Would you like to export your events from your current site and import them to another? The Import and Export tools in Sugar Calendar give you the ability to migrate your events to a different site so that you don’t need to recreate them from scratch.
This tutorial will show you how to use the Import and Export features in Sugar Calendar Events.
In This Article
Before you jump in, make sure the Sugar Calendar Events plugin is installed and activated on your WordPress site.
Exporting Events
To access the Export tool, go to Events » Tools. The Tools page opens on the Import tab, so select the Export tab.
In the Export section, you’ll see a list of data you can export. Below, we’ve highlighted the supported data:
- Events
- Custom Fields
- Calendars
- Tickets, Orders and Attendees
- Tags
- Venues
- Speakers
The Events checkbox is automatically selected. However, you can choose the ones you’d like to export.
Next, choose an Export Format. JSON is selected by default and is the format the Import tool reads, so keep it when you plan to import the file into another Sugar Calendar site. Choose CSV when you want to open the data in a spreadsheet instead.
To export part of your calendar rather than all of it, click the Custom Date Range field and pick a start and end date. Leave the field empty to export everything. The range only filters events, tickets, orders, and attendees. Every other type you selected exports in full.
After selecting the ones you’d like to export, click the Export button.
Your events and the other data you selected are compiled into a file in the format you chose, then downloaded to your computer.
Importing Events
Sugar Calendar Events provides three ways to import events to your site: a JSON export file, an ICS URL, or a migration from The Events Calendar. This guide covers the first two.
The third runs from a separate Migrate tab on the same Tools page, which appears only when Sugar Calendar Events detects The Events Calendar on your site. You can read our guide to learn how to migrate from The Events Calendar to Sugar Calendar.
Importing From an Export File
To import an event from an export file, go to Events » Tools. The page opens with the Import tab already selected.
Then click the Choose File button and select the file from your computer that includes the event(s) you want to import.
Once you’ve chosen a file, click the Import button.
Sugar Calendar Events imports data from the file you selected and then shows an “Import Completed!” summary listing what came in, such as the number of events imported.
Importing From an ICS URL
This option lets you import events from any calendar application on your device. It works with Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other calendar apps. Import a feed once, or put it on a recurring schedule so Sugar Calendar keeps it up to date for you.
To use this option, navigate to Events » Tools » Import. Then paste the ICS URL you copied from your calendar app into the Enter an ICS URL field.
Then click Import to proceed.
If you’re looking for a detailed guide for specific calendar apps, check out the following links:
- Importing events from Apple calendar
- Importing events from the Outlook calendar
- Importing events from Google calendar
Scheduling Automatic Imports
Requirements: The ICS URL import and its scheduling options require Sugar Calendar Pro.
Pasting an ICS URL into the field above imports that feed once. To keep a feed up to date without repeating those steps, scroll to the Scheduled Imports section below the ICS importer and click Add Scheduled Import.
Then fill in the form that opens:
- ICS feed URL: The feed Sugar Calendar Events reads on every run. Enter the HTTP or HTTPs version of the URL.
- Import frequency: How often the feed runs. Choose Hourly, Daily, or Weekly.
- Target calendar: The calendar to which imported events are added. Leave this on Default Calendar or choose one of your own calendars.
- Event status: The status new events are created with. Choose Published, Draft, or Pending.
- When events are removed from the feed: What happens to events that disappear from the source. Choose Leave them alone, Move them to Draft, or Move them to Trash.
Once the form is complete, click Save & schedule. The first automatic run happens one full interval later, so an hourly feed runs an hour from now. To pull the feed straight away, click Run Now on its row.
Each saved feed gets a row in the Scheduled Imports table showing its Source, Frequency, Last run, Next run, and Last result. The Actions column holds Run Now, Edit, Pause, and Delete. Pausing a feed stops its schedule and leaves the events it already imported in place, and Resume starts it again.
Every run matches events in the feed to those on your site by their calendar UID.
New events are created, events that have changed in the feed are updated, and events that are unchanged are skipped. An event you edited on your site is also skipped, so your own changes survive the next run.
To review what past runs did, expand Import history (last 20 imports) under the table. Each row records the source, whether the run was Manual or Scheduled, when it ran, how many events it created, updated, skipped, and failed, and a status of Success, Error, or Partial. A run that ends in Error shows the reason directly beneath the row.
Note: Scheduled runs rely on WordPress cron, so a run on a quiet site starts once the site next receives traffic. Until it does, the Next run column reads Due now or Overdue by.
Deleting a scheduled import removes the feed and its run history from this page. The events it already imported stay on your site.
When viewing events on your site, the calendars and events you import will also be added to your event list.
That’s it! You now know how to import and export Sugar Calendar event data between sites and third-party calendar apps.
Next, would you like to display the events you imported on your site’s frontend? Be sure to check our tutorial on displaying Sugar Calendar events.
