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Frequently Asked Questions

Importing, Exporting, and Subscribing to Calendars

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Last Updated: January 22, 2015 10:54 AM

In an increasingly mobile world, your calendar of events may be strung across numerous programs. Thankfully, Calendar can share events with multiple calendars, and multiple users, helping you organize your schedule. Calendar works with other calendar programs in two ways.

  • By importing or exporting .ics files, which store calendar information, you can transfer all events from one calendar to another. However, .ics files only use the calendar's information when it is exported, so all of your calendars are not updated as you modify or add events.
  • By subscribing to a calendar's published URL, events are managed dynamically, so modifying or adding events reflects across all of your calendars. (This does not include third party clients.)

Some common programs that support both methods are:

  • Apple iPhone®
  • Apple iCal®
  • Google Calendar®
  • Microsoft Outlook® 2007
  • Mozilla Sunbird®

Importing and Exporting Calendars

Importing or exporting .ics files uses the calendar's information when the .ics file is created.

To Import .ics Files

  1. Log in to your Calendar account.
  2. From the Settings menu, select Import/Export.
  3. Click Import.
  4. In the Import Calendar window, click Browse to locate the .ics file for the calendar you want to import.
  5. Select New Calendar and enter the calendar name, or select an existing calendar.
  6. From the Set my attendance as drop-down menu, select your status for imported events.
  7. Click OK.

To Export .ics Files

  1. Log in to your Calendar account.
  2. From the Settings menu, select Import/Export.
  3. Under Actions, click Export for the calendar you wish to export. The browser will open the file or prompt you to save the file.

Subscribing to Calendars

Calendar subscriptions dynamically update when events are modified or added.

NOTE: Calendar contacts cannot modify events.

To Subscribe to a Calendar

  1. Log in to your Calendar account.
  2. From the Settings menu, select Share Calendars.
  3. Click Add External Calendars.
  4. In the Add Calendar window, enter the full URL to the calendar to which you want to subscribe.
  5. Calendar will verify that the URL is valid and populate the Calendar Name field or you can enter a new calendar name.
  6. Click OK.

To Remove a Subscribed Calendar

  1. Log in to your Calendar account.
  2. From the Settings menu, select Share Calendars.
  3. Under Actions, click Delete next to the calendar you wish to remove. The application will ask you to confirm the removal.
  4. Click OK.

Additional Actions for a Subscribed Calendar

  • Request Calendar Data from Source URL: This action updates Calendar data for the specific subscription. Any changes to the source data will be recognized, and the corresponding events in Calendar will change to match.
  • Copy URL: This action copies the URL to the clipboard, allowing you to paste elsewhere.

To Publish Your Calendar

  1. Log in to your Calendar account.
  2. From the Settings menu, select Share Calendars.
  3. Under My Calendars, select the calendar you would like to publish, and then click the Enable Publish URL icon.

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