Subscribing to your WebSked iCalendar feed

Automatically keep both your WebSked Individual and Master work schedules in synch with your personal calendar!


Overview

The iCalendar (iCal) format is a standard for exchanging calendar events. Using your favorite calendar application (such as Google calendar) you can subscribe to your WebSked "iCal Feed", automatically keeping your personal calendar up-to-date with your WebSked schedule. You can create feeds for both your Individual and your Master Schedules from WebSked.

Subscribing is a simple two-step process:

STEP 1: Find and copy the link to your personal WebSked iCal Feed.
See the instructions below.

STEP 2. Paste the link from Step 1 into your calendar application.
Many different applications support iCal feeds. Instructions are included below for the following personal calendar applications:
  Google Calendar
  Microsoft Outlook
  Apple iCal
  Lotus Notes 8.5
  Yahoo Calendar

Both of these steps are described in detail below.

Important note: When a change is made to your WebSked schedule, the calendar feed from WebSked is updated immediately. You will, however, experience a delay between the time a change is made to your WebSked schedule and when that change appears on your personal calendar. Refresh rates vary between calendars. Some calendar programs (such as the Mac iCal) allow you to change the frequency at which it refreshes the schedule, using this "Auto-refresh" setting selected during setup:

Other calendar programs (such as Google calendar) do not currently offer an option to set the refresh interval. Google calendars appear to request an update from WebSked about every six hours, though your mileage may vary.

 

STEP 1: FIND AND COPY YOUR PERSONAL WebSked iCal Feed link

The link to your personal WebSked iCal Feed is available from your My Profile...Options window. After signing in to WebSked, select the My Profile...Options menu (visible at the top of every WebSked screen). The Calendar Feeds section is near the bottom of the Options screen as shown, with the links to your iCal feeds shown circled in red:

If the browser you are using to view the page is Internet Explorer, simply click the "Copy link to clipboard" button to the right of the link to copy the link to your computer's clipboard. For Firefox, Chrome, and Safari users, you will need to highlight and copy the link manually. Make sure you copy the entire link.

A "Description Builder" allows you to create a description of choice for each scheduled shift in the calendar feed, shown circled in red below. The selected items are used to create event descriptions both in the static .ics/.vcs calendar files and for the iCalendar feed.

For more detailed information on how this works, please click here.

Note that:

  • The WebSked iCalendar feed will change as soon as you click the Submit button to save the changes, but there may be a delay of several hours for this to appear in your calendar, depending upon when your calendar next refreshes its display.
  • The description you select will only affect event descriptions shown on your individual schedule; it will not affect the master calendar feed for your location.
  • The calendar feeds contain information about the current scheduled hours; any edits you make to your worked hours are not shown in the calendar feed.

 

STEP 2: FIND AND COPY YOUR PERSONAL WebSked iCal Feed link

Many different applications support iCal feeds. Detailed instructions are included below for the following calendar applications:

Google Calendar

Microsoft Outlook

Apple iCal

Lotus Notes 8.5

Yahoo Calendar

Instructions may vary somewhat between different versions of these programs, but the below should allow you to successfully add your WebSked schedule to your favorite calendar application.

 

Google Calendar

  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in Step 1 above.
  2. Open Google calendar in your browser
  3. Click the "Other calendars" button, then select the "Add by URL" option, as shown here:

  4. In the "Add URL" window that is displayed, paste the link (URL) copied in step (a) to the circled text box:

  5. Click the "Add Calendar" button.

After a brief wait to synchronize calendars, your WebSked schedule should appear in your Google calendar. When future changes are made in WebSked, the calendar feed from WebSked is updated immediately. You will, however, experience a delay between the time a change is made to your WebSked schedule and when it appears on your Google calendar. Refresh rates vary between calendars. Google requests an update from WebSked about every six hours.

You may note doubled event entries in your Google calendar which seem to occur occasionally the first time a feed is added. Clicking the "Refresh" option at the top of the Google calendar

should remove the duplicates. This is not a problem with the WebSked feed, but with Google.

 

Microsoft Outlook

Subscribing to your WebSked schedule feed requires Outlook 2010 or later. If you have an earlier version of Outlook, click here for instructions on importing a "static" WebSked schedule.

To add your WebSked schedule to your Outlook 2007 calendar:

  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in Step 1 above.
  2. Open your Outlook calendar, then select "Tools", then "Account Settings" in the Outlook menu.
  3. Select the "Internet Calendars" tab, then click "New" (see items circled in blue in the Outlook image below).
  4. In the "Enter the location..." field of the window that is displayed, paste the link copied in step (a) to the text box circled in red:

  5. Click the "Add" button. You can also set the display name for your calendar and/or add a description in "Subscription Options".
  6. To see your WebSked schedule, expand "Other Calendars" in the navigation pane and select the WebSked calendar. Use the arrows on the calendar tabs to merge or separate your WebSked schedule and your standard Outlook calendar.

 

Apple iCal

To add your WebSked schedule to your Apple Macintosh iCal calendar:
  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in Step 1 above.
  2. Open the Apple iCal calendar program on your Mac, then select the Calendar...Subscribe dropdown menu as shown:

  3. Paste the link copied in step (a) above in the "Calendar URL" textbox as shown in the image below, then click the "Subscribe" button:

  4. In the subscription settings displayed after you subscribe, be sure to set the Auto-Refresh setting to something other than the default "No" setting, or your calendar will not automatically synchronize with future changes to your WebSked schedule!
  5. Click the OK button.

 

To add your WebSked schedule to your Apple iPad or iPhone iCal calendars:
  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in Step 1 above.
  2. Tap the Settings icon
  3. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars
  4. Scroll down and tap Add Account...
  5. Tap Other
  6. Tap Add Subscribed Calendar
  7. In the server field, enter the link to your WebSked calendar feed that was copied in step (a) above, then tap Next
  8. On the next screen, change the name of the calendar under "Description" if you choose - then tap Save

 

Lotus Notes 8.5

To add your WebSked schedule to your Lotus notes (8.5 or later) calendar:
  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in in Step 1 above.
  2. Open Lotus Notes. Under the "Views" panel of the calendar navigator, click circled "Show Calendars" to expand that section, then click "Add a Calendar" as indicated by the arrow:

  3. In the "Add a Calendar" box that is displayed, select "iCalendar feed" from the “Add” drop down list box as indicated by the arrow:

  4. Paste the link ("URL") copied in step (a) above into the circled "URL" field above, then click the OK button.

 

Yahoo Calendar

To add your WebSked schedule to your Yahoo calendar:
  1. Find and copy the link to your WebSked iCal feed as described in Step 1 above.
  2. Go to your Yahoo calendar and click the "+" button circled in red next to "Calendars" on the left side of the page:

  3. Click the "Subscribe to Calendar" circled in the image above.
  4. Paste the web address from (a) above into the "Email or iCal address" window, then click the Next button:

  5. Type a name (required) for the calendar in the window after "Display as", and choose a color for the calendar in the "Color:" pull-down menu:

  6. Click the "Save" button at the top of the page.