Importing .ics files into Lightening

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gvogt
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Joined: May 23rd, 2008, 11:09 am

Importing .ics files into Lightening

Post by gvogt »

I am simply trying to share calendar entries between Lightening and iCal on my Mac. When I get an invitation in Lightening, there is an .ics or other file attached, which I can drag to my desktop and creates an .ics file. I can then drag the .ics file into my iCal and the entry appears.

How can I transfer an individual calendar entry in iCal to Lightening? I have tried to drag the entry to my desktop and then drag it into Lightening, but it won't accept the file. I tried the suggestion on these forum that one attempt to import it by File<Open<calendarfile, but there is no general "Open" option in Thunderbird.

Why can't Lightening accept an .ics file? It does when it comes in on an email.
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ssitter
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Post by ssitter »

For Lightning 0.8 the following should work: Switch to Calendar Mode (menu Go -> Calendar).
Select File -> Open -> Calendar File to create a new calendar from the .ics file.
Select File -> Import Calendar to import the .ics file into an existing calendar.
Dragging the .ics file from the desktop to the main calendar view should import the file too.
gvogt
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Joined: May 23rd, 2008, 11:09 am

Post by gvogt »

Dragging the .ics file to the main calendar window does not import the file.

When I follow the instructions to import a calendar file, it imports the .ics file as a completely new calendar. I don't want to create a new calendar every time I want to add one event, do I?
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bvdbos
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Post by bvdbos »

file - import calendar works for me, it pops up a dialog in which you can choose the calendar to import the data in.
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ssitter
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Post by ssitter »

It will only create a new calendar if you select File->Open..., see my post above. Select File->Import... to move the events into an existing calendar.

You need to drag and drop the file to the main calendar view and not to the title bar or toolbar or sidebar or other windows elements. If it doesn't work also check Tools -> Error Console. Maybe you are not trying to drop an iCalendar file at all.
gvogt
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Joined: May 23rd, 2008, 11:09 am

Post by gvogt »

Dragging and dropping the .ics file to the main calendar view does not work. However, using, File -- import calendar in the main calendar view does ask which calendar to move it into, thanks.

I also found I could right click on the iCal entry and hit "mail event". This allows me to mail the event in Apple Mail to myself, and then I can hit the add to calendar button. It shouldn't be this hard. I should just be able to drag and drop the file into Lightening, but it is not working on my updated version.
gvogt
Posts: 8
Joined: May 23rd, 2008, 11:09 am

Post by gvogt »

When I went to the tools/ error console, it gave me the following.
Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004002 (NS_NOINTERFACE) [nsISupports.QueryInterface]" nsresult: "0x80004002 (NS_NOINTERFACE)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://calendar/content/calendar-dnd-listener.js :: calDNDDrop :: line 245" data: no]
bmelloni
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Joined: October 20th, 2004, 6:16 am

Post by bmelloni »

I suspect the suggestions above might work in some scenarios and not in others. I tried them in 0.8 with the following results:

- I had an event series that I received in the past from an Outlook/Exchange user.
- I received an update with a.ics as an attachment. The change was a room number update for one of the days in the series. No Accept/Decline button showed.
- I tried dragging and dropping... a New Event opened, but SaveAndClose would not respond.
- I copied the meeting.ics file to my desktop, switched to the calendar, and did File/ImportCalendar. Again, no effect.

Hopefully these details will help the developers descipher where the incompatibility lies. Keep up the good work!!! Even with these early version bugs, Thunderbird/Lightning already works better and is more reliable than Outlook.
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dandv
Posts: 18
Joined: February 14th, 2009, 4:05 am

Re: Importing .ics files into Lightening

Post by dandv »

Note: for recent version of Lightning (I have 1.0b2), there is no File -> Import. Instead, go to Events and Tasks -> Import.
gnuarm
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Re: Importing .ics files into Lightening

Post by gnuarm »

I see the Events and Tasks -> Import selection. I'm wondering if there is a way to avoid having to first save a file then load it into Lightning when downloading .ics files from the web? When I open an .ics file from a web page I get the option to open it with an app and Thunderbird seems to be the default. But instead of adding the calendar entry, it opens an email with the .ics file as an attachment.

Is it reasonable to think Lightning should be able to open the .ics file in this way?

It is not uncommon to sign up for an event at a web page and for a calendar entry to be available. It would be very nice if it were this simple.

Thanks
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