ICalendar
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== Subscribing to calendars == | == Subscribing to calendars == | ||
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| + | These system-specific methods are always subject to change as new versions of the respective software are released. | ||
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| + | === Google Calendar === | ||
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| + | Click on the arrow to the right of "Other Calendars" in the left column to bring up a pulldown menu. Select '''Add by URL'''. Type or paste in the calendar URL. | ||
=== iOS === | === iOS === | ||
Revision as of 00:44, 22 August 2013
iCalendar, or ICS, is a standardized format for storing and transmitting calendar data, including scheduled events and "to-do" lists. People often associate it with Apple's iCal program (now just "Calendar"), but it is a standardized format with an official RFC document (RFC 5545) and the format is supported by many calendar programs including Google Calendar and Mozilla Lightning (plugin for Thunderbird). Microsoft Outlook does the typical Microsoft thing of supporting something vaguely resembling the standard but full of quirky incompatibilities.
Subscribable calendars can be created by creating and updating a file in this format that is accessible on the Internet via a URL (where the URL stays the same even as the file is modified to reflect updates to the calendar events). Various calendar software (such as the calendar app on iOS or Android devices) will let you subscribe to a calendar URL and will automatically fetch updates so that whenever you view the calendar in your app it will be up-to-date. Read-only access to subscribed calendars can be done with the HTTP protocol, but the CalDAV protocol (based on WebDAV and defined by RFC 4791) permits both reading and writing for full calendar syncing across multiple users (requiring both a client and a server that supports this protocol, and whatever permissions are needed to have access to the particular calendar involved).
Individual event listings can also be provided in iCalendar form to be downloaded, attached to e-mail, and so on. This is often done in websites devoted to particular events, conventions, meetings, concerts, and the like. You can import them into your personal calendar in various calendar apps and programs, though when you do it in this manner it is only a one-time import which does not automatically update to reflect changes in the event as subscribable calendars do.
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Subscribing to calendars
These system-specific methods are always subject to change as new versions of the respective software are released.
Google Calendar
Click on the arrow to the right of "Other Calendars" in the left column to bring up a pulldown menu. Select Add by URL. Type or paste in the calendar URL.
iOS
Open the Settings app, and go to Mail, Contacts and Calendars. Pick Add Account... and then Other, and Add Subscribed Calendar. It then asks for the "Server", and here's where you type or paste in the calendar URL.
Specs and standards
Sample files
APIs
Programs and utilities
- PMical -- handle iCalendar files in Pegasus Mail
- Convert between Outlook and iCal
- Encode event data as QR bar code
