Google Calendar sync keeps your ISN schedule and your Google Calendar in step, including the Google Calendar app on your iPhone or Android. Whether it runs one way or both ways is a setting your office chooses (see "One-way or two-way sync" below).
Setup has two parts: connect your Google account, then choose which of your Google calendars to use.
One-way or two-way sync
Your office picks how the sync works, and it applies to everyone in the office who syncs a calendar:
Two-way (the default). Inspections and events you add in ISN show up in Google Calendar, and events you add or change in Google Calendar show up in ISN.
One-way, inspection events only. ISN sends your inspections to Google Calendar and takes nothing back. Events you add in Google stay in Google, and events you add in ISN that are not inspections are not sent.
To see which one your office uses, click the gear icon at the top right of the Calendar Sync page. The first line under Office sync settings reads "Two-way" or "One-way, inspections only". On the Google Calendar tab, a one-way office also sees the note "One way: ISN orders go to Google, and events added in Google stay there."
Office owners can change it in Settings, Office Settings, What we see on the ISN, Google Sync. Check Only synchronize ISN order based events for one-way, or leave it unchecked for two-way, then click Save Settings. The change affects every user in the office who syncs a calendar.
Step 1: Connect your Google account
In ISN, click Tools, then Sync to Calendar. You can also click the sync icon next to New Event on the Calendar page.
On the Google Calendar tab, turn on Sync with Google Calendar. Google's sign-in page opens.
Make sure you are signing in to the right Google account. Click it, or click Use another account to enter a different one.
Read the permissions Google shows and click Allow.
You land back on the Calendar Sync page with the switch on. Check that your Google Calendar is set to your correct time zone before you continue. ISN shows a warning on the tab if the two time zones do not match.
Step 2: Choose the calendar
Under Calendar to sync, open the list and choose the Google calendar you want ISN to use.
The change saves as soon as you choose, and ISN confirms with "Calendar changed." A calendar that another ISN user already syncs is grayed out and marked "used by" that person's name.
Check that it is working
The status line on the Google Calendar tab shows Synced, when the last sync finished and what it did, for example "3 sent to Google, 1 received". With one-way sync, nothing is ever "received". If you do not want to wait for the next automatic sync:
Sync now sends and receives what has changed since the last sync.
Full sync re-checks every event in the sync window instead of only what changed. Use it if something looks missing.
Changes you make in ISN reach Google in about a minute. ISN checks Google for changes every 30 minutes. The tab also says how far back events are included. Events that could not be synced are listed on the tab, and ISN retries them every night.
At the bottom of the page, Sync history lists the changes the sync made in the last four months, newest first. Filter it by All, Created, Updated or Deleted, or search by order number or message. On a deleted event, click Restore to bring it back.
See at a glance if your calendar is syncing
On the Calendar page, the button next to New Event shows the state of your sync. Before you connect, it is a phone icon. Once you are connected, it is the Google logo with a colored dot. Point at it to see when the last sync happened, or click it to open Calendar Sync.
Green dot: syncing normally.
Orange dot: some events could not be synced. ISN retries them every night.
Yellow dot: syncing has stopped. Reconnect to fix it.
When syncing stops, a yellow banner on the Calendar page also says "Google Calendar stopped syncing" and has a Reconnect button.
Office managers can see everyone's sync state in the Calendar Sync column on the User Administration page: On, Off, Reconnect, or the number of events that failed.
Choose what gets shared
The gear icon at the top right of the Calendar Sync page lists your office's sync rules and whether each is on or off:
One-way sync, inspection events only: see "One-way or two-way sync" above.
Delete calendar events deleted in ISN: when on, deleting an event in ISN also deletes the copy in Google. When off, the copy stays in Google, and changes to a recurring series are not sent either.
Show incoming events as "Busy": when on, events from Google show in ISN as "Busy" with no details.
Bring in tentative events: when on, events you have not confirmed in Google also come into ISN.
The last two only matter with two-way sync, so the gear hides them when your office is one-way. These rules apply to Google Calendar and Apple Calendar alike. Office owners change them in Settings, Office Settings, What we see on the ISN, Google Sync. Everyone else sees them read-only. See the Google Calendar Sync Settings article for more.
Turn off Google Calendar sync
Open Tools, then Sync to Calendar, on the Google Calendar tab.
Turn off Sync with Google Calendar.
Click Disconnect to confirm.
ISN stops syncing. Events that are already in Google Calendar stay there.
Good to know
ISN syncs with one calendar account at a time, Google or Apple. To switch, turn one off first. The other tab's switch is grayed out until you do.
One ISN user per Google calendar. You cannot sync every inspector to one shared Google calendar. Each inspector connects their own calendar, then shares it on the Google side so others can see it.
Orders that are not scheduled yet have no calendar event, so they do not sync.
Google Calendar's Day and Week grids show only the event title. Open the event to see the client, address and other details.
If you already use the ISN subscription link (Calendar, My iCal Feed) in Google Calendar, remove it before you turn on sync, or every event shows twice.
ISN does not connect to Outlook directly. If your email system can link to a Google or Apple calendar, you can connect ISN to that calendar instead. Ask your email provider for the steps.
The sync is not available for the root user account. Sign in as your own user.
Troubleshooting
Events I add in Google are not showing in ISN. Your office may use one-way sync, which never brings Google events into ISN. Check the gear icon on the Calendar Sync page. If your office is two-way, wait for the next check (every 30 minutes) or click Sync now. Tentative events only come in when Bring in tentative events is on.
Events I add in ISN, other than inspections, are not in Google. That is how one-way sync works: only inspections are sent. An office owner can switch to two-way in Office Settings.
The tab says "Google access was lost". Google no longer accepts ISN's access, so nothing is syncing. Click Reconnect and sign in again. If it keeps happening, remove ISN from your Google account's third-party access list (in your Google Account under Security), then turn the switch on again.
"ISN could not reach your Google account." Click Reconnect.
The switch is grayed out. Apple Calendar is connected. Turn it off on the Apple Calendar tab first.
The calendar you want is grayed out. Another ISN user already syncs it. Choose a different calendar.
The status says "Not synced". It also says why, for example that another ISN user syncs the same calendar, or that ISN could not sign in to Google. Fix that, then click Sync now.
Times are an hour off. Your Google Calendar time zone does not match your office. In Google Calendar, open Settings and choose the time zone your office is in. If the office time zone in ISN is wrong, an office owner can fix it in Settings, Office Settings, Contact Information.
Events show twice. You are also subscribed to the ISN subscription link. Remove that subscription from Google Calendar.
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If you have any questions about this information, please let us know! You can reach us by chat, email at help@inspectionsupport.com, or phone at (800) 700-8112.