how-to-force-google-calendar-to-refresh-subscribed-calendar.md

Given a subscribed calendar with a url like

https://example.com/example.ics

To force Google Calendar to refresh and reload the contents right now, unsubscribe from the calendar and subscribe to a new calendar with a URL like

https://example.com/example.ics#1

Adding the anchor tag will force Google Calendar to think of it as a new calendar

Many people who come to this gist are not looking for a one time forced refresh but instead to refresh recurringly. If that's you, you should check out @derekantrican 's Google App Script

https://github.com/derekantrican/GAS-ICS-Sync

Which can refresh a calendar automatically every N minutes

https://script.google.com/home/projects/1BOk8MDLbLaHh6SwG1M1tsgNXjkcC-79LE0QoipRuTDxbO3fMVvqoROQD/edit

Thanks to @rattrayalex for pointing people to this script

Great script, works great for my personal Apple iCloud calendar, but my shared family one shows as blank.

Check https://script.google.com/home/executions for errors in the log.
Apple is adding a bunch of additional data to the ics that is not always conforming to the ical standard.

Great script, works great for my personal Apple iCloud calendar, but my shared family one shows as blank.

Check https://script.google.com/home/executions for errors in the log. Apple is adding a bunch of additional data to the ics that is not always conforming to the ical standard.

Thanks, it's erroring out on something in the calendar (redacted some personal info):

ParserError: Missing parameter value in 'X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=40XXX Sxxxth\nUnited States;X-APPLE-ABUID="Stephanie’s Home"::;X-TITLE=4xxxxxh'
at ICAL.parse.parser._handleContentLine(ical.js:1894:9)
at unknown function
at ICAL.parse.parser._eachLine(ical.js:2243:11)
at parser(ical.js:1769:12)
at parseResponses(Helpers:209:25)
at startSync(Code:209:17)

Great script, works great for my personal Apple iCloud calendar, but my shared family one shows as blank.

Check https://script.google.com/home/executions for errors in the log. Apple is adding a bunch of additional data to the ics that is not always conforming to the ical standard.

Thanks, it's erroring out on something in the calendar (redacted some personal info):

ParserError: Missing parameter value in 'X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=40XXX Sxxxth\nUnited States;X-APPLE-ABUID="Stephanie’s Home"::;X-TITLE=4xxxxxh' at ICAL.parse.parser._handleContentLine(ical.js:1894:9) at unknown function at ICAL.parse.parser._eachLine(ical.js:2243:11) at parser(ical.js:1769:12) at parseResponses(Helpers:209:25) at startSync(Code:209:17)

derekantrican/GAS-ICS-Sync#351

Thank you. Yeah I recognized the metadata and recreated the event. Strangely that info wasn't in the invite, but some weird way my wife created it. I also commented out that exception. It sync'd perfectly after fixing that.

Thanks again.

Got one more, despite "var addAlerts = "yes"; ", the alerts are not coming over into the GCal. Am I missing something, I've tested various methods and reminder times.

Does it show the alert when opening the *.ics in a text editor?

I see this in the ICS:
TRIGGER:-PT5M

I just checked, var addAlerts = "yes"; works fine for me. What version are you running?

I just checked, var addAlerts = "yes"; works fine for me. What version are you running?

Not sure where the version is posted, but I copied the script off this link this morning:
https://script.google.com/home/projects/1BOk8MDLbLaHh6SwG1M1tsgNXjkcC-79LE0QoipRuTDxbO3fMVvqoROQD/edit

Here's the syntax around addAlerts:

That looks fine.
Can you share a full test event (BEGIN:VEVENT-END:VEVENT) with alarm that does not sync?

That looks fine. Can you share a full test event (BEGIN:VEVENT-END:VEVENT) with alarm that does not sync?

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:Test
METHOD:PUBLISH
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//macOS 15.1//EN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Chicago
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
DTSTART:20070311T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
TZNAME:CDT
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
DTSTART:20071104T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
TZNAME:CST
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
CREATED:20241016T184536Z
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20241016T203000
TRANSP:OPAQUE
UID:D07D5FEA-F632-4984-A93C-6417F0251E48
X-APPLE-CREATOR-IDENTITY:com.apple.calendar
X-APPLE-CREATOR-TEAM-IDENTITY:0000000000
SUMMARY:Test
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20241016T201500
DTSTAMP:20241016T184618Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241016T184536Z
SEQUENCE:0
BEGIN:VALARM
UID:8B05CF1B-497B-484A-8F1D-F14F67CBC1B7
X-WR-ALARMUID:8B05CF1B-497B-484A-8F1D-F14F67CBC1B7
TRIGGER:-PT15M
DESCRIPTION:Reminder
ACTION:DISPLAY
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

Works just fine with a fresh copy of the script you linked above. No settings changed. 🤷‍♂️

Works just fine with a fresh copy of the script you linked above. No settings changed. 🤷‍♂️

Weird. I got a fresh script and tried, and same thing. I also tried it on a different Gmail account/calendar and still no invite.