Importing an ICS file adds event copies to a Google Calendar you choose. It does not establish a continuing subscription to the source. Decide where those copies belong before importing, especially if your primary calendar already contains some of the same appointments.
Prepare the source and destination
Use a trusted ICS export and confirm its owner, date range, and intended contents. On a computer, open Google Calendar and identify an appropriate destination calendar. A separate calendar can make a planned migration easier to inspect without mixing unrelated events.
Import the selected file
Open Settings > Settings > Import & export. Choose the file from your computer, then select the calendar that should receive its events. Review that destination immediately before choosing Import. Google’s documented import formats are ICS and CSV.
If the download is a ZIP archive, extract its individual ICS files first. Do not select the archive itself or assume that importing one contained file imports every calendar in the archive.
Inspect the resulting copies
Check the reported result and representative dates, time zones, recurring entries, and all-day events. Google’s guidance says guest and conference information is not imported with events. Do not describe the result as a recreated invitation or a verified room reservation. Keep the source calendar available until the migration checks are complete. Avoid repeating the entire import merely because one event looks wrong; first establish whether that event already exists in the destination. Later source changes do not automatically update imported copies, so choose a maintained subscription instead when ongoing source updates are the actual requirement.
References
Reviewed against the linked official product guidance on November 4, 2026. Features, limits, screen labels, and access can vary by account, platform, region, and organization policy.