Subscribe to the Calendar of Events Using RSS or ICS

RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”) is a distribution mechanism used for blogs, podcasting, video blogging, etc. It makes possible a publish-and-subscribe model for the Internet, and the Lafayette Calendar of Events publishes calendar event feeds to which calendar users can subscribe. ICS files use the iCalendar specification to encode calendar events in a format that allows users to share, import, and export entire calendars and individual events among iCalendar-compliant applications. In practice: ICS is what most calendar apps (Google, Apple, Outlook) expect; RSS is for feed readers.

You can subscribe to a category using an ICS file so new events are added automatically. The instructions for subscribing vary based on which calendar software you use, but all require you to know the location of the ICS file you are subscribing to. Here’s how to copy that location:

1. Go to the Categories page in the calendar.
2. Right-click or Command-click (macOS) on the ICS icon for the category.
3. Choose the “Copy this link” command (or your web browser’s equivalent).
4. In your calendar or email client, use this link location to subscribe to the category.

Each event has its own ICS file. Click the event’s ICS/download icon to add it to your personal calendar.

1. Go to the event’s page in the calendar.
2. Click the event’s ICS icon.
3. The ICS file for that event will be downloaded to your computer.
4. Double-click the file, and your computer should open it in your calendar and add the event to it.

By default, if you click on an ICS file in the calendar it will be downloaded to your computer. This adds a copy of the category to the calendar application on your computer, but it’s a one-time addition; since it’s not a subscription, new events won’t be added to your calendar.

1. Go to the Categories page in the calendar.
2. Click the ICS icon of the Category you would like to download.
3. The ICS file for that category will be downloaded to your computer.
4. Double-click the file, and your computer should open it in your calendar and add the events to it.

If you use an RSS feed reader, you can subscribe to a category’s event feed there.

1. Go to the Categories page in the calendar.
2. Click the RSS feed icon next to the Category you would like to subscribe to.
3. Copy the resulting web address from your browser’s address/location bar.
4. Add this web address to your RSS feed reader.