5 Ways to Forward Email Calendar Invites to Google Calendar (2026)

Getting calendar events from your email into Google Calendar should be simple, but anyone who has tried it knows it often is not. Whether you are dealing with airline confirmations, meeting invites from scheduling tools, or event registration emails, the .ics attachment sitting in your inbox does not always make it to your calendar without effort.

Here are five different approaches to solving this problem, from fully manual to fully automated, along with the pros and cons of each.

1. Manual Download and Import

The most straightforward method — and the most tedious. You download the .ics file from the email, open Google Calendar, navigate to Settings, find the Import section, upload the file, and select the target calendar.

How it works:

1. Open the email and download the .ics attachment.
2. Go to calendar.google.com.
3. Click the gear icon, then "Settings."
4. Navigate to "Import & Export" in the sidebar.
5. Click "Import," select your downloaded file, choose the calendar, and confirm.

Pros:

• No setup required — works right now.
• Free, no third-party tools needed.
• Full control over which events get added.

Cons:

• Five steps per event. If you get 10 calendar emails per week, that is 50 steps.
• Especially painful on mobile where file management is clunky.
• Easy to forget or procrastinate, leading to missed events.
• Does not scale at all.

Best for: People who rarely receive .ics files and do not mind the occasional manual import.

2. Gmail's Built-in Calendar Detection

Gmail has a feature that can detect calendar events in emails and display an "Add to Calendar" prompt or even automatically add events to Google Calendar. When it works, it is seamless — the event just appears.

How it works:

1. Go to Google Calendar Settings.
2. Under "Events from Gmail," enable the option to automatically add events.
3. Gmail will scan incoming emails for event-like content and create calendar entries.

Pros:

• No manual importing — events appear automatically.
• Built into Gmail, no extra tools or subscriptions.
• Handles common formats well (Google Calendar invites, some booking confirmations).

Cons:

• Only works with Gmail. If you use Outlook, Yahoo, or another provider, this is not available.
• Unreliable with .ics attachments specifically. Gmail's detection is better at parsing event details from email body text than from .ics file attachments. See why .ics files don't always add to Google Calendar for the technical details.
• Limited control — you cannot filter which events get added or to which calendar.
• Does not work well with many booking systems that generate non-standard .ics formats.

Best for: Gmail users who primarily receive calendar invites from other Google Calendar users and want a passive solution.

3. Zapier or Make (Formerly Integromat)

General-purpose automation platforms like Zapier and Make can be configured to watch your inbox for emails with .ics attachments and create calendar events in response.

How it works:

1. Create a Zapier account and set up a new Zap.
2. Set the trigger to "New email in Gmail" (or your provider).
3. Add a filter step to check for .ics attachments.
4. Add a code step to parse the .ics file content (Zapier does not have a native .ics parser).
5. Add an action to create a Google Calendar event with the parsed data.

Pros:

• Fully automated once configured.
• Flexible — you can add conditions, filters, and additional actions (like sending a Slack notification when an event is added).
• Part of a broader automation ecosystem if you already use Zapier or Make.

Cons:

• Significant setup time — expect 30 to 60 minutes to get it working, longer if you hit edge cases.
• No native .ics parsing. You need a custom code step or third-party parser, which requires technical knowledge.
• Expensive for a single workflow. Zapier's multi-step Zaps require a paid plan starting at $19.99 per month. Make is cheaper but still requires a paid plan for reliable multi-step automations.
• Maintenance burden — if something breaks (and multi-step automations do break), you need to debug through multiple steps.

Best for: Technical users who already pay for Zapier or Make and want to add email-to-calendar as one of many automations. Read our InboxProcess vs. Zapier comparison for a detailed breakdown.

4. IFTTT (If This Then That)

IFTTT is another automation platform, simpler than Zapier but also more limited. It connects apps through "Applets" — single trigger-action pairs.

How it works:

1. Create an IFTTT account.
2. Search for Gmail-to-Google Calendar Applets.
3. Enable an Applet that triggers on new emails and creates calendar events.
4. Configure trigger conditions (sender, subject keywords, etc.).

Pros:

• Simpler interface than Zapier — fewer steps to configure.
• Free tier available for basic Applets.
• Good for simple trigger-action workflows.

Cons:

• IFTTT does not parse .ics files. It can detect keywords in emails and create events from email metadata, but it cannot extract structured event data from .ics attachments.
• Limited customization — you cannot add code steps or complex logic on the free tier.
• Calendar events created from email metadata (subject line, date received) are often inaccurate. The actual event time, location, and details from the .ics file are lost.
• Slow execution — IFTTT Applets can take 15 minutes or more to trigger on free plans.

Best for: Users who want a simple, free automation tool and do not need accurate .ics parsing. Works better for reminders than for precise calendar events. For a head-to-head analysis, see InboxProcess vs. IFTTT for calendar automation.

5. InboxProcess

InboxProcess is built specifically for this use case: forward an email with a .ics attachment, and the event is added to your Google Calendar.

How it works:

1. Sign up at inboxprocess.com and connect your Google Calendar via OAuth.
2. Forward any email with a .ics attachment to your dedicated InboxProcess address.
3. The event appears on your calendar within seconds.

For fully hands-free operation, set up a Gmail filter to auto-forward emails from specific senders (airlines, booking platforms, scheduling tools) to your InboxProcess address.

Pros:

• Two-minute setup — no workflows to build, no code to write.
• Purpose-built .ics parser that handles format variations across booking systems, scheduling tools, and calendar applications.
• Works with any email provider — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, ProtonMail. As long as you can forward an email, it works.
• Fast processing — events appear on your calendar within seconds, not minutes.
• Affordable — priced for this specific use case, not for thousands of integrations you do not need.

Cons:

• Focused on email-to-calendar. If you need broader automation across many apps, you will still need a general-purpose tool for those workflows.
• Requires email forwarding (manual or via filter). It does not watch your inbox directly.

Best for: Anyone who regularly receives .ics calendar attachments via email and wants the simplest, most reliable way to get them onto their Google Calendar.

Quick Comparison

| Method | Setup Time | .ics Parsing | Cost | Reliability | |---|---|---|---|---| | Manual import | None | N/A (manual) | Free | Depends on you | | Gmail detection | 2 minutes | Partial | Free | Inconsistent | | Zapier / Make | 30-60 minutes | Requires code step | From $19.99/mo | Good (when configured) | | IFTTT | 10 minutes | No | Free / $3.49/mo | Limited | | InboxProcess | 2 minutes | Built-in | Free tier available | High |

Which Method Should You Use?

If you get one .ics email per month, manual import is fine. There is no reason to set up automation for something that rarely happens.

If you use Gmail exclusively and most of your calendar invites come from other Google Calendar users, the built-in Gmail detection will catch many (but not all) of them.

If you are already paying for Zapier or Make and have the technical skills to build a multi-step automation with custom .ics parsing, it works — but it is a lot of setup for one workflow.

If you want the simplest solution that reliably handles .ics files from any source, InboxProcess is purpose-built for exactly this. Two minutes of setup, and every forwarded email with a .ics attachment becomes a calendar event.

Try InboxProcess and stop manually importing calendar files. Learn more about email forwarding to calendar as a use case.