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Sync Google Calendar With Windows 7 Desktop

After some great overall improvement, Microsoft made one stupid (I hate to say this but it is true) decision – removing Windows Calendar from Windows 7. Thus, stealing away the ability for users to sync their Google or Windows Live Calendar with their desktop. Luckily, I came across a Windows Gadget called Windows Live Calendar Gadget developed for Windows by user poulicek. It allows user to sync both Windows Live Calendar and Google Calendar(yes, it supports syncing of multiple calendars). Technically it supports any calendar in iCal format.

Now first head over to Google Calendar, hit Settings, and visit Calendars tab. Here, click the calendar that you want to sync.

You will find a Private Address section at the bottom of the page. Click ICAL and copy the URL.

Now install the Windows Live Calendar Gadget, go to Options, and paste the URL. If you have more than one calendars, you can paste the URL(one per line).

Windows Live Calendar Gadget Options

You can also choose when to check for changes and the number of displayed events. For now there is only one skin but the developer is working on more. Lastly there is an option to select the sound of alarm which will alert you when the event approaches it’s time.

In the screenshot below you can see how events are displayed. Clicking any event will show you the complete details, information such as, Summary, Location, Start/End Date & Time, and Description are easily viewable.

Google Calendar Event Windows 7

The events which have approached their date are highlighted while others are not. Click any date and it will take you to that day’s events.

Windows Live Calendar Gadget

You can also view the gadget in smaller size where only the events are displayed and the calendar is hidden.

google calendar windows 7

It is an excellent little gadget for Google Calendar addicts like me who love to keep an eye on the upcoming events. It’s developed exclusively for Windows 7.

Download Windows Live Calendar Gadget

59 Comments

  1. Thanks! I have been looking for a good desktop calendar since the discontinuation of Google desktop and this works great!

  2. Its wonderful, but shows my events half hour early(like 6:00 instead of 6:30). my time zone is utc+5.30
    Any fixes?

  3. That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for this hint and the good explanation.

  4. I’ve got windows 7 and I followed instructions on this tutorial, I downloaded the gadget but for some reason I can’t find “options”??? if I right click there’s no options.. please help really want this to work..

  5. I have been looking for the perfect desktop calender to be able to sync all my Google calenders to! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I SERIOUSLY need this!

  6. I cannot load google calender .ics to the gadget. it says could not load the calender(0).
    I am accessing interney via proxy. can that be a problem?
    also with same settings I can download the .ics of same calender with the same url.
    your feedback is highly appreciated

  7. I’m a little late to the party(last comment 2yrs ago).  This works for me to display my calendar but I would like to be able to add/edit events too.  Is this possible or is there another app that allows for this?

  8. I’m a little late to the party(last comment 2yrs ago).  This works for me to display my calendar but I would like to be able to add/edit events too.  Is this possible or is there another app that allows for this?

  9. Can anyone help me with this Error 404 could not load calendar https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/ghernbone81%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

  10. Thank you so much for this tutorial. I didn’t manage before to synchronize this calendar with Google’s calendar 🙂

  11. Thank you for this tutorial! I followed it exactly and it works just like it’s supposed to! Thank you!!! I saved my life!

  12. How come it doesn’t show the full calendar on top? It’s just on the small gadget view – calendar is hidden. There is no option in the “Options” to show calendar above the items. It only shows one week.

  13. i heared 2-way syncing works with google desktop. but im afraid of installing that…
    does somebode know the problem, that the gadget shows appointments, that are removed long time ago in google calendar? i removed one appointment out of a series. but the gadget keeps on showing them… how can I trust in such a programm?!?

  14. Thank you so much for this great tip. I use Google calendar but didn’t want to install Google desktop just to get the Google calendar gadget. Works great as a 1-way viewer of upcoming events. If you want to add new events then you still need to go into Google calendar via the web as far as I can tell.
    I appreciate you sharing these great tips

  15. The installation went fine and the calendar is now synced with my Google Calendar.

    Thank you
    Regards,
    Mohammad
    Computer Science student
    Saudi Arabia

  16. It would truly be awesome if you could add/edit events through this gadget. But I guess then you would need to sync 2-way instead of 1-way. I can imagine that would be harder to implement. Does anyone know of any 2-way syncing google-calendar desktop gadgets?

  17. Keep getting 404 error cannot load calendar–do i have a setting wrong?

  18. Is there anyway in the Windows Live Calenda to double click in a specific day and create an event?

  19. windows 7 by the way, sorry. and im talking about the windows live calendar gadget, dont understand how to open in.

    • The gadget is downloaded in .zip format by some browsers. What you need to do is to remove the .zip format and hit Enter. Then double-click the gadget and it will automatically get installed.

  20. i don't understand, i download the gadget in zip form, use win rar to unzip then no install file or anything. how do i load the gadget in the first place? please help i really want this

  21. Its a great gadget but it shows the times wrong. My google calendar and computer are both UTC +5 US Eastern, but it shows all my appointments 4 hours ahead (whats 8am is 12pm). Any ideas? Thanks

  22. Great tip! But could you please explain how to use this widget with windows live calender?