Sync Google Calendar With Thunderbird Lightning

Nov 10, 2011

Updated • Apr 9, 2014

Both the Thunderbird desktop email client and the Lightning calendar add-on have been recently updated. Using Lightning is not the only way of integrating Google Calendar in Thunderbird. In 2010 I reviewed the Thunderbird add-on Google Calendar Tab which integrates the service into Thunderbird by opening the Google Calendar web page in the email client.

Probably better than that is the integration of Google Calendar information into the Lightning add-on as it integrates better with Thunderbird. The requirements are the following: ~~You need Thunderbird 8 or later at the moment as Lightning is only compatible with that version of the email client currently~~. The developers however have stated that the next version of Lightning will again support previous versions of Thunderbird as well. Lastly, you need a Google account with Google Calendar enabled as a service.

Update: Google changed the authentication method of CalDAV on September 16. This changes things around a bit. You do need - at the very least - Thunderbird 24 and Lighting 2.6, as they support the new option.

To connect the calendar, you have to do the following:

Open File > New > Calendar in Thunderbird.
Add a new calendar (On the Network > CalDav).
Add the following location for the calendar, make sure you replace the your email address part in the address with your Google email address: https://apidata.googleusercontent.com/caldav/v2/your-email-address/events

Additional information are provided on Mozilla's Calendar blog.

Installing Lightning

Install Lightning in Thunderbird by dragging and dropping the downloaded add-on file into the program window. You can alternatively click on Tools > Add-ons to open the program's add-on manager. Click the small options icon next to the search and select Install Add-on from File. Locate the Lightning add-on on your computer and select it to install it in the email client.

Restart Thunderbird after you have installed the calendar add-on.

Setting up Google Calendar

Go to the Google Calendar website and log into your Google account. Click on the options icon in the upper right corner of the screen next to the profile picture and select Calendar settings from the menu there.

Switch to the Calendars tab under Calendar Settings and locate the calendar that you want to sync with Thunderbird. Click on that Calendar and scroll down until you Calendar Address and the Calendar ID listed there.

Syncing Google Calendar with Thunderbird

Click on File > New > Calendar to create a new calendar. In the next menu select On the Network from the available options and click Next.

Select CalDAV from the available options and paste in the following url:

https://apidata.googleusercontent.com/caldav/v2/your-email-address/events

with Calendar ID being the ID listed on the Google Calendar page.

You are then asked to enter a name, color, alarms and an email address for the calendar.

If everything has been done correctly the Google login credentials need to be entered on the next page. Once done the new calendar will be displayed in the Lightning calendar in Thunderbird.

Comments

JMGG said on January 19, 2012 at 8:25 am


You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
1. BalaC said on January 19, 2012 at 9:42 am
  
  
  I think its thunderbird
2. Martin Brinkmann said on January 19, 2012 at 10:15 am
  
  
  It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Salaam said on September 24, 2012 at 9:52 pm


Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
Claud said on December 19, 2012 at 2:08 am


If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
1. Lynda said on February 12, 2013 at 3:37 pm
  
  
  THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
2. Chad said on November 20, 2018 at 4:24 pm
  
  
  Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
3. Ivan X said on January 21, 2021 at 4:50 pm
  
  
  Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
Andrew said on October 26, 2013 at 7:06 am


This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Charles said on December 7, 2013 at 7:23 pm


Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
garth said on November 7, 2014 at 7:13 pm


You are a god – thank you!
Faisal said on February 9, 2015 at 10:09 am


thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Simon said on March 24, 2015 at 11:36 pm


Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Olu said on April 14, 2015 at 1:35 pm


Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Coenig said on July 23, 2015 at 7:36 am


Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Fali said on January 20, 2016 at 4:19 pm


Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
1. MIki said on January 10, 2019 at 11:54 am
  
  
  I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Christina said on January 20, 2016 at 6:14 pm


Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Oz said on July 22, 2016 at 3:20 pm


Great tip! Thanks!
Tracy said on September 1, 2016 at 4:48 pm


Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
shawn said on September 9, 2016 at 10:25 am


It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
Jari said on October 31, 2016 at 11:53 am


I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Michel H said on November 30, 2016 at 11:08 pm


Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
Ziad Bitar said on January 9, 2017 at 2:00 am


This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.

Thanks.
Anonymous said on February 15, 2017 at 5:24 pm


Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Rochelle said on March 6, 2017 at 11:59 am


Thank you, this worked !!!!
anom1234 said on May 20, 2018 at 11:20 pm


Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
JC said on October 12, 2020 at 2:14 pm


Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!