calendar won't restore from icbu file

seems the settings on my MBP w Ventura had the calendar backed up to iCloud, not my choice. I created a local backup - export to icbu; turned off iCloud backup; restored - import icbu.


-a- when I turned off iCloud backup, all calendar entries disappeared. huh? why?

-b- when I restored from icbu, the restored calendar flashed by for a fraction of a second and disappeared again. why?

-c- if I turn on iCloud backup for Calendar, everything reappears. But that's NOT what I want.

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Jan 6, 2023 3:01 PM

Reply
5 replies

Jan 9, 2023 3:02 PM in response to trailrunner117

Thank you for the reply trailrunner117!


It does sound like iCloud was set as your default. Take a look under the "Check your default Calendar, Reminders, and Contacts account" section to see what your default location for your calendar is:


"Check your default Calendar, Reminders, and Contacts account

If you store and edit your events in iCloud instead of another place, like On My Mac, Exchange, or Google, then iCloud automatically updates your calendars. If you use multiple accounts on your Mac like iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo, make sure that iCloud is your default Calendar account:

  1. Open the Calendar app.
  2. Choose Calendar > Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Calendar > Preferences.
  3. In the General tab, make sure that one of your iCloud calendars is the default.

If you store and edit your contacts in iCloud instead of another place, like On My Mac, Exchange, or Google, then iCloud automatically updates your contacts. If you use multiple accounts on your Mac like iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo, make sure that iCloud is your default Contacts account:

  1. Open the Contacts app.
  2. Choose Contacts > Accounts.
  3. Click the iCloud tab. Make sure that you're signed in with your Apple ID and that Contacts is enabled. 

As long as you've turned on Reminders in iCloud Settings, your iCloud reminders appear on your Mac."


Cheers!


Jan 8, 2023 7:09 PM in response to trailrunner117

Hi trailrunner117,


Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. Sharing your calendars with iCloud just keeps them up to date and syncs them with all of your devices. It's not considered a backup. When you turn off iCloud for your Calendars it just stops them from syncing from iCloud to that device. This article explains more about this: Keep your calendars up to date and share them with iCloud.

"

With iCloud, your calendars stay up to date on all your devices and you can share them with friends and family.


Access the same calendars on all your devices

When you set up iCloud for Calendar, your calendars are stored in the cloud instead of locally on your device. You can see them on any device that’s set up for iCloud and Calendar, including your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Windows computer. You can also access your iCloud calendars in a web browser.

Because your calendars are in the cloud, changes you make on one device—like adding an appointment, deleting an event, or updating a meeting—automatically appear on all your devices. You see the most up-to-date version of your calendars, no matter where you access them.


Restore calendars on all your devices

Calendars stored in iCloud are archived automatically. You can use iCloud.com to restore an archived version of your calendars on all your devices if you ever need to.


Share and collaborate on calendars

You can share calendars with friends and family who use iCloud, and they can view shared calendars in the Calendar app. You decide if the people you share with can edit the calendar or just view it. When collaborators make changes to a calendar, everyone sees those changes in real time.

You can also create a public calendar. Anyone who has the link can view and subscribe to it, even if they don’t use iCloud.


Get started

See Set up iCloud for Calendar on all your devices.

"

If you want to turn off iCloud Calendar, you'll need to export your calendars. This article has the steps: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud.

"

Use the steps below to export a calendar from your Mac, iCloud.com, or PC.


Export a calendar on your Mac

  1. In Calendar, click the calendar’s name. If you don’t see your calendars, click Calendars.
  2. Choose File > Export > Export.
  3. Choose a location for the file, and then click Export.


Download a calendar from iCloud.com

  1. Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID and open Calendar.
  2. Publicly share the calendar.
  3. Copy the URL of the shared calendar and paste it into the address field in your browser. Don't click Enter or Return.
  4. Change "webcal" to "http" and click Enter or Return. An ICS file downloads to your default download location.
  5. Add the calendar to a calendar client, such as Calendar on Mac or Outlook on a Windows computer.
  6. Stop sharing the calendar.

iCloud Calendar keeps information from the last six months, and up to three years in the future.


Export a calendar in Outlook on your PC

  1. Open Outlook and go to your Calendar.
  2. Select the calendar you want to copy in the Calendar list.
  3. Deselect all other calendars.
  4. Choose File > Save Calendar.
  5. Click More Options to adjust the date range and amount of detail to include in the calendar. This varies depending on your version of Outlook.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Choose where you want to save the calendar, then click Save.
  8. Repeat with each calendar you want to copy.

"

Take care.




Jan 10, 2023 11:23 AM in response to trailrunner117

Hi trailrunner117,


You created the events on iCloud so the calendar events will sync with iCloud calendar. If you want the events to sync from another calendar, the events will need to be saved to another calendar.


Turn off iCloud Calendar. As you know, this will remove the events. The events are synced to iCloud, so disabling the calendar will remove the events.


Make sure you are signed in to the email account for the calendar you wish to have the calendar sync from.


Manually create the calendar events here or export or download the iCloud calendar to your computer as mentioned in the first reply.



Regards.


Jan 10, 2023 8:50 AM in response to Rob_H1

I don't seem to be communicating that I am trying to get Calendar off of iCloud, where I never wanted it in the first place. There seems to be no way of recovering the entire Calendar[s] as an icbu file. If I follow the earlier instructions, I have to go through one calendar at a time, downloading an ics file, which seems to be for one event only. This could be endlessly tedious. Why can't [doesn't] iCloud Calendar allow me to generate an icbu file for download? And, as I originally noted, why, when removing the Calendar from iCloud, does it remove it from the Calendar on the MBP? Removing a link to iCloud should NOT remove the data from the MBP.


And if I sync with the iPhone, it won't sync the Calendar [because iCloud]. Catch-22.

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calendar won't restore from icbu file

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