How do I create an iCal-type .ics file that can be downloaded by other users?

Question

I want to create an iCal Calendar that can be downloaded from my website to the users Calendar program or imported to Google Calendar. What I want to know is if I do a direct Export from iCal on Mac OS X is that the file that I upload to my server? Any catches or caveats I should be aware of? Or is there a better way?

Answer 1

I know you can publish a calendar to iCal Exchange (www.icalx.com) and then download your .ics file. Other than I still haven't worked out how to export the file.

Answer 2

That will work just fine. You can export an entire calendar with File > Export…, or individual events by dragging them to the Finder.

iCalendar (.ics) files are human-readable, so you can always pop it open in a text editor to make sure no private events made it in there. They consist of nested sections with start with BEGIN: and end with END:. You'll mostly find VEVENT sections (each of which represents an event) and VTIMEZONE sections, each of which represents a time zone that's referenced from one or more events.