Add a YouTube course to your calendar (Google, Apple, Outlook)

A study plan that lives on a web page competes with "later". A study plan that lives in your calendar competes with dinner, which is a fight it can win. This guide shows how to export a playlist plan as a calendar file and import it anywhere.

What you get

On any playlist result page, the planner's Add to calendar (.ics) button downloads a file containing one event per study session:

• When: the date the planner assigned and the session time you chose (default 7 pm, in your local time).
• How long: the session length — 60 minutes if that's your budget, shorter for the final session.
• What: the title says which session it is ("Watch: CS50 (3/32)"), and the description lists the videos for that day with a link to each, opened in playlist context so YouTube queues the next one.
• A reminder 15 minutes before.

Long videos are split across sessions ("Lecture 3 · first part", "Lecture 3 · finish") so a 90-minute lecture never quietly turns a 45-minute session into a 90-minute one.

There's also a Google Calendar (first session) button that adds just the first session in one click, without a file — useful for a quick "start tomorrow" commitment. The planner shows the buttons that work on the device you're using; More options shows them all.

Before you export

1. Tick anything you've already watched — the plan only includes what's left.
2. Set your real budget and the days you'll actually watch. Weekdays only is fine; the events land on those days.
3. Set the session time. Pick the time you'd realistically sit down, not the ideal one.
4. Choose your playback speed — the session lengths use it.

Change your mind later? Re-open the page, adjust, and export again. Delete the old events first (they're all named "Watch: …", so they're easy to select) to avoid duplicates.

Importing the file

Google Calendar (desktop web)

1. Open calendar.google.com.
2. In the left sidebar, click + beside Other calendars → Import. (The gear → Settings → Import & export is the longer way to the same screen.)
3. Select file from your computer → choose the downloaded .ics.
4. Pick which calendar to add the events to — a separate "Study" calendar is worth creating so you can hide it later.
5. Import.

The Google Calendar mobile app can't import files. Do the import on the web once; the events sync to the app.

Apple Calendar (Mac)

Double-click the .ics file, or drag it onto the Calendar app, then choose the calendar to add it to. On the confirmation dialog, Add all.

iPhone / iPad

Open the .ics from Files, Mail or the download bar in Safari. Calendar opens with a preview → Add All → choose the calendar.

Outlook (Windows/Mac desktop)

File → Open & Export → Import/Export → Import an iCalendar (.ics) file → pick the file → Import (adds to your calendar) rather than Open as New (which creates a separate, temporary calendar).

Outlook on the web / Outlook.com

Calendar → Add calendar → Upload from file → choose the .ics and a target calendar.

Android (Samsung Calendar and others)

Most Android calendar apps hand .ics files to the account that syncs them. If nothing happens when you open the file, use the Google Calendar web import above; the events sync down. Or skip the file: Subscribe in Google Calendar opens Google Calendar in Chrome and adds the whole plan, kept up to date.

Adjusting the plan after importing

The events are ordinary events. Move one and nothing else moves — that's calendars, not the planner. If you fall behind by a week, don't drag 30 events; go back to the result page, tick what you've done, export again and replace. The planner re-plans from today with what's left.

Frequently asked

The events imported at the wrong time. Almost always your calendar's timezone, not the file. The .ics writes a floating time — "19:00", with no zone attached — which every calendar reads as 19:00 in the timezone the calendar is set to, not the one your computer is in. If those differ, every event shifts by the difference, silently, and every other import you have ever done shifted the same way.

Check it: Google Calendar prints its timezone at the top-left of the day grid, above the hours. If that is not where you are, fix it in Settings → Time zone and the events move to where you expected. In Apple Calendar it is Settings → General → Time zone support; in Outlook, Settings → Calendar → Time zones.

Floating is deliberate: it means 7pm stays 7pm if you travel, which is what a study plan usually wants.

Which time zone are the events in? Your local time. The file uses "floating" times, which every major calendar interprets as the calendar's own time zone — so 7 pm stays 7 pm if you travel. A subscription is pinned to the time zone you subscribed from instead, because Google Calendar reads floating times in a subscribed feed as UTC.

Can I subscribe to the plan as a live calendar instead of importing? Yes, next to the download button. On a computer, Subscribe in Google Calendar opens Google's own Add calendar screen with the plan; on a Mac, iPhone or iPad, Subscribe in Apple Calendar does the same in Apple Calendar, and on Windows Subscribe in Outlook does it in desktop Outlook. Google Calendar's phone app can't subscribe to anything itself, but the button opens Google Calendar in your browser, which can — on a computer or an Android phone — and the calendar then shows up in the app. For any other calendar, Copy feed URL and paste it where it subscribes by URL — in Google Calendar that is + beside Other calendars → From URL; in Apple Calendar, File → New Calendar Subscription. The plan is rebuilt from the live playlist every time your calendar checks (Google Calendar checks roughly once a day), so videos the creator adds become new sessions without you doing anything. Nothing is stored on our side: the whole plan travels in the URL, including which videos you have ticked off.

Does it work with the YouTube app? The links in each event open in the YouTube app on phones and in the browser on desktop, with the playlist queued so the next video autoplays.

Why one event per day rather than one per video? Sessions are what you schedule; videos are what you do inside them. Five 12-minute videos are one 60-minute slot, not five entries cluttering your calendar.