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Question for my learned friends: Solution for cross-platform notes and calendar
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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 19, 2016 at 06:38 PM
I broke down a couple of weeks ago and got a smart phone. Couldn’t afford an iPhone, so I have an inexpensive Android model (LG Tribute 5). So this has splintered my technology network yet further (Windows PC at work, MacBook for personal use, iPad and now Android—Ugh). Anyway, I’ve been trying to come up with a good solution for sharing calendars across these diverse systems, as well as note-taking. Coming up with a calendar that works has been a bear. Or rather, trying to find a way to synchronize my iCal (actually, now just called Calendar) with Google calendar has just not worked. So I am wondering if anyone else is in this position and has come up with a solution.
Notes is less of a big deal, as Google Keep works fine. Evernote works as well, but the more I use Evernote, the more I despise it. But I’d welcome any other note options.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Steve Z.
Posted by shatteredmindofbob
May 19, 2016 at 07:23 PM
It depends on what kinds of notes you’re taking. For plain text notes, it doesn’t get any better than Simplenote for cross-platform syncing.
Posted by Dr Andus
May 19, 2016 at 07:53 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I’ve been trying to come up with a good solution for sharing calendars
>across these diverse systems, as well as note-taking. Coming up with a
>calendar that works has been a bear. Or rather, trying to find a way to
>synchronize my iCal (actually, now just called Calendar) with Google
>calendar has just not worked. So I am wondering if anyone else is in
>this position and has come up with a solution.
I manage by just using Google Calendar across all platforms (mostly in the Chrome browser, or hooking its feed into the iOS calendar app and Android app), and it works very well.
Is there a reason why you can’t switch from iCal (whatever it is) permanently to Google Calendar everywhere?
If you’re not finding the Google Cal interface and features sophisticated enough, I can recommend Pimlical (http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/), though I’ve only used their Windows desktop app for backing up my Google Cal data (as Google seems to delete old entries to make room for new, once you exceed their quota), besides their legendary Palm app.
Diehard fans love the Android app and widget, but I haven’t had the need to try them.
But the desktop app is incredibly sophisticated, and since it runs on Java, it runs on most desktop platforms. And it syncs with Google Cal, whichever way you want it (both ways or just unidirectionally).
As for notes, it’s WorkFlowy for me (using it in the Chrome browser across platforms, in HandyFlowy on iOS, and the WorkFlowy Android app).
Posted by Andy Brice
May 20, 2016 at 09:50 AM
I use Google Calendar. It isn’t fantastic: the iPhone app isn’t very intuitive and the web interface has some glitches (using FireFox on Windows). But it works well enough and its free. Unfortunately Google has a habit of periodically killing off useful services.
Posted by Dr Andus
May 20, 2016 at 10:57 AM
Andy Brice wrote:
>Unfortunately Google
>has a habit of periodically killing off useful services.
While that’s true (and yet another reason to back up the data onto Pimlical or similar), I can’t see them killing off Calendar anytime soon. It’s at the heart of their ecosystem. It would be like killing Gmail.
Considering that Google is just beginning to branch into the corporate market to attack the dominance of MS (e.g. by corporate versions of Chromebooks, or integrating Android with Chrome OS, so you can use MS Office apps on a Chromebook), they will always need a calendar app to provide an alternative to Outlook.