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Re: Creating an org-wide calendar

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Vendors_Mailbox
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

We have set up several calendars for various streams. Now we would like to create a new ‘mothership calendar’ to be able to view all the events in the individual calendars in one place. Is there a way to do this without having to link to each event?

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ScottWorld
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

Welcome to the community, @Vendors_Mailbox!

One of the many limitations of the Airtable calendar is that it requires your calendar events to all be in the same table.

So the easiest solution would be for you to get all of your events in the same table.

If all of your events are spread out across multiple tables, then you would need to creatively figure out how to get them all together in the same table.

That could involve linking events across tables, or it could involve automating the gathering of events into a single table using custom Javascripts. If you don’t want to dive into JavaScript programming, you could also use a low-code/no-code external automation tool such as Integromat to gather events together into a single table. (Note that I am a professional Airtable consultant and a Registered Integromat Partner, and the Integromat link contains my personal referral code.)

However, your best bet might be to use external calendar clients to subscribe to all of your individual Airtable calendars.

One of the best ways that you can see events from multiple tables combined into one unified calendar is by syncing all of your individual calendars to an external calendar client that supports subscribing to external calendars, such as my #1 favorite calendar client which I have been using since 2005: BusyCal. BusyCal is one of the most advanced calendar apps on the planet, and it supports subscribing to all external calendars on the planet, including Airtable’s calendars, Google Calendar’s calendars, and so much more.

Many people try using a free/simple calendar app such as Google Calendar to subscribe to their Airtable calendars, but the problem is that Google Calendar only refreshes its calendar subscriptions once every 24-48 hours, so it’s not great for rapidly-changing events.

That’s why you would want to find an advanced calendar client like BusyCal which refreshes as often as you want, as frequently as every 60 seconds — or even refreshes on demand.

Microsoft Outlook might refresh frequently as well, but I’m not sure as I’ve never used Outlook before.

Although one of the downsides of using an external calendar client is that another one of Airtable’s limitations is that it only sends 3 pieces of information to external calendar clients: start time, end time, and primary field name.

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6 Replies 6
ScottWorld
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

Welcome to the community, @Vendors_Mailbox!

One of the many limitations of the Airtable calendar is that it requires your calendar events to all be in the same table.

So the easiest solution would be for you to get all of your events in the same table.

If all of your events are spread out across multiple tables, then you would need to creatively figure out how to get them all together in the same table.

That could involve linking events across tables, or it could involve automating the gathering of events into a single table using custom Javascripts. If you don’t want to dive into JavaScript programming, you could also use a low-code/no-code external automation tool such as Integromat to gather events together into a single table. (Note that I am a professional Airtable consultant and a Registered Integromat Partner, and the Integromat link contains my personal referral code.)

However, your best bet might be to use external calendar clients to subscribe to all of your individual Airtable calendars.

One of the best ways that you can see events from multiple tables combined into one unified calendar is by syncing all of your individual calendars to an external calendar client that supports subscribing to external calendars, such as my #1 favorite calendar client which I have been using since 2005: BusyCal. BusyCal is one of the most advanced calendar apps on the planet, and it supports subscribing to all external calendars on the planet, including Airtable’s calendars, Google Calendar’s calendars, and so much more.

Many people try using a free/simple calendar app such as Google Calendar to subscribe to their Airtable calendars, but the problem is that Google Calendar only refreshes its calendar subscriptions once every 24-48 hours, so it’s not great for rapidly-changing events.

That’s why you would want to find an advanced calendar client like BusyCal which refreshes as often as you want, as frequently as every 60 seconds — or even refreshes on demand.

Microsoft Outlook might refresh frequently as well, but I’m not sure as I’ve never used Outlook before.

Although one of the downsides of using an external calendar client is that another one of Airtable’s limitations is that it only sends 3 pieces of information to external calendar clients: start time, end time, and primary field name.

Vendors_Mailbox
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Many thanks for the comprehensive response!!! Very helpful! We will follow up on two fronts: 1) using an external client to bring everything together, 2) using JS.

You’re welcome! Glad I could help! :slightly_smiling_face:

p.s. If you have a budget for your project and you need to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, always feel free to contact me through my website at ScottWorld.com.

Aside from all the tips/info in Scott’s breakdown, many, many moons ago I posted here on the forums that I was developing a Custom App for Airtable to show events from multiple tables on a single calendar.

That app is now under review by Airtable’s team and should be officially available by the end of March or in early April if all goes well. If you’re interested, you can sign up for the release schedule newsletter here.

Wow, nice, @Kamille_Parks!! :star_struck: :star2:

This looks amazing, and is going to solve a HUGE pain point for so many people!! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: :raised_hands: :partying_face:

incredible. Just signed up and looking forward to the official release. Thank you!