CommonNote CommonNote

Import from Apple Calendar

Copy events from an .ics file or iCloud public link into your 📅 Calendar note in one go. Events already imported (same ID and date) are skipped next time.

Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app

You can bring events you already have in Apple Calendar into CommonNote. Imported events go into the month sections of your 📅 Calendar note as checklist lines with an @date, so from then on you handle them like any other task on the calendar, table and time grid.

An import is a one-time copy. Even with a subscription link, CommonNote doesn’t save the link or fetch it again later. If events change or new ones are added in Apple Calendar, import again; events you delete in Apple Calendar have to be deleted in CommonNote separately.

Get a file or link

  • .ics file: in the macOS Calendar app, select the calendar and choose File › Export › Export….
  • Subscription link: copy the public sharing link of an iCloud calendar (webcal://…). An .ics link that starts with https:// also works, so a public .ics link from another calendar service can be imported the same way.

Import

  1. On the Calendar toolbar, click ⋯ (More calendar tools) → Import. On a phone, tap the Import chip on the toolbar.
  2. In Import from Apple Calendar, choose an .ics file, or paste a link into Subscription link and click Load.
  3. The preview shows the calendar’s name, a count such as “42 events (recurrences expanded)”, and the first few events. If some items couldn’t be read, it shows how many.
  4. Choose the Range: start From today, From 30 days ago or From a year ago, and end at Next 3 months, Next year or Next 2 years. The default is 30 days ago through the next year.
  5. Click Add to calendar. A message tells you how many events were added and how many were skipped because they were already there.

What comes over

Apple CalendarCommonNote
Event titleThe text of the checklist line
Date and start time@date time (all-day events get the date only)
Multi-day eventA multi-day item (@start~end)
Recurring eventOne line for each occurrence inside the chosen range
Notes, location, attachments, end timeNot imported

Recurrence rules are read for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly repeats, including interval, count, end date, weekdays on weekly repeats, excluded dates and single occurrences you changed. Weekday or date filters on monthly and yearly repeats (such as “first Monday” or “the 1st and 15th”) aren’t read — only the first occurrence is imported, and you add the rest yourself. Reminders (to-do items) aren’t read. Times use the clock time written in the calendar; only times written in UTC are converted to Korea time.

Each recurring series is expanded to at most 400 occurrences within the chosen range. A long daily series over a wide range (for example, a daily event across two years) is cut off after 400 lines, so later occurrences don’t come over. Choose a shorter range, and import again later; occurrences already imported are skipped, so only the new ones are added.

Good to know

  • The same event (or the same occurrence of a recurring event) is never added twice, so re-importing only adds what’s new. But if an already-imported event’s title or time changed in Apple Calendar, it still counts as the same event and is skipped — edit the line in CommonNote yourself. An event you deleted in CommonNote won’t come back on re-import either.
  • Links must be https or webcal. A linked file larger than 2 MB, or a link that doesn’t respond within 10 seconds, can’t be loaded (files you pick directly don’t have this limit).
  • If your 📅 Calendar note is locked, events can’t be added.