How do you delete all occurrences of a recurring event in iCal without deleting them one by one?

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Level 1

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How do you delete all occurrences of a recurring event in iCal without deleting them one by one?

These events have no stopping point, and go on into eternity. How do I get them out of iCal without having to delete each one separately? I want to sync with my new iPhone, but don't want these events in my iPhone calendar. They are in my old iPhone when I synced it a couple of years ago. In the iPhone, you have no way to delete or edit these events.

Thanks for any suggestions.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 20, 2012 6:36 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

chrisg

Level 2

180 points

Jan 20, 2012 7:01 AM in response to ALHinVA

When you hit delete on an event it should ask you if you want to delete just this one or all future events. Click on all future events option and they should all get deleted.

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Answer 2

ALHinVA Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2012 8:23 AM in response to chrisg

Thanks! I was right-clicking on the event, which only gives you the option to cut, not delete, and you can only "cut" one event. Hadn't even thought to try the "delete" key, so thanks again!

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Answer 3

pedrofog

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2012 5:18 AM in response to chrisg

And what about deleting all instances of the recurring event? When I search for a recurring event I only see instances from now on, not the past ones. And to delete all instances of the recurring event I need to find the very first one.

Any idea?

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Answer 4

Jul 14, 2012 6:22 AM in response to pedrofog

pedfogog,

... or whoever may find this post in need of assistance as I was.

I just had this same problem and successfully deleted ALL event (past and future)instances by :

1. Click on any instance of the event in the calendar

2. Select "Delete" from the iCal toolbar "Edit" menu.

3. The iCal propmt asked me to choose to delete all or just the one instance.

4. Naturally, select to "Delete all occurrences"

I am running OS 10.6.8 iCal 4.0.4

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Answer 5

pedrofog

Level 1

8 points

Oct 28, 2012 1:40 PM in response to writemcodeboy

In iCal 6, that's not true.

iCal prompt ask to choose to delete all future instances or just the current instance.

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Answer 6

RLogo

Level 1

8 points

Jul 17, 2013 7:16 PM in response to writemcodeboy

Does not give me the option to delete all future events, only says "delete event". It used to give option to delete future events, but doesnt show up any more. Really irritated. Had deleted calendar with these events and it is still showing up. What is up with ical!! Pls help. Had talked to Apple support and they didnt help either.

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Answer 7

Jul 29, 2013 7:04 PM in response to ALHinVA

I couldn't delete a few recurring events from my iPhone (could do it on my mac) but did finally get rid of them by: settings, iCloud, unclick calendars. It deleted everything. Then went back in and clicked it back to sync calendar on iCloud. It restored all of my events and removed the ones I couldn't otherwise delete.

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Answer 8

serichu

Level 1

0 points

Jan 15, 2015 6:51 AM in response to ALHinVA

When you go to the first event of the recurring event in your iCal (no matter which version) and try to delete it, it should ask you to delete all events or just this one. Select all events and you will be happy and peaceful for the rest of your life. 🙂 Good luck

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Answer 9

May 30, 2015 8:49 AM in response to ALHinVA

In iCal, click on Edit
click on Select All
Click on Edit again
Click on Delete
You have the option to delete all future events.
Repeat this process and click delete to remove all past events

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