Block Help: Events Block Calendar Setup

The events block displays present and future events for a single Google, Outlook, or Apple calendar. This block can be added to any site, including classrooms. To properly add an "Events Block", you will need to change some settings in your calendar application. For Admin users, it is important to ensure that you are using the correct calendar, and also that it is available to the public view. The settings can be difficult to find. Refer to the screen shots below for a step by step process for changing the share settings of your calendar. 

1. In your calendar application; locate the calendar you wish to share with the public. If you scroll over the calendar you wish to share, an icon will show up to the right of that calendar's name. The icon looks like 3 dots stacked on top of each other as seen below.

2. When you click on the "Three Dots" button, you will select the "Settings and Sharing" option. This will bring up a new page with many options, most of which will not require changes. You will need to change one option on this page to make the calendar viewable by the public. There is a check box that says "Make Available to Public", check this box if you wish to share the calendar on a website. To the right of the check box, there will be two options in a drop down menu. Most calendars displayed on a website will have the "See All Event Details" option enabled, which will be the preferred setting.

3. To add the calendar to an "Events Block" or a Calendar to a page, we will need the "Public Address in iCal Format", otherwise known as the ICS link. This is found almost all the way at the bottom of the "Settings and Sharing" window that you are currently in. Select the address and copy it, now you are ready to display the calendar into the Events Block. 

Adding an Events Block:

Once you have logged in, locate the "+" button and click it to bring up the blocks menu. Click on "Events".

Give your calendar a title, and either paste the ICS link (the Public Address in iCal Format copied earlier) into the space titles "ICS Url", or choose a calendar already added into the main calendar page from the drop down labeled "Reuse an existing calendar". In this preview window, you can also decide how many posts you would like to display. In the "Event Block", the standard option is 15 posts. 

The Events Block is helpful, because you do not have to edit events on the website. Instead, you can edit events in your calendar application, and it will automatically update on the block.

Tips & Uses

• The events block is commonly added to homepages, departments and classroom websites. The number of events that display can be set in the block editor
• Reuse an existing Google, Office or Apple calendar if it is already linked to one of the main calendars on a site. Select which calendar you plan to reuse within this menu.       

• Linking a calendar to an events block requires two steps. Make the calendar public and link the calendar address via the ICAL feed. Review this document for instructions.