How to publish a calendar feed from Google Calendar or Hotmail Calendar

If you want to publish calendar events to an elmcity hub, the administrator of the hub will ask you to produce a calendar feed and report its URL. Most calendar applications can produce feeds. This page focuses on two free web-based applications that make the process very simple: Google Calendar and Hotmail Calendar.

Q: Which one should I use?

A: Either will work fine. If you already have a Google account, it would make sense to use Google Calendar. Likewise if you already have a Hotmail account, you might want to use Hotmail Calendar. If you don't have either kind of account, sign up for one or the other.

Q: These feeds will enable my calendar to syndicate to other sites, right?

A: Right.

Q: But don't I mainly want to display my calendar on my own site?

A: Of course! Both Google Calendar and Hotmail Calendar provide widgets that you can embed in pages on your own site. That's a common and thus well-documented scenario. These instructions focus, instead, on a scenario that isn't (yet) common: using those same calendars to feed your data to other sites.

Publishing a feed from Google Calendar

Q: How do I publish a calendar feed using Google Calendar?

A: Starting from Google Calendar's home page, follow these steps:

1. From the upper right corner of the Google Calendar screen, click Settings and then Calendar Settings. Watch!

   

2. From the Calendar Settings screen, click Calendars. Watch!

   

3. From the Calendars tab, click Create New Calendar. Give the new calendar a name, description, and location. Adjust the timezone if necessary. Check Make this calendar public. Click Create Calendar, and click Yes when asked "Are you sure?" Watch!

   

4. Now open the settings for your new calendar, click the green ICAL button, and copy the URL of the iCalendar feed. This is the URL you'll paste into an email to the curator of your calendar hub. Watch!

   

Publishing a feed from Hotmail Calendar

Q: How do I publish a calendar feed using Hotmail Calendar?

A: Follow these steps:

1. From the home page of Hotmail Calendar, click Add a new calendar. Watch!

   

2. Add a name and description. Watch!

   

3. Click Edit Sharing. You're invited to save before you edit sharing. Click Save. Watch!

   

4. Check Share This Calendar, then click Save. Uncheck Share Your Calendar Privately with friends and family and check Make your calendar public. Watch!

   

5. Click Get Your Calendar Links. When asked to confirm sharing, click OK. Click Import Into Another Calendar Application. Copy the URL that appears. This is the URL you'll paste into an email to the curator of your calendar hub. Click OK, then click Save. Watch!

   

Shortcut: Once you've created the calendar you want to publish, you can drag this bookmarklet -- Hotmail Calendar Quick Publish -- to your toolbar and click it to streamline steps 3, 4, and 5.