At a glance
- Format written
- An iCalendar
VEVENT, one property per line - Required
- Event name
- Characters escaped
\;,and line breaks- Error correction
- Level M
Fields
Event Name Required
Written as SUMMARY. With this empty, Generate does nothing.
Starts and Ends Optional
Written as DTSTART and DTEND. Leave either empty and it is left out.
Location Optional
Written as LOCATION.
Notes Optional
Written as DESCRIPTION.
What the code contains
Every field filled
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Spring Open Day
DTSTART:20261114T100000
DTEND:20261114T133000
LOCATION:Village Hall\, Main Street
DESCRIPTION:Bring proof of address.
END:VEVENT
Name only
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Spring Open Day
END:VEVENT
Dates and times
Times are written in the local form YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS with no time zone, so a phone reads them as clock time wherever it is. An event at 10:00 shows at 10:00 on a phone in any zone. That suits events people attend in person; for online events across time zones, state the zone in the notes.
What it does not do
- No repeating events, attendees or reminders. The Appointment generator can add a reminder.
- The event is written without the outer
VCALENDARwrapper that the Appointment generator adds. Test with the phones your guests use.
Commas, semicolons and line breaks
Commas and semicolons have a meaning inside calendar text, so the tool puts a backslash before them, and a line break in the notes is written as \n. We tested a name, place and notes full of them:
Name Quiz night; teams of 4, prizes, with a two line note
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Quiz night\; teams of 4\, prizes
DTSTART:20261114T190000
LOCATION:The Crown\, High St
DESCRIPTION:Line one\nLine two
END:VEVENT
The phone shows the text without the backslashes. There is no end time here because we left that field empty.
Common mistakes
Expecting it to adjust for time zones
Times are clock times with no zone, so 7 pm is 7 pm on every phone. For an online event with people in other countries, write the time zone in the notes, for example 7 pm New York time.
Long notes
Every field is inside the code. Our full test event made a 53 × 53 grid, printed at least 24.4 mm (1 in) wide. Keep notes to one line and put the rest on your website.
Printing before the details are final
The date and place are written into the code. If the event moves, the printed codes still add the old one to people's calendars. For an event that may change, link to an event page with the URL generator.
Questions
Does the event code add the event automatically?
No. The phone shows the event and asks before adding it to the calendar.
Do event codes work on iPhone?
Support for calendar codes in phone cameras varies by phone and app. Test with the phones your guests use, and print the date and time next to the code too.
Can I add a reminder?
Not with this generator. The Appointment generator adds a reminder.