sync Options - Simplified and Enhanced

The "Sync Options" area of the window has been simplified to remove the options for sync frequency, age of events to sync, and whether reminders should be included. These options were frequent sources of confusion and really didn't enhance the user experience. Here's how it looks now (in the Pro and Ultimate versions):

In 9.1, a simple checkbox allows selection of whether calendars will sync automatically whenever changes are detected, or only when commanded by the user. In the Pro and Ultimate versions, this will happen within 20 seconds of any changes. In the Lite version, automatic syncing will happen within 15 minutes of a change. Syncing can be manually commanded by right-clicking the calendar name in the list of calendars and selecting the "Sync Calendar" command (or press Ctrl+F5). A new "Sync Now" button has also been added to the status bar and will be shown when the calendar is activated in the calendar list.

The option to exclude older events has been removed. VueMinder will sync all events, regardless of age. However, syncing only happens as needed, so old events will only sync once, unless they are modified later. Because of this, and because of performance improvements that enable syncing thousands of events in just a few seconds, the option was removed.

The option to include reminders has also been removed. Popup reminders will always sync. If an event is defined in Google Calendar with a popup reminder, when the event is synced to VueMinder it will also have a popup reminder. Note, dismissing or snoozing the reminder in VueMinder won't affect the reminder in Google Calendar. The reminder status does not sync, only whether the reminder is enabled and when it should appear.

The "Apply event defaults" setting has been preserved. This enables advanced default settings to be applied to any new events that are added to Google Calendar and synced to VueMinder. Default settings, which can include any type of reminder (popup, desktop alert, email, SMS, voice phone), can be assigned on the "Event Defaults" tab of the Calendar Properties window. Note, this feature is not available in the Lite version.

Syncing Colors

The Calendar Appearance settings will default to a much closer match of the Google Calendar event colors. With a gradient style of "No gradient" selected, the second background color is used as a border color, similar to how all-day events are colors in Google Calendar.

In addition, when colors are assigned to individual events in Google Calendar, those color overrides will also sync to VueMinder (Pro and Ultimate only). Overall calendar colors are also synced. If the calendar appearance is changed in VueMinder, the color in Google Calendar will be set to the closest match. Note, VueMinder's palette is 16.7 million colors and Google's is only 24 colors, so the colors won't always be an exact match. Also, VueMinder will slightly tweak the color to provide better contrast with black text. It's subtle, but we think the equivalent colors in VueMinder just look better.

Here's an example of an event in Google Calendar:

Here's how it looks after syncing to VueMinder: 

Adding Calendars to Google Calendar

Local calendars in VueMinder can also be added to Google Calendar. As in the previous version, this is accomplished via the "Google Calendar" tab of the Calendar Properties window (Pro and Ultimate versions only). As with the "Add Google Calendar" window, the sync options have been simplified. After clicking OK, a web page will appear asking you to log in and/or provide permission for VueMinder to access your Google Calendar data.

After a calendar has been added, the Google account and time last synced will be shown in the Calendar Properties.

Google Tasks - Sync With Multiple Accounts

Version 9.1 has also been improved to support syncing with multiple Google Task accounts. This is a significant improvement because there's no mechanism in Google Calendar to share task lists with other accounts, only event calendars. If you need to manage tasks for multiple accounts, VueMinder now makes this much easier. Note, task syncing is only available in the Pro and Ultimate versions.

Conclusion

Version 9.1 not only fixes problems syncing with the previous Google Calendar API, it also adds new capabilities and a refined user experience. Syncing with Google Calendar is now more reliable and faster than ever before.