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How can I restore Calendar settings from a Time Machine backup (not iCloud)

I recently updated my iMac to Ventura and it sent my Calendar events haywire - events that repeat any time from once a month to once a year are now showing as repeating every day.


How can I restore the correct Calendar events from the last Time Machine backup before I updated to Ventura?


Alternatively, can I restore them from an iPhone backup?


(I don't sync my calendar with iCloud, so Time Machine or the iPhone are where I need to restore from)


All help appreciated, many thanks.

iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Dec 30, 2022 9:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 2, 2023 10:34 PM

I did that... and Apple couldn't help. I spoke to two different support specialists at two different times and neither had any idea of how to fix the issue.


In the end I worked it out for myself. I had to do a complete Time Machine restore of my iMac to before the update to Ventura (where, to my relief, all my Calendar info was present), then I went into Calendar > File > Export >Calendar Archive... and saved the resulting .icbu file to an external hard drive.


I then did a second complete Time Machine restore, this time to the iMac's post-Ventura update (present-day status), went to Calendar > File > Import... and imported the .icbu file from the external drive. Hey presto, all my calendar data was restored.


It did seem to be a rather needlessly long way round for what should have been a simple restore job, but I got there in the end.


Do I get a prize for being a better tech support for this issue than Apple and the communities? ;-)



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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 2, 2023 10:34 PM in response to J_Johnnyboy

I did that... and Apple couldn't help. I spoke to two different support specialists at two different times and neither had any idea of how to fix the issue.


In the end I worked it out for myself. I had to do a complete Time Machine restore of my iMac to before the update to Ventura (where, to my relief, all my Calendar info was present), then I went into Calendar > File > Export >Calendar Archive... and saved the resulting .icbu file to an external hard drive.


I then did a second complete Time Machine restore, this time to the iMac's post-Ventura update (present-day status), went to Calendar > File > Import... and imported the .icbu file from the external drive. Hey presto, all my calendar data was restored.


It did seem to be a rather needlessly long way round for what should have been a simple restore job, but I got there in the end.


Do I get a prize for being a better tech support for this issue than Apple and the communities? ;-)



Dec 31, 2022 1:57 PM in response to BlueberryiMac

Hello BlueberryiMac,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. We understand that you need to restore Calendar events from before you upgraded to macOS Ventura. We'd like to help!


To recover older versions of your Calendar events, follow the steps listed here:

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support


Let us know if you have any questions during the process! Take care.

Jan 1, 2023 11:47 PM in response to BlueberryiMac

I opened Macintosh/Users/username/Library/Calendars (the folder which holds the .ics data) on my iMac, then opened Browse Time Machine backups in the menu bar and chose a date before I updated to Ventura, which took me to the same folder from that date on the backup.


I hit Restore, then Replace. Once that had completed, I restarted my iMac, opened Calendar... and now have a blank calendar.


This is a real problem, because I rely on my Calendar data for my business. I back up regularly, so not being able to restore the data that updating to Ventura corrupted is really frustrating.


There has to be a way of restoring all my Calendar events?

How can I restore Calendar settings from a Time Machine backup (not iCloud)

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