How to Sync Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar with Windows Phone 8

The Windows Phone ecosystem is not user friendly when it comes to using Google apps. However Google products such as Gmail, and Google Calendar are some of the most common apps we use in our everyday life. If you just picked up a Windows Phone 8 device and are finding it hard to configure these Google services, read on as we show you how to sync Gmail contacts and Google Calendar on your Windows 8 device.

How to Sync Gmail Contacts with Windows Phone 8

1. Go to Settings-> email+accounts.

2. Click add an account.

3. Tap Google and follow the steps in the wizard to setup your Gmail account.

Alternatively,

1. Open the People app.

2. Tap the 3 dotted horizontal menu at the bottom of the screen and select add an account.

3. Again, tap add an account.

4. Choose Google and then click connect.

5. Sign in to your Google account with your credentials and grant the necessary permissions to access the app.

Windows Phone will now sync your Gmail contacts with Windows Phone. If you want to  view just your Gmail contacts:

6. Go to the People app again and tap the contacts with phone numbers link at the top of the screen.

7. In the show contacts from my section, switch off Outlook contacts so you can only see your Gmail contacts.

To Sync Gmail with Windows Phone:

1. Go to the Google Mail app on your Windows Phone.

2. Tap the 3 dotted horizontal menu at the bottom of the screen and select Settings.

3. Tap sync settings you can choose how often you want new email to be downloaded and how often you want to sync contacts and calendar.

You can also choose whether you want to sync email, contacts and calendar items or any of them in particular.

To Sync Google Calendar with Windows Phone

If you have set the sync options in Gmail to include Calendars, your Google Calendar events will automatically show up in the Calendar app. You can tap the 3 dotted horizontal menu at the bottom of the screen and select Settings to set other options such as whether you want to view both Google and Outlook calendars or display only one of them. You can also customize the Calendar theme colors for various calendars you added to your Main Calendar.