[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.

[peytoncraighill]

This is something we really wanted to squeeze into an intern project this summer, but it's not looking promising at this point. The story is created (with this thread attached to it), and the work is estimated...just trying to find capacity. I'll bring it up again in workshop next week.

[DRBROOKS]

Hopefully, it will get at least enough votes. In the Gathering Info phase, are you looking for more real-life details on what is needed/ideal? Screenshots/examples? Pros/Cons, Which specific calendars, etc?

You can send me a PM. The Personal Info I can try to redact.

[DRBROOKS]

For an academic calendar, it would be important (last day to add/drop, holidays where the school is closed,...).

[biray]

 @Beth_Young ​ - Have you watched andersonj​'s presentation from a past InstructureCon called "Adventures with Rest API" where he talks about adding calendar events (such as the examples you mentioned - school events, holidays, etc.) across multiple courses at once. Check it out at timecode 16:25

Adventures with the Canvas REST API | InstructureCon 2013 - YouTube

Hope that helps!

[Beth_Young]

Have not seen it yet--will check it out. Thanks!

[buffalosoldier3]

Nice

[hauckc]

Too bad, yes. I am getting the sense from reading this thread that this very obvious and IMPORTANT feature is not very important to Canvas and/or the Canvas team. And it's really a shame because so many Canvas features are calendar driven. If I could figure out how to vote, I would.

[canvas_admin]

Christina, to vote you have to be logged into the Jive platform and you can click the up (or down) arrow next to the number to vote up (or down) for a feature idea.

[talagad]

If you have code that maps the canvas calendar DB to an export file format, then you should be able to quickly write the code to do the reverse process. I have a hard time imagining that a good coder would take more than a day to write it. Of course you would need to work to try to break it before rolling it out as a feature, so that process would take quite a bit more time.

However, Many features in Canvas (and I'm thinking of importing features in particular) are not particularly robust. So, it's not like it needs to be perfect to be useful.

I would create a set of test calendars from various sources (or ask users for examples) and verify that they import properly. Again, a good person or two could get through it in a relatively short period of time.

This is a relatively minor feature compared to the other import options that exist.

[peytoncraighill]

The bad news: this doesn't fit neatly into any of our development plans in the next six months. The good news: it's small enough that it doesn't need to fit neatly into any of our development plans to get done. I'm archiving this idea because we can't commit to it, but know that it's still on the radar (in my brain, and more formally, in the backlog). This thread is attached to the backlog item, so feel free to continue posting additional thoughts/questions/rants/ideas/complaints/reflections.