Sync iCal and Mac Address Book Between 2 Macs for Free Using Dropbox
I have a mac at home.
I have a mac at work.
I want to sync my calendar and address book across the two computers.
I DON’T want to pay $99 a year for MobileMe.
Here is the free solution I used:
(Update: After using this setup listed below for a couple weeks, I finally caved in and signed up for MobileMe. The main reason I caved in was MobileMe is two-fold. First, it enables me to have my phone synced without having to plug it into my computer. Second, it makes sharing a calendar with my wife MUCH easier. While I hate to admit it… rather, I hate to pay for it… MobileMe is a easier and better solution for me than the dropbox hack.)
Please read all these instructions carefully before attempting. If you do this wrong, you can mess up your calendar and address book and (disclaimer) I can’t be held responsible for that. Also, I recommend backing up your calendar and address book prior to attempting this. Better safe, than sorry.
- Calendar Instructions
- Address Book Instructions
Sync You iCal between two (or more) Macs using Dropbox:
- On your primary computer (the one with your existing calendar) install Dropbox.
- Once installed, open Terminal on your Mac.
NOTE: If you’ve never done this before, simply hit Command+Space Bar on your keyboard to open Spotlight. Then type in “Terminal” and click on the Terminal program.
- Type in: mv ~/Library/Calendars/ ~/Dropbox/
IMPORTANT: If, when you installed Dropbox, you installed the Dropbox folder somewhere other than in the default location, you’ll need to modify the above command. For example, I installed the Dropbox folder on my desktop. So, my command looked like this: mv ~/Library/Calendars/ ~/Desktop/Dropbox/
To find out the location of your Dropbox folder, right click the folder and click “Get Info” and look for the location in the “where” section. You’ll only want to include the information after the /User/YourUserName/
- Hit “Enter“
- In Terminal, now type: ln -s ~/Dropbox/Calendars/ ~/Library/Calendars
IMPORTANT: Just like the last step, you need to use the exact location of your Dropbox folder. So, my command looked like this: ln -s ~/Desktop/Dropbox/Calendars/ ~/Library/Calendars
- Hit “Enter“
- You are now finished with your main computer.
- On your secondary computer (where you want to sync your Calendar to) you need to delete your current Calendars folder from your User Library. To do this, in Finder, click on your user and then go to the Library folder, then drag the Calendars folder to the trash.
- Once you’ve done this, repeat steps 1-6 on this computer.
Sync You Address Book between two (or more) Macs using Dropbox:
- On your primary computer (the one with your existing calendar) install Dropbox.
- Once installed, open Terminal on your Mac.
NOTE: If you’ve never done this before, simply hit Command+Space Bar on your keyboard to open Spotlight. Then type in “Terminal” and click on the Terminal program.
- Type in: mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook ~/Dropbox/
IMPORTANT: If, when you installed Dropbox, you installed the Dropbox folder somewhere other than in the default location, you’ll need to modify the above command. For example, I installed the Dropbox folder on my desktop. So, my command looked like this: mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook ~/Desktop/Dropbox/
To find out the location of your Dropbox folder, right click the folder and click “Get Info” and look for the location in the “where” section. You’ll only want to include the information after the /User/YourUserName/ - Hit “Enter“
- In Terminal, now type: ln -s ~/Dropbox/AddressBook/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
IMPORTANT: Just like the last step, you need to use the exact location of your Dropbox folder. So, my command looked like this: ln -s ~/Desktop/Dropbox/AddressBook/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/AddressBook
- Hit “Enter“
- You are now finished with your main computer.
- On your secondary computer (where you want to sync your Address Book to) you need to delete your current Address Book File from your User Library. To do this, in Finder, click on your user and then go to the Library folder, then the Application Support folder. Now drag the AddressBook folder to the trash.
- Once you’ve done this, repeat steps 1-6 on this computer.
I’ve gotta give a hat tip to this Wired tutorial. This is where I learned how to do what I outline above. That said, there are some errors on the Wired article, plus I didn’t think it was informative enough for a basic users. Thus, I wrote my own version here.
Used your instruction to sync ical. Was working ok for 1 day. Now on both computers ical is empty at all. Is there a way to revert to how it was before?
That seems strange. I’d use Time Machine to revert back or you can use the backups of your calendar that I recommended you make before you started.
I wonder if your instructions for secondary computers shouldn’t be modified. Actually once you’ve removed the Calendar folder from ~/Library/Calendars/ and Address book from ~/Library/Application\ Support/ you no longer need to do steps 1-4. For secondary computers, after deleting these files, you only need to do steps 5-6 to set up the aliases to redirect each to Dropbox.
Why not just sync both computers to a Google calendar account, which is also free? ipods/iphones can sync to it as well.
The reason I don’t want to sync to gmail is privacy concerns.
Great Tip! Thank you so much, I second the comment from Brad Otto. No need to steps 1-4 on the second machine, as you have nothing to move (mv) you already have deleted it
Dropbox is da Bomb!
Wonderful tutorial – thanks very much! I love doing things this simple without any extra expensive apps …
Wow, thanks Ryan! This worked like a charm.
Ryan:
I followed your instructions to the letter. I can see the address book and the calendar files on my secondary computer at the dropbox location. No files on the original locations. Both computers are synched to the same dropbox account. Opening the calendar on the secondary computer shows only the original calendar although it has been moved to the trash, the trash has been emptied and the compter restarted.
Meaning… no synch. Do you have any idea why is this happening?
For the record can you provide the commands please to put the files back in their original location in case I can not get it to work?
Thank you so much for your help. Seems strange since all files at the correct location and the drop box shows notifications that files are updated on dropbox.
Last but not least do we need to modify the default read and write permissions on the dropbox files?
Thanks again
Mario
Hello!
I’ve already done the steps for my primary computer. Now, for the secondary computer which is my work computer, does it matter that my primary computer is shut off given that I’ll leave it at home while I do the steps for my secondary computer? Do they need to be both turned on and side by side during the process or not necessarily?