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Might be a strange question but...

I run a google apps account for my own domain for myself and family members for email, calendar and contacts. Email name@domain.com

I have found that when it comes to using other useful google services such as iGoogle, Google Reader, etc that it requires you to log in using your Google Account. A google apps account however is not a google account and then involves you signing up for a google account with your google apps email address.

This means that I now have an google account for name@domain.com which now has an empty calendar, contacts, etc. This becomes confusing when different google services keep you logged in next time you visit a page only to realise that when you go to calendar or contacts from the menu up top they are empty as you are signed in with your identical G-account email address rather than G-apps email address.

This may not seem like a big issue but I always run into problems when things say they support synching to google calendar yet don't end up working for google apps calendar even though to a user they are effectively the same thing. I'll enter my details and it will sync to my Google Account calendar rather than my Google Apps calendar.

Am I going about this the wrong way or is there no way to make your google apps account also your google account? It seems they are very separate yet should be integrated.

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2 Answers 2

up vote 16 down vote accepted

Google are beginning to transition Google Apps accounts to full accounts. My domain just went through this transition and now I have access to most Google services using my Google Apps account. Previously I used to have an alex@mydomain.com Google Apps account and a google@mydomain.com Google account - it got rather annoying after a while!

I outlined in this post which services transition across and how. The main ones I don't seem to have access to are:

  • Google Buzz - I get a 404 Page Not Found when going to http://buzz.google.com when logged in
  • Google Profile - I think this is linked to the above.

(Google have a bit about these two here)

I also seem unable to share items in Google Reader - which Google know about it seems.

There's a bit more info from Google here and here, but I'm not sure if you can initiate the transition before they issue you with an invitation...

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Thanks Alex some good info there. So it seems I will have to wait to receive that transition email from google. –  Daniel Bowden Jul 13 '10 at 3:57

I don't have a Google Apps account (yet...), though questions like this are things I've considered prior to going the Apps route. Your question made me recall Google's page talking about the differences.

They use the exact example of a calendar on the page.

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Ah I remember reading that a long time ago when I first tried to overcome this problem. Thanks for finding it again. That is the problem I am having although it's no where near as painfree as they make out. Going to google calendar signed in with your google account gives this message: Oops. Another calendar has been created for name@domain.com. Each calendar needs its own email address so friends can send you invitations. Keep using your Google calendar Or Start using a domain.com calendar. –  Daniel Bowden Jul 13 '10 at 1:44
This problem is more evident in my other question I just asked. (webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/3337/…) where it fbcal states it supports google calendar sync but will not work with google apps calendar sync.. –  Daniel Bowden Jul 13 '10 at 1:45
Hmm, well I guess I'm glad I know beforehand that things aren't as seamless as they seem. –  Rebecca Chernoff Jul 13 '10 at 1:49

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