Overview

You can sync your Cerbo calendar to an external calendar (for example your Google or Apple/ Mac calendar). This is a one-way sync of information from Cerbo to the external calendar.


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Details

Each user can access an iCal calendar sync URL via Scheduling > Calendar Sync URL. This creates an iCal feed that you can "subscribe" to in an external calendar. For example, your Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or the iOS (Apple/ Mac) Calendar. Once you are subscribed, the appointments that are added to your Cerbo calendar will automatically sync to the external calendar. 

  • Make sure to "subscribe" to the iCal feed, rather than "import" it. Importing would be a one-time transfer of information, which would not stay up to date as additional appointments are added, edited, or removed in Cerbo.
  • Sync timing: different external calendar systems will sync at different time intervals to the subscribed (Cerbo) calendar. iOS calendars tend to sync very frequently - every few minutes. Some systems will let you designate the sync interval/ timing. Google Calendar sync timing, in particular, can be less frequent and unpredictable - taking up to 24 hours to sync a subscribed iCal feed. If you are a Google Calendar user and this is causing headaches, there is a third-party script that you can use to force that sync from Cerbo to Google Calendar to happen more frequently. Here is a short video on how to set that up and use it.


IMPORTANT: Each user only has access to their own calendar sync URL in Cerbo. And only the appointments that apply to that user will sync via their calendar sync URL. If you would like to sync a calendar other than your own, reach to the staff member whose calendar you would like to subscribe to. If you are a practice administrator or responsible for assisting multiple providers, and would like access to lots of staff members' calendar sync URLs, please reach out to [email protected]. 


The iCal is a one way feed from Cerbo to to the external calendar; you can view your Cerbo schedule in the external calendar, but any edits made in the external calendar will not show up in the EMR and may be overwritten by the iCal feed (or you may be prevented from making edits on that end).


*** Note that most calendar programs are not HIPAA-secure, so you will want to keep this in mind when adding information that will be transferred via sync to an external calendar. The information that is transmitted via the calendar sync is the appointment title, type, and day/time, as well as the patient's name or initials. The patient identifier (name(s) versus initial(s)) that syncs is configurable, so you can reach out to [email protected] if you'd like to change how the patient name/ initials sync.


Getting a Link to Your iCal Feed

The first step is to get a link to your personal iCal feed. To do this, go to the Scheduling drop down menu in the EMR and click on Calendar Sync URL. This will generate a link to your personal Cerbo calendar. Copy this link and provide it as the calendar source when prompted by your calendar program.


Sync to iOS/ Mac devices (iPad, iPhone, etc.)


Newer iOs versions please visit:

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-multiple-calendars-iph3d1110d4/ios


iOS 15

  1. Launch the Settings app
  2. Tap Calendar
  3.  tap Accounts
  4. Choose Add Account
  5. Select Other
  6. Under Calendars, tap Add Subscribed Calendar
  7. Paste in your calendar link in the Server field (tap and hold the field, and select Paste)
  8. Tap Next
  9. Use the Description field to give the calendar an easily-recognizable name (if you'd like)
  10. Enter a server username and password if required (generally not required)
  11. Tap Save


Older iOS

  1. On your iOS device, go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Add Account
  2. Select Other -> Add Subscribed Calendar
  3. In the Server prompt, paste in the URL of your personal calendar feed (see How to Get a Link to Your iCal Feed, above)
  4. Touch Save


Android/ Google Calendar

For Android devices, you would add the calendar to the Google account that is associated with your phone/tablet. To do this:

  1. Using any device, go to your Google Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/
  2. On the left side of the page find "Other Calendars" and click the plus sign there.
  3. Select "From URL"
  4. Paste in the URL of your personal calendar feed (see How to Get a Link to Your iCal Feed, above)


Note: Google Calendar does not synchronize as often as other calendars, so new events and edits to existing events in the EMR may not show up in your Google Calendar for up to 24 hours.


Troubleshooting Google Calendar Sync


Issue: no new appointments are showing up!

It's likely that you imported your iCal file, rather than subscribing to it. The import is a one-time sync. You'll want to re-try, making sure to use the Subscribe option.


Issue: the calendar was syncing, but it's been several days without updates! 

If it was previously loading in new appointments correctly but has stopped and it's been more than 24 hours, then it's possible that Google Calendar has dropped the re-sync setting for some reason. You'd still see previous appointments but we've heard of cases were Google just stopped synchronization and in those scenarios you have to remove/ re-add the calendar subscription from Google Calendar to "restart" the subscription.

Issue: it's taking too long for edits to show up!

Google calendar is notorious for setting arbitrary - and sometimes infrequent - sync schedules for iCal feeds. Officially, it's not supposed to take more than 12 hours and is usually much more frequent. But we have heard reports of it taking longer than 12 hours. There's not a lot we can do about this directly, but there's actually a work-around for that at the top of this complaint board that has worked for some people who have encountered Google synchronization issues. The solution looks more complicated than it is and it seems to work well if you can follow the steps in the code-comments here


Here is a video demonstrating how to set up Google Calendar to sync more frequently.


Adding your iCal Feed to MacOS Calendar
Cerbo's Calendar Sync URL imported with File -> New Calendar Subscription in the Calendar app seemed to work for me.


Adding your iCal Feed to Microsoft Outlook

Note: the instructions are different for different versions of Microsoft Outlook. This website has information for the various versions.

 

Adding your iCal Feed to Yahoo! Calendar

  1. Go to https://www.calendar.yahoo.com/ and sign in with your Yahoo! username and password.
  2. Click the cog next to "Subscribed" in the bottom left side of the screen.
  3. Select "Subscribe to Other Calendars".
  4. Give the calendar a name (Cerbo Calendar, e.g.) and paste in the URL of your iCal feed (see How to Get a Link to Your iCal Feed, above).