When someone shares a calendar link with you — from a sports league, a school, an event organizer, or a tool like CalHelper — you don't need to import anything. You subscribe to it once, and events show up in your Google Calendar and stay updated automatically.
Here's how to do it, plus what to do if you're using Outlook instead.
How subscribing is different from importing
Before the steps: it's worth understanding the difference, because people mix these up.
Importing copies a set of events into your calendar at a single point in time. If the original schedule changes, your Google Calendar won't update. You'd have to import again.
Subscribing creates a live connection to a calendar URL. Google Calendar checks that URL periodically and pulls in any new or changed events. Changes to the source calendar eventually show up on your end automatically.
If someone gave you a URL (not a file to download), you want to subscribe.
How to subscribe to a calendar in Google Calendar
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Open Google Calendar in a browser at calendar.google.com. This must be the desktop site — you can't add a calendar subscription from the mobile app.
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In the left sidebar, look for Other calendars. Click the + (plus) button next to it.
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Select From URL.
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Paste the calendar URL into the field. The URL will usually start with
https://orwebcal://. If it starts withwebcal://, you can leave it as-is — Google Calendar handles both formats. -
Click Add calendar.
The calendar will appear in your sidebar under "Other calendars" with a color assigned to it. All the events from that calendar will show on your Google Calendar view.
How often does Google Calendar update subscribed calendars?
Google Calendar refreshes subscribed calendars approximately every 12–24 hours. There's no way to force a manual refresh from inside Google Calendar — it happens on Google's schedule, not yours.
This is a known limitation. If you need to see changes immediately, you can remove and re-add the calendar subscription, which forces a fresh pull.
How to manage or remove a subscribed calendar
To change the color or name of a subscribed calendar, click the three-dot menu next to its name in the sidebar and select Settings.
To remove the subscription entirely, go to Settings → [calendar name] → Remove calendar at the bottom of that calendar's settings page.
Subscribing to a calendar in Outlook
If you use Outlook instead of (or in addition to) Google Calendar, subscribing works similarly.
In Outlook on the web (outlook.com or Microsoft 365):
- Open the Calendar view.
- Click Add calendar in the left sidebar.
- Select Subscribe from web.
- Paste the calendar URL.
- Give it a name and click Import.
In Outlook desktop app:
- Go to File → Account Settings → Account Settings.
- Click the Internet Calendars tab.
- Click New and paste the URL.
- Click Add and then Close.
The calendar will appear alongside your other Outlook calendars.
What if you don't have a calendar URL?
If you don't have a URL yet, you'll need to find or create one. Some sources that publish calendar subscription URLs:
- Sports leagues (many youth and recreational leagues publish
.icsfeeds for their schedules) - Schools (some publish their academic calendar as a subscribable feed)
- Event platforms like Eventbrite or Meetup (individual event pages often have an "Add to Calendar" option that provides a URL)
- CalHelper (generates a subscription URL from any schedule you upload)
If you have a schedule in any format — a PDF from school, a photo of a paper schedule, a text message with dates and times — CalHelper can extract all the events and give you a subscription URL that you and others can add to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook.
Families often use this to keep everyone's calendar in sync without having to share access to personal calendars. See how families use CalHelper to stay organized without the hassle.
Troubleshooting
"Couldn't find calendar" error when adding URL. The URL may require authentication, or the calendar may not be publicly accessible. Check with whoever shared the link to confirm it's set to public.
Events not showing after subscribing. Give it up to 24 hours for the initial sync. If nothing appears after that, try removing and re-adding the subscription.
The URL starts with webcal:// and won't paste correctly. Try changing webcal:// to https:// and pasting again. Both work, but some browsers change the prefix when you copy a webcal link.
Subscribed calendar disappeared from sidebar. This can happen if you're signed into multiple Google accounts. Make sure you're looking at the right account.