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Importing .ics calendar events from emails

I have recently upgraded my iPhone 5C to IOS 10 and I am unable to import all events within an .ics calendar file into the standard calendar app from an email.


Previously under older IOS's the method was the following:


1. Open email message containing .ics file.

2. Tap the .ics file to view a list of events.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the events and tap 'add all' then select the calendar to which the events are to be added.


There is no longer an 'add all' button. I have tried to add the events one at a time but this doesn't seem to work half the time.

iPhone 5c, iOS 10

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 7:20 AM

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Posted on Jan 10, 2017 12:50 PM

This worked for me. It is a bit fiddly especially step 1. The only way I could get past step 1 after Tap instead of press/hold was a re-boot of the phone. The icon for file transfer/send would not appear after a Tap even if a press/hold was used.


  1. Open the ics file using press/hold.
  2. If you utilize tap instead of press/hold re-boot the phone and repeat with press/hold.
  3. The icon for file transfer/send will be visible in the lower left corner.
  4. Tap the icon for the file transfer/send. The choices the choices appear in a box.
  5. Tap the icon "add to iCloud Drive" (lower left side of box).
  6. The ics file is saved on the Cloud Drive.
  7. Open iCalendar and Tap "Calendar" middle bottom of the screen.
  8. Make certain the iCloud calendar is selected for inclusion in your iCalendar app.
  9. Tap Done
  10. All of the ics file calendar entries should appear in the iCalendar App.
19 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 10, 2017 12:50 PM in response to jack_the_lad_1981

This worked for me. It is a bit fiddly especially step 1. The only way I could get past step 1 after Tap instead of press/hold was a re-boot of the phone. The icon for file transfer/send would not appear after a Tap even if a press/hold was used.


  1. Open the ics file using press/hold.
  2. If you utilize tap instead of press/hold re-boot the phone and repeat with press/hold.
  3. The icon for file transfer/send will be visible in the lower left corner.
  4. Tap the icon for the file transfer/send. The choices the choices appear in a box.
  5. Tap the icon "add to iCloud Drive" (lower left side of box).
  6. The ics file is saved on the Cloud Drive.
  7. Open iCalendar and Tap "Calendar" middle bottom of the screen.
  8. Make certain the iCloud calendar is selected for inclusion in your iCalendar app.
  9. Tap Done
  10. All of the ics file calendar entries should appear in the iCalendar App.

Jan 4, 2017 12:45 PM in response to jmb1273

Just had a call with apple support which told me this a "new feature" that apple have introduced in release 10.x to prevent another issue of people having duplicate events when using the "add all" too often or if those meetings were already in their calendar. I'm being told they read those forums. So I encourage you to ask for at least a way to have this behavior being changed or configurable. Ask using this forum and calling support.

Oct 7, 2016 2:16 AM in response to jack_the_lad_1981

I found a workaround but you need a macbook.

Method I used:

1 On Macbook deleted the calendar

2 Created a new one (same name and colour)

3 opened mail and clicked the attachement

4 got a dialogbox indicating the ics contains new items

5 choose the newly created calendar to import to

6 Checked the calendar, all items were correctly imported.


But I'd rather have the add all items option again! Enables you to import directly on your iPhone.

Importing .ics calendar events from emails

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