With a Timely account, you can easily import event feeds from other calendars, such as Google, Apple and Outlook. Importing events from other sources is an easy way to populate your events calendar, keeping your audience informed and engaged. In this post, you will learn how to import events using an ICS / iCal feed URL.
Most calendar programs allow you to export an iCalendar (.ics or iCal) feed URL. This feed URL contains event data (like times, dates, location, title, description, and time zone) in a standard format. Also each event has a unique identifier or "UID". When events are imported from an iCalendar, the source calendar uses an UID to determine if the event is new or has already been imported. If new, it then creates a new feed. If previously imported, then it updates the feed.
By importing iCal / ICS URL feeds into your event calendar, our system will schedule automated imports from your selected sources. This means the imported calendars will be synced to your calendar. As a result, you calendar and events will be always up to date, without any extra effort from you.
Most calendars that can share their ICS / iCal feed URL will have a button that says either subscribe, export or share. Look for these keywords. When you find the URL feed, simply copy the link for a synced import. Alternatively, you can download the file to do a one time import. If that is the case, we recommend checking the post How to Import Events from ICS Files.
For example:
You can also consult your software's documentation on how to export an .ics file. Here are some examples:
To import ICS / iCal URL feeds, follow the simple steps below:
A new section will appear on the right side of your screen. There, you can enter the iCal / ICS feed URL and feed name, as well as choose whether to import only upcoming events, categories and other filters.
You can also choose if you want import events to draft to update them before publication, or delete already imported events if they have passed.
In the lower part of that section, you can choose the time zone in which you will import events with this ICS / iCal feed URL. It can be the default calendar time zone, the event time zone, or any other available time zone in the drop-down menu.
Also, you can select already available categories and other filters into which you will import events with this feed, or you can click the +New option located above each drop-down menu to create new filters.
After you have entered all the necessary details and set up the ICS / iCal feed URL, click the Import button. Timely event calendar software will then start importing the events contained on that feed. It will also update the feed every two hours and import new events and other changes, automatically.
For more user guidance, please go to our Help Center. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, you can open a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.
With a Timely account, you can import events from CSV files into your Journey calendar from any external source using our CSV import tool. Here’s a guide to creating a CSV file with your events.
CSV import is geared towards users who are technically savvy and understand how CSV files work. If this is not you, we recommend you import events using an ICS feed instead.
In the CSV file the field value separator is a comma (,), and the field value delimiter is a double quotation mark ("). To import from CSV, you must specify the correct field names as the first row:
At the minimum, your first row should have these fields:
“TYPE”,”UID”,”DTSTAMP”,”SUMMARY”,”DTSTART”,”DTEND”
Each field value is assumed to be in strict RFC2445/5545 format. For example, date fields (DTSTART, DTEND, etc.) may be prefixed by TZID or VALUE DATETIME/DATE parameters.
For more information please see this GUIDE and download the following sample CSV file to structure your own CSV file.
Please refer to this link to view and/or download a Journey Sample CSV.
Other fields can be added but they must use strict RFC2445 property names. We perform extra parsing on certain fields to accommodate for common use cases.
Please see this page for a reference to other iCalendar (.ics) properties which can be added to your csv as fields.
To add an image as the Featured Image, add the field X-WP-IMAGES-URL to the CSV file and inform the image URL.
To add images to an event description, add a HTML img tag with the image URL inside the DESCRIPTION field. For example, <img src=imagelink.png />.
Many users report CSV import problems that can be easily avoided. Please take the following points into consideration when generating a CSV:
Use double quotes to enclose all textual data. This will allow you to use a comma inside the textual data. If you don’t use double quotes, the import might fail or result in an incorrect import. Remember, these are Comma Separated Values (CSV).
Inside those double quotes, there are certain characters that may not work. You must use their HTML special characters counterpart. For example, you must use HTML special characters for colon (:). If this is not inputted correctly, it will result in part of the data not being imported. For a complete list of HTML special characters that you can use, you can have a look at this reference.
