Module 6 – Google Calendar

Note: Please refer to the WordPress Calendar plug-in documentation here to make sure that you have the most current instructions. Google changes their pages frequently!

Before you start this section you will need a Google account. If you have one for your club, or district, you will need the username and password to that account. If you do not have a club or district google account, you can create one. To create a google account or lookup an existing account, see the link here.

In this module we will cover:

• Getting a Google Calendar API key from Google
• Creating and/or linking club calendars in Google Calendar
• Setting up a calendar to be public in Google Calendar
• Finding the calendar id in Google Calendar
• Adding Google Calendar API key to the Simple Calendar settings section
• Adding a new calendar for your site
• Calendar time zone settings inside the Simple Calendar settings section
• Embedding calendar on the calendar page, or another page
• Adding a calendar to the calendar events slider widget

Step 1 Getting a Google Calendar API key from Google

Note: Please refer to the WordPress Calendar plug-in documentation here to make sure that you have the most current instructions. Google changes their pages frequently!

To read events from your public Google Calendars you’ll need create a Google API key and you will save this API key within your plugin settings.

To create a Google API key navigate to the Google Developers Console. Make sure you are logged in as the user of your club or district account. If you need to change google accounts do so by clicking on the picture of the account you wish to change from.

Once you are at the Google Developers Console,

From the top Project menu select New Project. Give your project a name, agree to the terms, then click Create.

Now you need to Enable Google Calendar. Go to the Google API Dashboard and click +ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES

You will go to the API Library, where you will search for Calendar

Type Calendar into the search box, and you will get these results.

Select the Google Calendar API

Select Enable

1. You then be prompted to Create Credentials. Either using the Create Credentials Button on the Calendar Screen as shown above or by Selecting the Credentials Tab on the Left Menu
2. Skip the “What Credentials do I Need” button and select the link to API Key

You can change the name from the default name to what ever you wish, and select Create.

Your key will then be created. You will need to copy your key.

Copy and Save this API Key, where you can use it in WordPress.

Step 2 Creating and/or linking club calendars in Google Calendar

You can only create new calendars from a browser, and not from the Google Calendar app. Once the calendar is created, you’ll see it on your browser and in the app. If you want to use an existing calendar, skip to Existing Calendar

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left side, above “My calendars,” click Add other calendars   New calendar.
4. Click Create calendar. Add a name and Description

Adding an Existing Calendar

If you have an existing Google Calendar in the account where you created your API key, then you can skip to Step 3. If you have an existing calendar you wish to copy the data from and then delete it, you can skip to Importing Data from an Existing Google Calendar or Importing Data from an Existing Non-Google Calendar . However if you just want to share or subscribe to an existing calendar from another account to the Google Account where you created your API key then follow the steps below.

Linking to an Existing Google Calendar

On the existing Google Calendar, open Google Calendar. of the user you wish to share. You can’t share calendars from the Google Calendar app.

1. On the left, find the “My calendars” section. You might need to click it to expand it. 
2. Hover over the calendar you want to share, click More   Settings and sharing.
3. To share with individuals: Under “Share with specific people,” add the person or the email address of the person you want to share with.
4. If someone isn’t already added, click Add people.
5. Under “Permissions,” click Make changes and manage sharing.
   
6. Click Send.
   

If you shared your calendar with an individual email address, they’ll see your calendar in their “Other calendars” list. If you shared your calendar with an email group , they’ll see the calendar in their “Other calendars” list once they click on the link in the email invitation from Google Calendar.  

Importing Data from an Existing Google Calendar

If you wish to just import your calendar data from an existing Google Calendar and then forget about that old calendar, first export it from your old calendar. To export an existing Google Calendar,

1. On the left, find the “My calendars” section. You might need to click it to expand it. 
2. Hover over the calendar you want to share, click More   Settings and sharing.
3. Below the Description of the Calendar, you will see Export Calendar, select it.
4. This will download an zip file of your Calendar Data. Unzip the file.
5. Go to your Kiwanis calendar where you wish to import the data and select the + Add Other Calendars, and then Select Import

You will then go to import page, which will ask you for the ics file you generated when you exported your calendar. After you have indicated your upload file, select which calendar you wish to upload the data to.

