install-and-setup.md

Installation and setup

Follow these instructions to install and setup the script correctly.

• Installation and setup
  • Enable the calendar
  • Create the script
  • Customize the script
    • Mandatory customization
    • Optional customization
    • Debugging options
    • Developer options
  • Activate API for the script
  • Grant rights to the script

Enable the calendar

First of all you need to enable your contacts birthday and events calendar in your Google Calendar (read this Google help page to know how to do it).

Allow sharing data between Google Services

Google has introduced new data sharing policies for citizens of the EU, which requires explicit permission to share data between your contacts and the calendar. Enable it by checking here the checkbox next to "Contacts".

Create the script

Copy the whole content of this file.
Open Google Script and login if requested, click "New project", then paste the code into the page.

Customize the script

Now read carefully the code you've pasted. At the top of the file you will find some lines you need to modify along with many lines of instructions. Edit the values as explained by the instructions.

Once you're done editing the variables click File->Save in the menu and enter a name for the script (it doesn't really matter, just name it so that you'll recognize it in the future).

The customization variables can be categorized in three groups.

Mandatory customization

These are the first settings you will find: these are variables that you must initialize correctly, otherwise the script will not work at all.
These are the names of the variables:

• settings.user.googleEmail
• settings.user.notificationEmail

Optional customization

This second group of settings contains some variables that you could leave as they are, but you are warmly encouraged to edit them to fit your exact needs.
These are the names of the variables:

• settings.user.emailSenderName
• settings.user.lang
• settings.notifications.hour
• settings.notifications.timeZone
• settings.notifications.anticipateDays
• settings.notifications.eventTypes
• settings.notifications.maxEmailsCount
• settings.notifications.maxPhonesCount
• settings.notifications.indentSize
• settings.notifications.compactGrouping

Debugging options

Variables in this group are used to debug and troubleshoot the script when it does not work as intended. Generally you should not need to edit these values, but you may be asked to do so if you submit a help request.
These are the names of the variables:

• settings.debug.log.filterLevel
• settings.debug.log.sendTrigger
• settings.debug.testDate

Developer options

This list just provides a convenient place for the developers and/or maintainers to update variables without searching through the code. For normal use you should never need or want to edit these.

• settings.developer.version
• settings.developer.repoName
• settings.developer.gitHubBranch

Activate API for the script

Now that the script is saved in your Google Drive folder we need to activate required services for it. To do so click the "+" next to the Services menu. The Services menu can be found on the left-hand side. In the popup which will open set "Calendar API" to enabled (click the switch on its row on the right) and press "Okay". Do the same for "Peopleapi".

Once you have done this, you should see the two Services "Calendar" and "People" in the Services list.

Next, you need to attach a Google Cloud Platform project to your script. Open the Settings for your scripts in the far left, and navigate to the section that says "Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Project", then click the "Change Project" button.

We're prompted for a project number.

To get one, follow the instructions in Step 1; that is, open the Google Cloud Platform API Dashboard and create a new Google Cloud project (or, you can use an existing one if you already have one).

Once you have a project either created or selected, you should then see a project number on the dashboard. Input it back on the prompt from the Scripts page to link the two together.

Once you have done this, go back to the Google Cloud Platform API Dashboard and (with your project selected), open the hamburger menu on the left and scroll through the myriad of services until you find "API & Services". This takes you to a page which has a button "Enable API's and Services" at the top; click that one.

This opens up an enormous list of various API's Search for "Google Calendar API" in the search box and open it. Now click Enable and close this page.

That's it for this step.

Important note: please double check that you have performed all steps correctly as this seems to be the cause of many reported errors.

Grant rights to the script

We have given the script access to the resource it needs to work: now the last step is granting it the rights to access those resources. To do so click on the menu Run->notifStart. You will be prompted to "Review authorizations": do it and click Allow (You can read the full list of the permissions and why they are required here). During this phase you might be prompted with a "This app isn't verified" error message: in this case you'll have to click on "Advanced" and click on the link that will appear to continue with the setup.

From this moment on you will always receive an email before any of your contacts' birthday (You should have set how many days before at the beginning).