Add-to-calendar link generator

Fill in an event once — title, start, end, time zone, place — and get the links that add it to Google Calendar, Outlook.com and Outlook for Microsoft 365, the .ics file Apple Calendar and the other calendars open, a QR code guests can scan, and three links ready to paste into a page or a newsletter. For anyone sending an invitation. Free, no account, nothing stored.

What it does, and why it is here

Guests do not share one calendar, and each calendar takes an event its own way. Google Calendar and Outlook on the web open a link that lands on a new event already filled in. Apple Calendar, the Outlook app and most other calendar apps open a file in the iCalendar format, the .ics file. An invitation that offers only one of these leaves everyone else copying the date by hand, which is where the wrong day or the wrong hour gets in.

This tool writes all of them from the same form, so they cannot disagree. It also settles the time zone: you type the times as they read where the event happens, and every link and the file carry the exact moment, so a guest in another zone sees the event at their own hour.

What you fill in

• Event — the title guests see in their calendar. Required, 200 characters at most.
• Starts — the date and time the event begins. Required.
• Ends — optional. Left empty, the event lasts one hour, or a single day for a whole-day event. An end before the start is refused, and an event lasts 366 days at most.
• Whole days (the times are ignored) — for a conference, a holiday, a deadline. The event runs from the start's date to the end's date, both included: November 4 to November 6 is three days.
• Time zone — the zone the times above are written in, as an IANA name: America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Tokyo. It opens on your browser's own zone; change it when the event happens somewhere else. Left empty, the times are read as UTC. Abbreviations such as EST or PST and plain city names are refused, with an example of the expected form.
• Where — optional: an address, a room or a video link, 200 characters at most.
• Description — optional, under Description and link: what guests should know, 2,000 characters at most.
• Event page — optional, a link starting with http:// or https://, 500 characters at most. The Google and Outlook links add it at the end of the description, where every guest sees it; the .ics file carries it as the event's own link.

What you get back

• The event as guests will read it — its title over its date and time written out in full, with the time zone and the place beside it; for a whole-day event, its first and last day, without a zone. Check this line before sending anything: every output below says the same.
• Three calendar buttons — Google Calendar, Outlook.com for personal Microsoft accounts, and Outlook (Microsoft 365) for work and school accounts. Each opens that calendar on a new event already filled in, for the guest to save; they need to be signed in to it.
• The calendar file's address, under Send it to guests — a link that serves the event as an .ics file. Put it behind a button in an e-mail or on a page: opened on a phone or a computer, it adds the event to the calendar there. The address itself carries the event.
• The snippet — three links on one line, Google Calendar · Outlook.com · Apple and other calendars (.ics), as HTML to paste into a web page or a newsletter editor that accepts HTML.
• A QR code of the calendar file's address, for a poster, a flyer or a slide: scanning it opens the file on the phone. A description near its 2,000-character limit makes the address too long for a QR code, which is then left out.
• Add to my calendar — a button under the answer that downloads the same .ics file, for your own calendar.

What it does not do

It does not send the invitation: the e-mail, the page or the newsletter stays yours, and nobody hears from this site. It collects no replies either: there is no RSVP, no guest list, and no way to know who added the event.

It makes one event, once. There is no repeat rule for a weekly meeting or a monthly class, and the file sets no reminder: each guest's calendar applies its own default alert.

It keeps nothing, and that has two consequences. The event lives in the addresses themselves: the calendar file's address holds the title, the times, the place, the description and the link in plain text, so anyone who has the link can read the event. That suits a launch party, not a door code or a home address. And a sent event cannot be edited: change a field and you get new links, while guests who added the old version keep it until they delete it.

Which calendar opens which link

Whole-day events travel as dates, not times: a conference from November 4 to November 6 sits on those three days in every calendar, whatever its zone.

Questions

How do I put an "Add to calendar" link in an e-mail or a newsletter?

Copy the snippet under Send it to guests and paste it where your editor accepts HTML: it gives Google Calendar, Outlook.com and the .ics file on one line. If the editor only takes a plain link, put the calendar file's address behind your button; any calendar that opens a file can use it.

Will guests in another time zone see the right time?

Yes: every output carries the exact moment, and each calendar shows it at its owner's local hour. An event at 7:00 PM on October 15, 2026 in America/New_York shows at 4:00 PM in Los Angeles and at 1:00 AM on October 16 in Paris.

What happens if I leave the end time empty?

The event lasts one hour from its start. With Whole days ticked, it covers the start's date only.

How do I add an event that lasts several days?

Tick Whole days, then set Starts on the first day and Ends on the last one; both days are included and the times are ignored. For something that runs from one evening to the next morning, leave the box unticked and give both times instead.

Does it work with Apple Calendar on the iPhone?

Yes, through the .ics file: send its address as a link or show the QR code, and opening it on the iPhone, iPad or Mac offers the event to Calendar.

Is my event stored? Who can see it?

Nothing is stored: the event travels inside the links, and the file is made from its address each time it is opened. Anyone who has one of those links can read what the event says, so leave private details out.

Can I change the event after sending the links?

Not through the same links, since they carry the old event: send new ones, and ask guests to delete the old entry, which their calendar keeps.

Sources and further reading

• RFC 5545, iCalendar — the format of the .ics file every calendar opens.
• IANA time zone database — where the names the Time zone field takes come from.
• List of tz database time zones — to look up the name of a zone.