I want HTML link to .ics file to open in calendar app when clicked, currently opens file as plain text. Suggestions?

html hyperlink calendar icalendar

81,540

Solution 1

If your site is built on Linux like mine you can simply add a line to your htaccess file to make it open as a download instead of a text page.

add this to your htaccess file:

AddType text/calendar .ics

Solution 2

If your calendar file is not static, you should consider the webcal:// protocol, which Outlook and iCal will handle:

<a href="webcal://example.com/path/calendar.ics">

Rather than downloading a one-time file, the attendees' calendar programs will periodically poll for updates to your calendar. This will let their calendars add new events and update changed events to match your published list.

81,540

Eric Knudtson

Updated on July 09, 2022

Comments

Eric Knudtson almost 2 years
I am linking to an .ics file exported from Apple iCal in an HTML web page.
```
<a href="calendar.ics">
```
This link will open the calendar.ics file as plain text in my browser (Chrome). I want automatic opening in Outlook or iCal or other calendar apps. What can I add to the link tag in order to produce the desired behavior? What about modifying the HTTP headers on .ics files?

Any suggestions are appreciated!
- justkt about 13 years
  
  What is the HTTP Content-Type header on your response right now? It should be text/calendar.
- Eric Knudtson about 13 years
  
  The header in the response is 'text/plain' when simply linking to the .ics file.
- justkt about 13 years
  
  can you get your server to serve it up as text/calendar and see if that gets your client browser to treat it properly?
- Eric Knudtson about 13 years
  
  The files are being served from a typical shared host PHP LAMP type environment. How would I modify the headers on something like that? I'm not sure I can even use mod-rewrite or give Apache any config options.
- matt b about 12 years
  
  to have browsers treat a link as a download, you should add the Content-Disposition:attachment header, optionally with a filename argument. stackoverflow.com/questions/1012437/…
PiTheNumber about 11 years

Looks like IE does not support this in 2005. How is the support now?
Michael almost 11 years

@PiTheNumber With no additional verification, it sounds like you need Outlook 2007+ or some other program that signs up to handle the webcal protocol on your computer. It's not IE, it's "Do you have something to handle .ics files?" In the absence of such a program, an RFC 5545 file is not going to help you much.
Kaivosukeltaja over 9 years

This doesn't work with current Android devices either.
Krafty about 9 years

When I put this in IE I get a Chrome popup and when I let it open the ics file it just opens a blank tab.
Daniel Viglione about 8 years

This is exactly what I was looking for!
The Onin about 7 years

Ok here's the thing: Chrome recognizes it as well if you put it into a link (as opposed to putting it directly into address bar and hitting enter): <a href="webcal://path/to/.ics">sub link</a>
amarinediary almost 3 years

You can refer to the CanIUse for browser support, @see caniuse.com/?search=registerProtocolHandler