Importing Data from an Existing Non-Google Calendar

Export the data from your existing calendar in either ical format or cvs format. See your existing calendar software to accomplish that procedure. Once you have created the download file, then follow the import steps.

• Go to your Kiwanis calendar where you wish to import the data and select the + Add Other Calendars, and then Select Import

You will then go to import page, which will ask you for the ics file you generated when you exported your calendar. After you have indicated your upload file, select which calendar you wish to upload the data to.

Step 3 Setting up a calendar to be public in Google Calendar

For the Simple Calendar in WordPress you need to share your Google calendar publicly. This will be a public calendar you share with the world.

Note: You can only edit Google Calendar sharing settings from a computer, not the mobile app.

1. On a computer, open Google Calendar.
2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings.
3. Click the name of the calendar you want to share.
4. Open Access permissions.
5. Check the box next to “Make available to public”. 

Step 4 Finding the calendar ID in Google Calendar

When creating a calendar with WordPress Simple Calendar and you intend to display events from a Google calendar, you need to enter the corresponding Google calendar ID. This is a unique identifier of a calendar you own or have subscribed to in the Google Calendar application.
Mind that you need to make sure first you are adding a calendar that is set to public. If you are unsure, please follow these instructions first to set a Google calendar public before adding it to Simple Calendar.

1. On the left, find the “My calendars” section. You might need to click it to expand it. 
2. Hover over the calendar you want to share, click More   Settings and sharing.
3. Select the Integrate Calendar item and copy the Calendar ID as shown below.
4. Store this ID for when you create a Simple Calendar in WordPress

Go to your calendar settings,

Step 5 Adding Google Calendar API key to the Simple Calendar settings section

Go to the WordPress Dashboard > Calendars > Settings and paste the Key in the space labeled Google API Key. Select Save Changes

Step 6 Adding a new calendar for your site

From the WordPress Dashboard, select Calendars > Add New

Add a title at the top for your new calendar. You can leave the default settings as they are or after you have your site set up you can experiment with various formatting options.

Then access the Google Calendar tab inside your Simple Calendar page. Add the Google Calendar ID you obtained in Step 4. to the Google ID box on the form. Select Update in the right hand column

Step 7 Calendar time zone settings inside the Simple Calendar settings section

From the WordPress Dashboard Select Calendars > All Calendars. Then Edit the Calendar you wish to update time zone in.

Here you can set the Time Zone, Time Format the Refresh Rate, which is the frequency of updates to your calendar on your website.

Step 8 Embedding calendar on the calendar page, or another page.

You can embed a calendar on a page, or use the existing calendar page that Kiwanis created. To embed your calendar you will first have to get the Simple Calendar ID you can find that at the WordPress Dashboard Calendars > All Calendars. You will want to copy the shortcode that is associated with your Simple Calendar

To place or embed the Simple Calendar into your page you will use the shortcode you copied above. To insert shortcode into a page, you need to add a new block. In the Search for a Block field, search for “shortcode”. It is under the widgets section. Add the shortcode block to your page. Insert the shortcode of your Simple Calendar, including the brackets.

Step 9 Adding a calendar to the calendar events slider widget

You can have a widget that will preview upcoming events and display them on the side columns or main column of your site. To get the widget on your site go to the WordPress Dashboard, Appearance > Widgets Locate the KC Widget: Google Calendar and you can drag and drop it into the area you wish it to display on your site. (Default Sidebar, Left Sidebar, Header or Footer).

Then open the widget and add the Simple Calendar Id and Title to the fields as indicated in the diagram below. Save the settings. You can also limit the pages on which the widget appears with the settings on this form.

Now you should have a Google Calendar linked to your WordPress Simple Calendar. You can test it by adding events to the calendar, and seeing them on your website. For more information on using Google Calendars, you can see these training resources.