Blackboard's calendar is handy for keeping track of dates and deadlines in your courses and organizations, but you may already have an external calendar check more often and use for everything else. To help you keep track of all of your commitments, you can share your Bb calendar with third party calendars, such as Outlook Google Calendar through an iCalendar (ICS) feed. Once your calendar integration is set up, events will be synced automatically. Note: This integration transfers information in one direction: from Blackboard to your external calendar. Any appointments or edits you make in the 3rd-party calendar will not be reflected in your calendar in Blackboard.

Important Notes Before You Get Started:

• Your 3rd-party calendar must accept imports via ICS file, a standardized calendar file type that lets you export and import files between different applications, using .ics at the end of the file name. Many popular calendar applications, including Google Calendar and Apple Calendar, use the ICS standard.
• The calendar refresh rate (how often events are synced from Bb to your calendar) depends on the 3rd-party client you choose. Updates occur at scheduled intervals – usually hourly or daily, so you won't see changes made in Bb instantaneously.
• Your calendar feed will include dates from all of your courses and organizations (you can't selectively sync Blackboard calendars for individual courses).
• Not all classes utilize Blackboard's calendar feature – you can check their due dates in your syllabus and add them to your calendar manually, if desired.
• These instructions help you send calendar information from Blackboard to an external calendar. If you would like to do the reverse, and import a calendar into Blackboard, please see the instructions at the end of this article, or check out Blackboard's help page for students or instructors (available for the calendar found in Ultra Base Navigation menu only).

How to Set up the Calendar Integration

Step 1: Find & Copy Your Blackboard Calendar's URL

First, you will need to find your Blackboard calendar's iCalendar URL and copy it into your clipboard. This address will be pasted into your 3rd party calendar/client in a later step. You can find this URL in two places: inside of your course, or from the Ultra Base Navigation menu on the main Blackboard landing page. Instructions for finding it in both locations can be found below:

From the Calendar Inside of Your Blackboard Course:

1. Log in to Blackboard and open the desired course. In the course menu on the left, click Tools. On the Tools page, select Calendar.
   
    
2. On the Calendar page, scroll down and click Get External Calendar Link (in the bottom-left). A pop-up will appear – select the URL and copy it to your clipboard. Then skip to the next section, Step 2: Connect Your Bb Calendar to Your Personal Calendar.
   
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From the Calendar in the Ultra Base Navigation Menu:

1. Log in to Blackboard, and select Calendar from the menu on the left.
   
    
2. On the Calendar page, click the  gear icon on the top-right corner of the page. This will open the Calendar Settings menu. On the settings menu, click the ellipses > Share Calendar > Copy (or highlight and copy the link to your clipboard).
   
    

Step 2: Connect Your Bb Calendar to Your Personal Calendar

Now that you have copied the iCalendar URL, please follow the instructions below to plug it into your third-party calendar. This will allow appointments from Blackboard to be sent to your personal/external calendar, so they will be visible there without logging in to Blackboard. The following instructions are for the desktop versions of each client. For more information, click the title to visit the corresponding help site.
 

Google Calendar

1. Go to calendar.google.com and make sure that you are logged in to the correct Google account.
2. In the menu on the left side of the page, next to Other Calendars, click the '+' icon .
3. From the drop-down menu, select From URL.
4. This will open a new page – paste your Blackboard calendar's URL in the field and click the Add calendar button.
5. The calendar will appear in the Other Calendars section in your list on the left side of the page.
   Note: It may take up to 12 hours for changes to appear in your Google Calendar for the first time. After the initial sync, calendar updates occur approximately once per day (every 12-24 hours).
    

Microsoft Outlook Calendar

1. Log in to your email and open your Outlook calendar. From the menu, click Add Calendar, then select From Internet.
2. Paste your Blackboard calendar's URL into the field, and select OK.
3. Outlook will ask if you would like to add this calendar and subscribe to updates. Select Yes.
4. Your Blackboard calendar items will appear in your Outlook calendar.
   Note: Any calendar may be turned on/off in the Folder Pane. Select the arrow to overlay the calendar if you want. Calendar updates occur upon program start up, or every 1-3 hours.
    

Mac Calendar App

1. In the Calendar app on your Mac, choose File > New Calendar Subscription -or- 
2. Paste your Blackboard calendar’s URL, then click Subscribe.
3. Enter a name for the calendar in the Name field, then click the adjacent pop-up menu and choose a colour.
4. Click the Location pop-up menu, then choose an account for the subscription.
5. If you choose your iCloud account, the calendar is available on all your computers and devices that are set up with iCloud.
6. If you choose On My Mac, the calendar is saved on your computer.
7. To get the calendar’s event attachments or alerts, deselect the appropriate Remove tickboxes.
8. Click the Auto-refresh pop-up menu, then choose how often to update the calendar.
9. To prevent alerts from appearing for this calendar, select “Ignore alerts”.
10. Click OK. To make changes later, click the name of the calendar, then choose Edit > Get Info.
    Note: By default, the calendar will refresh daily. This can be adjusted to as frequently as every 5 minutes in the settings when you add a calendar feed.

-or-

1. Send an email containing your Blackboard calendar's URL (ending in .ics) to the email account your use on your Mac.
2. Open the email, and click the calendar link.
3. Click Subscribe.
4. Enter a name for the calendar in the Name field, then click the adjacent pop-up menu and choose a colour.
5. Click the Location pop-up menu, then choose an account for the subscription.
6. If you choose your iCloud account, the calendar is available on all your computers and devices that are set up with iCloud.
7. If you choose On My Mac, the calendar is saved on your computer.
8. To get the calendar’s event attachments or alerts, deselect the appropriate Remove tickboxes.
9. Click the Auto-refresh pop-up menu, then choose how often to update the calendar.
10. To prevent alerts from appearing for this calendar, select “Ignore alerts”.
11. Click OK. To make changes later, click the name of the calendar, then choose Edit > Get Info.
    Note: By default, the calendar will refresh daily. This can be adjusted to as frequently as every 5 minutes in the settings when you add a calendar feed.

iPhone Calendar App

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings  > Calendar > Accounts > Add Account > Other.
2. Tap Add Subscribed Calendar.
3. Enter your Blackboard calendar's URL to subscribe.
4. Your Blackboard calendar items will appear in the Calendar app.
   Note: Calendar updates occur upon application start up, or every 1-3 hours.

-or-

1. Send an email containing your Blackboard calendar's URL (ending in .ics) to the email account your use on your iPhone.
2. Open the email on your phone and tap the URL.
3. Your iPhone will recognize the .ics extension as a calendar and prompt you to subscribe. Choose yes.
   Note: Calendar updates occur upon application start up, or every 1-3 hours.

How to Add an External Calendar to Bb

If you prefer to use the Blackboard calendar to keep track of your entire schedule, you can import an external calendar file. Then your personal events will appear alongside your due dates and appointments in Blackboard.

From the Calendar in the Ultra Base Navigation Menu:

1. Select Calendar in the menu where your name appears first.
2. Select the Calendar Settings icon.
3. Open the menu next to the Calendar Settings heading.
4. Select Add Calendar.
5. In the window, drag and drop your calendar file. You can also click to upload the file. Only ICS files are supported.
6. The file name appears in the window. If you selected the wrong file or want to change your selection, select the Delete icon.
7. Select Add Calendar to finish and import events.

When you upload a calendar file into your Blackboard account, it will copy all of your events in a two-year span: from one year in the past to one year in the future. In Blackboard, the events you import will be grouped under My Personal Calendar. You can edit or delete events you upload just like any other event you add, but they will only appear in your Blackboard Calendar view.

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