How to Subscribe to Another Calendar in Google Calendar
Google Calendar on the web; phone app differences noted · Last checked · Suggest an edit
https://instructions.wiki/google-calendar/subscribe-to-another-calendar-in-google-calendar
Someone sent their calendar link, or a team schedule lives somewhere else entirely, and there is no obvious place to put it. Subscribing is not the same as importing: a subscription keeps pulling from the original source, while an import copies whatever the file held at that moment and then goes stale. Both live under Other calendars in the left panel, behind the same plus icon.
Request access to another person's calendar
In the left panel, click the + next to Other calendars, then Subscribe to calendar. Type the person's email address and click Send request. Nothing appears until they approve it, so their calendar shows up only after that. If their organization publishes free and busy information, the calendar may appear at once with times but no event titles.
Add a public or interest calendar
Click the same +, then Browse calendars of interest. Tick the entries for national holidays, religious holidays, or sports teams. These are maintained by Google and update themselves.
Subscribe to an ICS link
Click the +, then From URL. Paste the address of the ICS feed, which usually ends in .ics, and click Add calendar. The feed stays connected, so changes made at the source reach the calendar on its own, though Google refreshes external feeds on its own schedule rather than instantly.
Import a one-time file
Click the +, then Import. Select an .ics or .csv file, choose which of your calendars the events should land in under Add to calendar, and click Import. The events become normal events owned by you, editable and deletable like any others.
A subscription updates, an import does not. Use From URL for anything that will change later, such as a room booking feed or a class timetable. Use Import only for a fixed set of events, for example a conference agenda that is already final, and note that importing the same file twice creates duplicates.
Hide a calendar instead of removing it. Untick a calendar under Other calendars to take it off the grid while keeping the subscription. To remove one for good, hover it, click the three-dot menu, then Unsubscribe.