Windows Phone 7 and Google’s Artificial Limitation of Multiple Calendars

If you happen to use more than one calendar in Google Mail or your corporate e-mail then you might have realised that Windows Phone 7 only seems to support the primary calendar for some reason over Exchange ActiveSync. This is despite other EAS compatible devices such as the iPhone and iPad having worked with multiple Google calenders. Most people would think that Windows Phone 7 by itself is solely to blame for this situation but really, it’s only half of the problem.

Apparently, there is an update included in Mango for Windows Phone 7 that will enable the use of multiple calendars for EAS sources but even after updating Google will still only present the primary calendar to your device. What you need to do is enable the additional calendars on Google’s side so that your Windows Phone will be able to see them. We’ll also need to get around a JavaScript restriction put in place by Google only allowing one calendar to be selected for Windows Phones.

Now there are two ways to do this, specifically:

1. Use an iOS device and browse to http://m.google.com/sync and enable the calendars,
2. Use a web browser that allows you to change the user agent string (i.e. how the browser identifies itself to a web server) and browse to http://m.google.com/sync

I am going to cover the first approach but if you are interested in the second approach you can check out this article.

Anyway, here we go with the iOS instructions:

• Grab your favourite iOS device and browse to http://m.google.com/sync in Safari,

Google Sync Device List in Safari on Apple iPad

• Click on your Windows Phone device,

Google Sync Settings for Windows Phone

• Next we’ll need to disable JavaScript in order to get around the one calendar restriction,
• Go into “Settings” and then under “Safari” turn the option for JavaScript “Off”,

Disable JavaScript in Safari

• Go back into Safari,
• Enable any or all of the calendars you want to show up for your Google account on Windows Phone,
• Tap on “Save” (and you can re-enable JavaScript again).

Now, unless you have a Windows Phone with the Mango update already installed (you lucky developers, you) you won’t see the calendars show up but you’ll be in a position to start using them as soon as this update is released. Otherwise, if you find a way to update your phone by signing up to the developer program then you can start to enjoy the new features right now.

At the end of the day this is not an immediate fix but it will set you up to take advantage of the feature when it makes its appearance.