How to Automatically Add .ics Calendar Invites from Email to Google Calendar

If you have ever received an email with a .ics calendar attachment and spent minutes figuring out how to get it into Google Calendar, you are not alone. Whether it is a flight booking confirmation, a conference invite, or a restaurant reservation, the process of manually downloading and importing calendar files is surprisingly tedious in 2026.

In this guide, we will walk through why .ics files still cause friction, what the traditional manual approach looks like, and how you can fully automate the process with a simple email forward.

What Is a .ics File?

An .ics file (iCalendar format) is the universal standard for sharing calendar events. When a booking system, event organizer, or meeting scheduler sends you an event, they often attach a .ics file to the email. This file contains all the event details: title, date, time, location, and sometimes a description with links or notes. If you want a deeper dive into the format, check out our guide on what an .ics file is and how it works.

The problem is that not every email client knows what to do with these files automatically. Gmail, for example, sometimes renders .ics attachments as clickable calendar events — but only when the stars align. If the sender's formatting is slightly off, or if the email comes from a booking system rather than a direct calendar invite, you are left with a raw attachment and no easy path to your calendar.

The Manual Way: Download, Open, Import

Here is what the typical workflow looks like without any automation:

1. Open the email containing the .ics attachment.
2. Download the file to your computer. On mobile, this is especially painful — you may need to find the file in your downloads folder.
3. Open Google Calendar in your browser.
4. Navigate to Settings, then find the "Import & Export" section.
5. Click "Import", select the downloaded .ics file, choose which calendar to add it to, and confirm.

That is five steps for a single event. Now imagine you receive three or four of these per week from different airlines, hotels, coworking spaces, or event platforms. It adds up quickly, and it is exactly the kind of repetitive task that should be automated.

Why Gmail Doesn't Always Handle .ics Files

You might wonder: doesn't Gmail automatically detect calendar invites? It does — sometimes. Gmail's native calendar integration works well when someone sends you a Google Calendar invite directly or when the email follows a very specific format that Gmail can parse.

But many .ics files come from systems that do not follow Gmail's expected patterns. Airline booking confirmations, SaaS platforms sending scheduling links, conference registration systems, and restaurant booking apps all generate .ics files in subtly different ways. Gmail may show the attachment but not offer a one-click "Add to Calendar" option. We break down all the technical reasons in why .ics files don't always add to Google Calendar.

Outlook users face similar inconsistencies. The result is that a significant number of calendar events require manual intervention to get onto your actual calendar.

A Better Approach: Forward and Forget

What if you could skip all of that? Instead of downloading, navigating menus, and importing, you just forward the email to a specific address and the event appears on your Google Calendar automatically.

That is exactly what InboxProcess does.

InboxProcess is a lightweight email automation tool built specifically for this use case. You forward an email with a .ics attachment to your dedicated InboxProcess address (like calendar@inboxprocess.com), and the event is parsed and added to your connected Google Calendar within seconds.

No browser tabs. No downloads. No import menus.

How to Set It Up

Getting started with InboxProcess takes about two minutes:

1. Create an account at inboxprocess.com and connect your Google Calendar. InboxProcess uses OAuth, so you never share your password — you simply authorize calendar access through Google's standard login flow.

2. Note your forwarding address. Once your account is set up, you will see your dedicated email address (e.g., calendar@inboxprocess.com). This is the address you will forward emails to.

3. Forward your first email. Find an email in your inbox with a .ics attachment. Hit "Forward" and send it to your InboxProcess address. Within a few seconds, the event will appear on your Google Calendar.

4. Optional: set up an auto-forwarding rule. For hands-free automation, create a filter in Gmail (or your email provider) that automatically forwards emails from specific senders — like airlines, booking platforms, or scheduling tools — to your InboxProcess address. This way, events are added to your calendar without you lifting a finger.

Setting Up Auto-Forwarding in Gmail

If you want to fully automate the process, Gmail filters make it straightforward:

1. In Gmail, click the search bar and then the filter icon.
2. Enter the sender address (e.g., no-reply@booking.com) or a keyword like "calendar invite" in the subject field.
3. Click "Create filter."
4. Check "Forward it to" and select your InboxProcess address.
5. Click "Create filter" to save.

From now on, every email matching that filter will be forwarded automatically. InboxProcess will extract the .ics attachment and add the event to your calendar — no manual steps required.

What About Security?

InboxProcess connects to your Google Calendar through OAuth 2.0, the same authorization standard used by every major app that integrates with Google. You grant calendar write access during setup, and you can revoke it at any time from your Google account settings. InboxProcess never stores your Google password and only accesses the calendar permissions you explicitly grant.

Your forwarded emails are processed in real time. The .ics attachment is extracted and parsed, the event is created on your calendar, and the email content is not stored beyond what is needed to complete the operation.

When This Matters Most

This kind of automation is most valuable when you regularly receive calendar events from external systems:

• Travel bookings: Flight confirmations, hotel check-in times, car rental pickups.
• Meeting schedulers: Calendly, Cal.com, and similar tools that send .ics files.
• Event registrations: Conference tickets, webinar registrations, workshop enrollments.
• Restaurant and service bookings: Dinner reservations, salon appointments, doctor visits.

If you are juggling events from multiple sources and tired of the manual import dance, automating the .ics-to-calendar pipeline saves real time every week. See our full breakdown of 5 ways to forward email calendar invites to Google Calendar if you want to compare all the available methods.

Wrapping Up

The .ics format has been around since 1998, and it remains the standard way to share calendar events across platforms. But the process of actually getting those events into your calendar has not kept up. Manually downloading and importing files is a workflow that belongs in the past.

With InboxProcess, a single email forward replaces the entire process. Set it up once, optionally add auto-forwarding rules, and never manually import a .ics file again. Your calendar stays up to date without you having to think about it.

Get started with InboxProcess and automate your ICS to Google Calendar workflow today.