[Calendar] Import calendar from ICS file

[Beth_Young]

I am aware that we can export our canvas calendar feed to another calendar but it would be nice to import calendar feeds too.

For example, I would like to be able to import my institution's academic calendar into canvas. I find myself having to re-enter important dates so that I can see them as I schedule assignments and tests--it seems silly to have to retype them when they are available as an ics file, if only I could import it.

Originally suggested on the old forum by Michael Young.

[scottdennis]

Thanks, Beth!

[SethBattis]

Thanks, Beth! (linking back to the old thread, for reference)

[kona]

 @SethBattis ​ - you may consider posting something on the old thread referencing people to this thread and asking them to comment - if you haven't already. The old thread will be unavailable after the end of May so if you want to capture specific comments or information it would be helpful to have it added here.

[scottdennis]

I don't know the exact date that Zendesk will go offline but the best estimate will be the end of June.

[SethBattis]

Fair enough,  @kona ​

The gist of that thread is:

• Lots of schools are also on Google Apps -- integrating existing calendars into course calendars for teacher/student planning would be a convenience.
• Some folks who would like to be able to have an institutional calendar feed that was visible everywhere (holidays, exam dates, etc.). [I note that this could be accomplished by enrolling everyone in a single course that had a calendar feed synced into it.]
• If information is split between Google and Canvas, which becomes the go-to?
• The Canvas calendar interface is "insultingly crude" -- so the flexibility of adding recurring events, for example, is much easier in a more mature calendar interface (and then generate the ICS feed to populate Canvas).
• We can export and ICS, why can't we import?

In addition, or perhaps as an addendum: it's not like it can't be done. I've done it and we use it live at St. Mark's. (And so can your Canvas admin, if you want to connect them up with me and this script.) Problem is, I haven't had time to polish up the code for self-service use by my own users, let alone others. And there are some improvements that I'd like to incorporate before asking people other than me to interact with it.

[scottdennis]

Just FYI there was a similar, well written feature idea (not to imply that this one isn't well written) with more use case info submitted ​

[charles_woolum]

Most definitely a feature Canvas needs to have. We use OASIS for scheduling purposes and evaluations for our medical school students and would like to be able to export that calendar into Canvas to accomplish a couple of things. First, minimize the number of places a student has to look to see their schedules and meetings. Second, avoid any unnecessary redundancy. I do hope this feature idea garners enough support to implement!!

[anchalee]

Too bad that this thread got moved to this new community. In the old thread, Import and display organization/school calendar events on all Canvas calendars : Help Center there were 107 votes. In this current one so far we have less than 100. According to Instructure, "if three months go by and an idea doesn't get a net sum of 100 up votes, it will be archived." This means if by Aug 15, 2015 this thread received less than 100 votes, it will be archived.

The old thread was started on June 24, 2012, exactly three years ago today! So if this thread falls off to being archived, I doubt it will see any daylight.

[DRBROOKS]

I just added a vote. I imported the .ics file into Microsoft Outlook. You are correct. It is almost just easier and more accurate to manually create entries into the built in Outlook calendar. The one from the Canvas .ics file is not very useful, bulky, and there are a lot of duplicates. They are also all in green, so it doesn't help differentiate what course or type of assignment/quiz/exam/discussion it is.

[zachw]

As Instructure looks into the viability of this feature, I suggest bundling it with the global calendar suggested elsewhere. If I could import my school's ICS calendar into a form where every student could see it, that would be very helpful.