Using Kontact and Google Apps

    Recently , support for IMAP has been added to GMail , which allows third-party email programs to work with this powerful email service. And Google in a friendly manner shared instructions on setting up IMAP in various email clients, but forgot about one - KMail. This is a mail program, which is part of the KDE project and is often used together with other KDE programs in the smart Kontact personal information manager. Google also forgot to mention that some of their services, like Google Calendar and Google Reader, can now also work with Kontact. Here is how you can configure them.

    Mail: KMail and GMail


    Let's start with KMail. Open Settings -> Configure KMail ... , select the Accounts tab on the left , on the right in the Receive tab, click Add ... to create an incoming mail account. Select IMAP as the type of account. Enter some name for this account (I wrote “GMail”), imap.gmail.com as the address of the Outgoing Mail Server , port number is 993, your gmail address as the Account Name (for example, johnsmith@gmail.com ) and your password. Switch to the Security tab and check the box "Use SSL for secure mail delivery." Click OK and go to the Submit tab. Click Add ... again and in the create dialog box, enter the Account Name , smtp.gmail.com as the address of the outgoing mail server and 465 as the port number. Encryption Method Specify SSL . Switch to the Advanced tab and, having checked the Server requires identification checkbox, enter your gmail address as the Account name and your password. Also make sure that the Authorization Method is set to PLAIN . Done!
    KMail will now log into your GMail account and all your shortcuts will be visible inside [Gmail] (or the folder you selected when creating your inbox). You might also want to sync your KMail cart with your GMail cart. To do this, go to Settings -> Configure KMail ... , select the Accounts tab and configure your Gmail account. Change the "Trash" to [YOUR GMAIL ACCOUNT NAME] / [Gmail] / Trash.

    Calendars: Google Calendar and KOrganizer


    When you finish setting up your email client, you can immediately start your calendar. Unfortunately, while Google has not officially announced two-way synchronization with Google Calendar, however, you can still use your KOrganizer (the Calendar component in Kontact) with Google Calendar if you use Java runtime environment and GCALDaemon . Download the Unix / Linux / AIX / Mac OS X compatible zip archive from the GCALDaemon website . Unzip the contents of the archive to / usr / local / sbin (you will need root privileges) and give all users access to the daemon using the chmod command 777 /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon. Then run /usr/local/sbin/GCALDaemon/bin/standalone-start.sh(you can add this script to autorun by making a shortcut for it in ~ / .kde / Autostart /).
    Now you need to find out the private address of your iCal file. To do this, open Google Calendar and go to Settings -> Calendars -> My calendars and select your calendar. Then click on the green ICAL button at the bottom. Create a new calendar in KOrganizer. To do this, go to the Calendar tab and click the Add button in the Sources panel , select Calendar in a network file (Access the calendar in a network file accessible via KIO protocol) , give it a Name (e.g. My calendar), and copy the closed URL into the fields Download from andPost to - but replace http://www.google.com with http: // localhost: 9090 in it. Click OK and your calendar should load. When prompted for your username and password, enter your gmail address (e.g. johnsmith@gmail.com) and password.
    KOrganizer and Google Calendar work quite well together, except for one thing: if you delete an event in Google Calendar, it will not be deleted in your KOrganizer calendar, and vice versa.

    News Feeds: Akregator and Google Reader


    Unlike the first two, Google Reader does not have any means to synchronize read and unread articles with third-party applications. However, the migration from Google Reader to Akregator, a component for reading RSS feeds in Kontact, is completely invisible. Save your list of news feeds to a file by clicking on the link https://www.google.com/reader/subscriptions/export, then open the News Feeds component in Kontact, select File -> Import List ... , and select the saved file. Give your list a Name (e.g. Google Reader), click OK and wait until the import is complete. Now all your feed lists will be displayed in Akregator.

    Conclusion


    After these steps, Kontact can easily manage all your information from Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Reader. In the future, opportunities will increase. GCALDaemon has the ability to synchronize contacts through LDAP, but it still does not work with Gmail version 2.0. However, native LDAP support is likely to appear soon . It may be easier to sync Google Calendar with KOrganizer over time, probably not without the help of Google. And ultimately, maybe Google will update Google Reader to sync with third-party clients like Akregator. Time to become a KDE and Google user.

    Conclusion from the translator


    At the time of writing (December 4, 2007), the KDE4 project was still in the plans, so it’s hard to say whether the above synchronization scheme works with Google Calendar or not, and whether there are simpler options. However, the fact that the KDE4 project has the potential to create such an inconspicuous integration and complete synchronization is an indisputable fact. How? Recall one of the pillars on which KDE4 rests - Akonadi. Yes, it is this centralized repository that is designed to facilitate the tuning of programs to various sources of information. Why, then, cannot we say with certainty that Google Calendar can already work through Akonadi? At least because I did not try elementary. I have never used Google Calendar, so there’s nothing to synchronize my KOrganizer with and why not. In addition, according to Akonadi developers themselves, they are only just beginning their triumphal march - in KDE 4.3 it does not play a big role, since practically no application uses it. With the release of version 4.4, it is planned to use Akonadi in the component of the Address Book, and in 4.5 - most other programs. Therefore, I can only advise you to switch to using KDE4 (if you have not already done so), or if you are an avid GNOME user,

    This is a cross-post translation from my blog .

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