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Importing an .ics file

Available in:Free

An .ics file (an iCalendar file) is what Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar and most booking services give you when you export a calendar. HappenBoard turns each event in that file into a HappenBoard event.

Use it when your events live in a calendar app, or in a WordPress plugin HappenBoard cannot migrate directly.

Import the file

  1. Export your calendar as an .ics file from the app that holds it.
  2. In WordPress, go to HappenBoard → Settings → Migration.
  3. Click Import from a file.
  4. Click Choose .ics file and pick your export.
  5. Click Preview (dry run). HappenBoard reads the file and writes nothing.
  6. Check the numbers, then click Import.

The result table has four columns: New, Updated, Skipped and Failed. Messages about skipped or adjusted entries are listed under the table, behind a link such as View 2 notices. Only administrators can import, by default.

Imported events are published straight away. To review them first, set them back to draft from the Events screen.

What each event becomes

HappenBoard reads the events in the file and skips everything else, such as tasks and reminders.

  • The title becomes the event title. An event with no title is called (imported event) so you can find it.
  • The description becomes the event content.
  • The start and end become the event dates. An event with a date but no time becomes an all-day event.
  • The location becomes the event’s venue name, as plain text. No venue record is created.
  • The organizer becomes the event’s organizer name, and its email when the file has a valid address.
  • Categories become HappenBoard categories, created if they do not exist yet.

Repeating events

A repeating event keeps its repeat rule, so the series comes in as one HappenBoard event with all its dates. HappenBoard repeats events daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. A rule HappenBoard cannot use, such as one that repeats every hour, brings the event in on its first date only, and a notice says why.

Changes made to single dates in your calendar app come across too:

  • A date you deleted or cancelled is cancelled.
  • A date you moved keeps its new time.

A moved date shares the series’ title and description. If the file gives it a title of its own, a notice says that title was not kept. These changes are stored the same way as a single date edited by hand.

Time zones

Times are read in the time zone written in the file, including the zone names Outlook uses. A time with no zone, or a zone HappenBoard does not recognize, is read in your site’s time zone. Visitors always see dates in your site’s time zone.

An all-day event is a day in your site’s time zone. It ends on its last day, not the day after as calendar files write it.

Import the same file again

Each event in a calendar file has a unique identifier. HappenBoard remembers it, so a second import of the file updates the events it created instead of duplicating them. You can keep a small calendar in step this way, one manual import at a time.

An update takes the file’s version: title, description, dates and repeat rule are overwritten, and the event is published again, even if you set it back to draft. Make those changes in your calendar app rather than in HappenBoard if you plan to import again. Changes you made in HappenBoard to other dates of a series are kept.

If you moved an imported event to the trash, the next import creates it again.

What is not imported

  • Extra dates added by hand to a series, outside its repeat rule.
  • Attendees, attachments and alarms.
  • Venue and organizer records: you get the text, not linked entries.

If a series looks wrong afterwards, fix it with the repeat rule editor, which previews the dates before you save.

If something goes wrong

  • “No events were found in this file”: the file holds no event. Check that you exported a calendar, not a contact card or a task list.
  • “The file is larger than this server allows for uploads”: import it with WP-CLI instead, which reads the file from the server.
  • “That does not look like an iCalendar (.ics) file”: the file is not an .ics export. Export it again from your calendar app.
  • An event counted under Failed: it has no unique identifier or no start date, so it cannot be scheduled or matched. A notice says so.

Next steps

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