Importing an .ics file to Google calendar

Someone sent you an invitation to an event as an .ics file, and you wish to add it to your Google calendar

The first part is to import the file. To do this, click the + icon to the right of the “Add a friends calendar” located on the left side of the page. After clicking the icon, from the available options select ‘Import’

Now, the obvious thing to do would be to just to click the button that says “Select file from your computer”, select the .ics file and click import, but if you would do that, chances are that you’ll see the dreaded:

‘Failed to import events: Could not upload your events because you do not have sufficient access on the target calendar..’

The solution for this is to manually edit the .ics file prior to importing it and replace all occurrences of “UID:” with “UID:X” (without the quotes). After doing this and saving the file, proceed with the import and all should be fine.

Learned this from here

32 Comments

  1. Thank you! There is no way on God’s green interwebs I would have figured this out myself. I’m still stuck on why Google Calendar sometimes interprets Outlook-created invitations properly and why sometimes it gives up and only shows attachments.

  2. Follow the instructions. Open the file in notepad. Use find to locate the “UID” and change it to “UID:X” (without quotes). Save the file by clicking the “Save as type” dialog box and choose “All Files *.*” Save the file by selecting a .ics file and modifying the name. You may then import it into your calendar without issue. GREAT TIP!!

  3. BTW – editing the ics file means opening in Notepad or something similar and doing a find/replace on UID/UID:X
    Thanks to whoever miraculously figured this out!
    May 2021, STILL a problem. This workaround, though immensely appreciated, isn’t THAT simple for a task that, by workflow necessity, should be absolutely effortless!!

    • Let me follow up on my previous comment. There are 2 places with UID. I used Robert Turner’s advice from an earlier comment to use the Find/Replace function to find all instances. Thanks Robert!

  4. For those still confused —

    1) Save your google .ics file to your desktop.
    2) Open notepad and open the .ics file into notepad.
    3) Go to Edit > Replace type it UID and replace it with UID:X
    4) This is the confusing part — when you hit Save As, make sure your “Save As Type” is selected as “All files”, then select your original .ics file on your desktop to replace.
    5) It will ask if you want to update the file, select yes.
    6) Upload the updated .ics file and it should work.

    Hope that helps!

    • THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH Miranda!!! This solved it! Thajs for the step by step. I did it on a mac using Text edit instead of notepad and it worked! Okay I will now save my hair from all that tearing out 😉

  5. So, unless I want to edit each ICS file I get from people using an Apple Calendar, I cannot add ICS to Google Calendar. Thank you for figuring it out, you are a blessing, but this is obviously insane. Then there is the “Do not have permission on target calendar” jewel. Sorry, I need drugs, heavy restraints, and therapy.

  6. I cannot believe it is 2024 and GOOgle still has this issue. Mind you, it is the first time I’ve run into it in all my years of using GOO calendars. UID:X did not work. KILLING (deleting) the entire UID line did, however. For a company as large and sophisticated as GOO, this is stoopid.

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