Upcoming can import existing calendars in three ways:

1. You can upload a CSV (comma-separated values) file. Download the Upcoming template here.
2. You can upload a .ICS (iCal) file.
3. You can submit an iCal URL.

From Yahoo! Calendar

1. Click on the name of your calendar under the Calendar section.
2. Select the "Edit Calendar" option in the pop-up menu.
3. Click "Export Now" in the Export Events/To Dos section on the right side.
   
4. Download the resulting .ICS file, and upload it to Upcoming here.

From Google Calendar

1. Click the arrow next to the appropriate calendar, and select "Calendar Settings."
2. Near the bottom of the page is a section called "Private Address." Click the "ICal" button.
   
3. A pop-up window will appear with a URL. Download the file to the preferred folder on your computer and upload to Upcoming here.
   

From Yahoo! Calendar

1. Click on the name of your calendar under the Calendar section.
2. Select the "Share With Contacts" option in the pop-up menu.
3. Click the "Other Ways to Share" link on the right side.
   
4. A pop-up window will appear with a URL. Copy and paste this URL into the text box under the "Submit an iCal URL" header here.

From Google Calendar

1. Click the arrow next to the appropriate calendar and select "Calendar Settings."
2. Near the bottom of the page will be a section called Calendar Address. Click the "ICal" button.
   
3. A pop-up window will appear with a URL. Copy and paste this url on Upcoming into the text box under the "Submit an iCal URL" header here.
   

From Facebook

1. Navigate to your profile.
2. Locate the Events application on the toolbar at the bottom of the page.
3. Click the "Export Events" link at the top-left side of the page. A pop-up window will appear with a link. Copy and paste this URL on Upcoming into the text box under the "Submit an iCal URL" header here.
   

A good description of CSV format can be found on Wikipedia.

Header Line

We require that the first line of the CSV file contains a delimited list of field names. Those field names specify the type of data is contained in each of the following rows.

What fields are required?

• name
• start_date
• • venue_name
  • venue_location
  or
  • venue_id
• category_id

What fields are optional?

• start_time
• end_date
• end_time
• description
• ticket_price
• ticket_free
• ticket_url
• event_url
• personal

What is a delimiter?

A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters used to specify the boundary between separate, independent regions in plain text or other data streams. An example of a delimiter is the comma character, which acts as a field delimiter in a sequence of comma-separated values.

More information about what a delimiter is can be found on Wikipedia.

What is an enclosure?

An enclosure is the character that if necessary will be used on both ends of a value to explicitly define a value. For example, fields that contain a special character (comma, newline, or double quote), must be enclosed in double quotes.

What is an escape?

If a field's value contains a double quote character it is escaped by placing abackslash character before it.

The iCalendar or iCal format is defined by RFC 2445. A less technical description can be found on Wikipedia

What do we extract?

We look at the events (or appointments) to extract the following:

• SUMMARY: The subject or title of the appointment.
• LOCATION: The location of the event. It should be one of in the following formats:
  • {venue name} ({venue address})
  • {venue name}, {venue address}
  • {venue name} - {venue address}
  
  For example:
  • The Fillmore (1805 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA)
  • The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
  • The Fillmore - 1805 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
• DTSTART: The event's starting date and time.
• DTEND: The event's ending date and time.
• RRULE: The recurrence rules for the event.
• DESCRIPTION: The description of the event. Plus, additional meta data to create the event in Y! Upcoming.
• CATEGORIES: The first category matching on of the following values:
  • Music
  • Performing Arts
  • Media
  • Social
  • Education
  • Commercial
  • Festivals
  • Sports
  • Art
  • Other
  • Comedy
  • Politics
  • Family

What "Meta Data" can in the Description?

Meta data can be added to the description to simplify import into Upcoming. Each meta data item needs to be specified on its own line in the description. It should be in the following format:

• #{field}: {value}

"Meta Data" Example

• #category: Music
• #category_id: 1
• #venue_id: 53
• #venue_name: The Fillmore

Supported "Meta Data" Fields

• venue_id
• venue_name
• venue_address
• venue_city
• venue_zip
• venue_phone
• venue_url
• venue_description
• venue_private
• category
• category_id
• personal