Research e-Labs

New Zealand government agencies have recently published important dates in iCalendar format. This enables you to subscribe to the calendar using your preferred organiser or calendar program (e.g. Outlook). How easy is that?

Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as clicking on the calendar link. If you do that, the calendar file will download to your local computer and your organiser will do a static one-time import of the local file. (Outlook 2003 won’t even do that.)

To gain the full benefit of a live subscription to the calendar, which means your calendar will be updated whenever the source is updated, you need to set up the subscription in your organiser.

Here is specific guidance for common calendaring programs.

Microsoft Outlook 2007

Go to Tools > Account Settings. Click on the Internet Calendars tab. Select New and paste the URL of the calendar you want to subscribe to.

Microsoft Outlook 2003

It is not possible to create a live subscription in Outlook 2003 or earlier.

To import the current iCalendar, first save it and then import it to Outlook. Click the calendar link in your browser and select Save. In Outlook 2003, choose File > Import and Export. Select ‘Import an iCalendar or vCalendar file’. Select the iCalendar file you just downloaded.

Google Calendar

In the Other Calendar section, choose Add > Add by URL and paste the URL of the calendar you want to subscribe to.

New Zealand Government iCalendars

Here are links to the iCalendars we know of.

Department of Labour - New Zealand Public Holidays

Copy and paste the link as a subscription in your calendar (see above).

• http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/holidays_act_2003/dates/ical/public-holidays-all.ics

For more information see New Zealand public holiday dates iCalendar

Ministry of Education - New Zealand School Term Dates

Copy and paste a link as a subscription in your calendar (see above).

• Primary Schools:  http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/EducationInNewZealand/SchoolTermsAndHolidays/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/PrimarySecondary/iCalendarFiles/schoolterms%20primary.ics
• Secondary Schools: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/EducationInNewZealand/SchoolTermsAndHolidays/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/PrimarySecondary/iCalendarFiles/schoolterms%20secondary.ics

For more information see New Zealand school terms and holidays iCalendar

Please post a comment if you discover other iCalendars.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 3:12 pm under Standards & Compliance. You can leave a response, or trackback from your site.