How to Add an ICS Calendar Link to Google Calendar

To follow an updating ICS calendar in Google Calendar, add the publisher's subscription URL through Other calendars → From URL on a computer. Use the link from its Subscribe, iCalendar, or Copy calendar link option. A normal timetable webpage will not work, and uploading a downloaded file creates a snapshot.

Add the link on a computer

Add the URL from Google Calendar on a computer; the mobile app does not offer this setup. Sign in to the Google account that should hold the subscription, then:

Open Google Calendar in a browser.
Find Other calendars in the left sidebar.
Select the plus button, then From URL.
Paste the published calendar address.
Select Add calendar.
Find the new calendar in the sidebar and make sure it is selected.

Google's subscription instructions explain the published-calendar requirement. If a school or workplace supplies a protected feed, follow its subscription instructions. A webpage requiring interactive sign-in is not a feed address.

Name the calendar after its source and choose a color that separates it from appointments you create yourself. Your phone may need to refresh before it displays the newly subscribed calendar.

Compare events with the source

Find one recognizable event in the source timetable and compare its date, start time, end time, and location in Google. Also check a future week. A feed can include only part of a term or season.

If an appointment is missing, inspect the publisher's schedule first. The feed may differ from the main website, or you may have selected the wrong group, class, or team before copying the address.

If the calendar exists but looks empty, make sure it is selected in the sidebar. Also check whether the relevant appointments fall outside the dates currently displayed.

Google fetches subscribed calendars on its own schedule, so a publisher's change may take time to appear. Reloading your page does not force a fresh fetch. For a changed event that stays stale, investigate subscription refresh delays.

If you downloaded a file instead

A downloaded ICS file can be imported through Settings → Import & export. Select the file and the destination calendar carefully. Google warns that imported events do not remain in sync with the original account, and that some event information is not imported. See its import guide.

Use this for a deliberate snapshot, not as a replacement for an updating subscription. Repeatedly importing revised timetable files can leave you with duplicates and uncertainty about which version is current. Choose between an updating subscription and a file import before adding the events.

A subscription does not make the calendar editable

The publisher controls the events. If a lecture changes, the university changes its source. Editing your own separate appointment does not send that change to the timetable.

Seeing the subscription in your sidebar does not mean your booking page or coworkers' scheduling tools check it. Inspect the scheduling tool's selected calendars and Busy/Free rules. To block work time, set up busy copies from the read-only feed.

For a few commitments, add manual busy blocks to your work calendar. For a changing timetable, connect the ICS source to Avum and create a Sync Rule to copy occupied time into a writable work calendar. Leave class names or other private details out of that destination. Changes arrive after the publisher updates the feed and it is fetched again; the feed stays read-only.

Remove the subscription cleanly

In Google Calendar on a computer, open Settings, select the subscribed calendar in the left column, then choose Remove calendar → Unsubscribe and confirm. Google's removal instructions distinguish unsubscribing from hiding a calendar. Hiding only removes it from your current view. If a separate tool created copies elsewhere, stop and review that copying arrangement too; unsubscribing from Google does not identify or remove every independent copy.

Ready to try busy copies from an updating calendar feed? Start your free 30-day trial with Avum today.