CSV to ICS: format and import guide

Use a separate test calendar for your first import. Check the dates and time zone before relying on the result.

CSV columns

title,start,end,location,description

title, start and end are required; location and description are optional. Headers may be reordered. Export UTF-8 CSV with commas, not an Excel workbook or a tab-separated clipboard selection.

Put fields containing commas or line breaks in double quotes. Write a double quote inside a quoted field as two double quotes. Chinese characters, emoji, commas, semicolons, quotes and backslashes are supported; surrounding whitespace is trimmed.

Timed and all-day events

Timed: 2026-11-02T09:00:00+08:00 to 2026-11-02T10:00:00+08:00. These export as 01:00–02:00 UTC.
All day: 2026-11-03 to 2026-11-03. The event covers November 3 only.
Across midnight: start on one date and end on the next, with explicit offsets. End must be later than start.
Daylight saving: supply the actual offset for each timestamp. Named zones such as America/New_York are not inferred.

Import into Apple Calendar

Create a separate calendar, for example “CSV Import Test”.
Choose File → Import and select the downloaded .ics file.
Select the test calendar, confirm, and review the date, time and text of each event.

Apple’s import instructions

Import into Google Calendar

On a computer, use Settings → Import & export, select the ICS, and explicitly choose your test calendar.

Google’s import instructions

Limits and compatibility

100 input rows; 200,000 UTF-8 bytes. Valid dates from 1970 through 2100.
No recurrence rules, reminders, attendees, meeting links, calendar syncing or AI generation.
Equivalent instants, title, all-day flag, location and description identify a duplicate within the input. Changing the description creates a distinct event.
Stable UIDs do not guarantee that a calendar app will update or deduplicate repeated imports.
A synthetic five-event file was manually imported into Apple Calendar. Detailed client rendering of every time, all-day property and special character has not been fully verified. Google Calendar import and real business CSV compatibility have not been tested.
This is a small utility, not a calendar backup service. Review your downloaded file before importing important schedules.