Export lightning events

[a1an]

Hello everybody,
Is there some way to export lightning calendar events into a lightning importable format?

If so can events be exported on a start/end date/time range basis?

Regards,
Alan

[ssitter]

Switch to calendar mode and choose "File > Export Calendar" or "File > Export Selection". The latter will only export the events that are currently selected in the main calendar view or the search result window. You want to export to the iCalendar format. In the SaveAs dialog ensure that the file type is set to iCalendar resp. ics.

[a1an]

Thank you ssitter,
I didn't notice the file format could be changed.
Still it would be useful to have an export from date to date e.g. to archive calendar events to an offline calendar on a periodic basis.

Alan

[danliston]

Since this is a really old thread, and I found it via google, I wanted to provide an update for others using search engines.
As of Thunderbird 7.0.1 and Lightning 1.0b7, the export option is now located under "Events and Tasks" on the main menu bar.

[ccsrgv]

As an update to this issue:

Exporting a finite subset of selected events from Lightning is no longer possible.

The current Export dumps the entire calendar and does not recognize any given selection set. Nor does the export process allow for an opportunity to restrict exported data by any field or value.

Any users wishing to work with only a finite subset of events are forced to use a spreadsheet app to work on the complete calendar data dump file - if you selected an export file format of .csv.

This is a serious shortcoming of the Lightning module.

[deecee52]

Old Post, serious shortcoming of Lightning that is still not addressed. There is no explanation from the calendar group as to why this isn't on the roadmap to be addressed.

[lrq3000]

Update: it's still not possible to export a selection, and I tried to install several older versions of Lightning and Thunderbird, I got the export selection feature, but it's quite buggy (it won't be able to write in the target file, but a full export works fine).

However, there is a workaround: using the latest Thunderbird 31.3.0 and Lightning 3.3.1, it's possible to select several entries and batch delete them (in the upper pane "list view" where you can show All Events, Future events, Events of current month, etc. ; not in the lower pane where the grid calendar is shown). Thus, what I did was to create a fake temporary calendar, import my full calendar in it, and then batch delete entries that I did not want to export, and then export the trimmed calendar, and it worked great!

This is to my knowledge the only way currently to freely restrict the date range of a calendar. Alternative is to use Outlook 2010 which directly offers the option to limit date range. There's no alternative for such a basic need.

[ZehHa]

No, there is no selective export. But the temporary calendar is quite a useful workaround. You don't have to import the whole calendar which keeps the event. You can select the events destined for export by any of the possible means - calender selection, search string, date restriction, ctrl click or shift click, and copy-paste them into the temp calendar. Export this to ICS - done.

Yes, I know. Export Selection would be easier. Open a bug, anyone?

[sphakka]

Open a bug, anyone?

There has been one https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=401730, it was even fixed!? Waiting for confirmation and possible reopening.