How to import a CSV file to Google Calendar

I had a lot of trouble with this recently, so hope this helps. Google is pretty strict with the CSV files it imports.

First off open Excel. In the first row of your file, add the following headers:

Subject, Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time, All Day Event, Reminder On/Off, Reminder Date, Reminder Time, Meeting Organizer, Description, Location, Private

Every event (every row in Excel) needs to have a Subject, Start Date, and Start Time. The other headers are optional and you can mix and match them as much as you please. Here is a complete sample I uploaded today.

Subject, Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time, Private, All Day Event, Location
Ramsay Shield, 7/26/2008, 7:00 PM, , 9:00 PM, FALSE, , TBC
Training, 7/27/2008, 12:00 PM, , TRUE, FALSE,

Make sure you format your cells properly

Highlight every time under Start Time, End Time, and Reminder Time, click “Format Cells,” then “Time,” then “1:30 PM.”

Also, highlight every date under Start Date, End Date, and Reminder Date, then click “Format Cells,” then “Date,” then “3/14/2001.”

You need to do both of those things for Google to recognize your file.

For Private, All Day Event, and Reminder On/Off, type True or False in the relevant cell. If you leave them blank, Google Calendar will use the default settings for these events (for privacy, it will make the event private or public depending on whether the calendar is private or public). If there isn’t any info after Start Date & Start Time, Google assumes the event is one hour long. Also, make sure that the only data on the spreadsheet is events – otherwise Google will return an error.

Once you’re done click File –> Save As, then click down at the bottom where it says “Microsoft Office Excel Notebook” for file type, and change it to CSV (Comma Separated Value) format. Then you’re ready to upload to Google!

Note: if you upload the same CSV file twice, Google will create duplicates of your events rather than replace the first set. There’s no “Remove duplicates” button either – you have to do it manually, or erase the whole calendar and start again.

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5 thoughts on “How to import a CSV file to Google Calendar

  1. Sandy Trevor

    Thanks — I struggled with this a long time until I found your helpful directions, and got my Outlook 2000 calendar uploaded to Google.

    Reply
  2. Steve

    Thanks for this – I have been trying this for months. Wanted to publish some fixtures & found it much easier to create in Excel.

    Reply
  3. kai

    Need help, i can’t seem to do the false for the “All day Event”

    It is always true when i upload my CSV file

    Reply
    1. kevin

      Hi Kai,
      I wrote this about four years ago – I have no clue to be honest. You should try posting on a site like Stack Overflow, where you might find better answers to your question.

      Reply
  4. Bo

    For those who still don’t get it to import, check and make sure you have commas(,) in your .cvs not point-commas (;)
    Comma delimited.
    google are db’s for not telling what one does wrong in this regard. Cheers.

    Reply

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