Note: if you want to use double quotes as one character of the data, you must end it with a backslash (\). Please see attached CSV for a complete look at how to avoid these common pitfalls.
If you receive warnings, check the correct use of double quotes and the use of HTML special characters. It will solve most –if not all– errors.
Currently, we are unable to import CSV file exports from Outlook. To overcome this, you can convert your Outlook exported CSV into *.ics (iCalendar file format used by Google and Apple) using this online converter tool. It will generate an *.ics file for you to download. Upload this newly converted *.ics using our upload tool, instead of the original Outlook exported CSV file.
To upload the file go to Import Events > Upload tab. There you will see a page with a form where you can choose and upload your file.
After choosing the file, then the import options will be available.
After you successfully upload the file, a popup will appear with the following text: “File uploaded successfully. We are processing your request. This might take a while, but you will receive a notification when it is done. You can close this window now.”.
After the file has been processed you can check the status of the file in the notifications area, located at the top right corner of the dashboard.
When you upload a file that contains errors, you will receive an error notification. View this message by navigating to the notifications panel, in the upper right corner of the Timely dashboard.
Possible errors include:
If you are still experiencing issues with CSV import, send a priority support request to our support team.
For more user guidance, please go to our Help Center. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, do not hesitate to contact us by opening a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.
Once you got all your events importes and settled, start selling tickets the right way.
Timely’s Calendar allows you to upload and import events from ICS files from Timely and other calendars to your Journey calendar.
To upload the file go to the dashboard and in the left menu choose Import Events > Upload. In the Upload tab you will see a page with a form where you can choose and upload your file.
Most calendars that can share their feeds will have a button that says either subscribe, export or share. Look for these keywords.
In the Timely Calendar Public Calendar you can find this option at the end of the events listing. If you click over it you can copy the link to the clipboard. And if you click with the ALT key pressed, you can download the ICS file of that public calendar.
Download the ICS file to your computer and place it in a folder you can remember, such as Downloads.
Navigate to your Timely Calendar dashboard and choose Import Events > Upload. In the tab you can browse for a file and upload it.
You can also choose the import preferences so you can decide if you want to keep the original information or add your own information using the Categories and Tags area.
The options are:
In the dropdown menu select the appropriate time zone for your import.
When you import an ICS file, you can also add your own categories, tags, organizers, venues and any other custom filter you may have created.
To finish importing the ICS file, you must click on the Import button. If you do not wish to import you can click cancel.
If you want more power over imports, you may want to try a CSV import. To learn how to do that, please refer to import events using a CSV feed instead.
For more user guidance, please go to our Help Center. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, do not hesitate to contact us by opening a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.
Once you got all your events imported, start selling tickets right way.
Have you seen any cool event on Facebook you’d like your audience to know about? With a Timely account, you can import Facebook events without having to manually copy and paste all the information manually into your online event calendar. In this post, we’ll teach you how to easily import events from Facebook using Timely import events features.
When populating your website event calendar, adding events that are relevant to your audience is key. If you create enough events to keep your audience engaged, you may want to promote your events on Facebook and on your website at the same time.
In contrast, if you do not create as many events as you wish, you might want to consider filling your calendar with events from other sources. Many organizations promote events on Facebook that could be of interest to your audience. By importing FB events into your online calendar, you will be bringing new and relevant content to your audience, while helping promote these events.
The first thing you should do is to select the events you want to export from Facebook. You can select as many events as you wish. Just follow the steps below:
Once you have exported the ICS file from Facebook, you just need to upload it to your website calendar.
Using Timely import events feature, you will be able to manage your import preferences. For example, you can decide which information from the original event post our system will import to your online calendar, such as categories and tags. Moreover, you will be able to change the time zone, and apply specific filters to the imported events. For detailed instructions, check our article on how to import events from ICS files.
Important: Please note that you might need to add event images to each event post manually. That is because ICS files are plain text files and do not support images.
For more user guidance, please go to our Help Center. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, you can open a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.
