citrix manager's avatar
citrix manager
Active Contributor
10 years ago
Status:
Reviewed by moderator

Webinar Staff "add to calendar" link for Google Calendar and Outlook ?

The "Manage Webinar" page provides a link called "Add to Calendar".  In Google Chrome, the link just downloads an .ics file, which, doesn't help with Google Calendar.  It should either:

  1. be change to a drop-down (similar to what you get when you register for a webinar) that includes "Add to Google Calendar" (among the other options included in on the register confirmation page) <or>

  2. the link should be changed to be an actual ical link instead of just downloading an .ics file.


Thanks!

Bill

Scheduling
  • KateG's avatar
    KateG
    GoTo Moderator
    2 years ago
    Status changed:
    New
    to
    Reviewed by moderator
  • webinarsctct's avatar
    webinarsctct
    Active Contributor
    3 years ago

    I'm testing out the best way to create a webinar series.

     

    I've created it how I would need it to show for my real event coming up in a few months but when I test the registration, it doesn't give me an option to add it to Google Calendar which is going to be missing a large chunk of our audience.

     

    I've chosen the option to have them register for all sessions at once. It only shows the options for "Outlook Calendar" and "iCal."

     

    Is this a glitch that can be fixed?

    Here's a screenshot. Same thing on the registration page, right after submitting registration info.

  • CanelaVerde's avatar
    CanelaVerde
    Active Contributor
    4 years ago

    How has this not been addressed yet?  We are CONSTANTLY dealing with our presenters not having events in their calendar because this process is so ridiculous. PLEASE FIX THIS.

  • KaseyO's avatar
    KaseyO
    Visitor
    4 years ago

    Any update on this? Requiring users to download .ics files and upload is not making people happy!

  • acs_jay's avatar
    acs_jay
    New Member
    6 years ago

    Is there an easy way to automatically add new webinars to a google calendar that we have published?  Can't seem to figure it out.

    • AshC's avatar
      AshC
      Retired GoTo Contributor
      6 years ago

      Hi acs_jay ,

      When you download the .ics file from GoToWebinar, you can 'save' this first, before deploying / opening by the calendar app of your choosing.  There's no way to 'automatically' do this for Google Calendar.

      • CanelaVerde's avatar
        CanelaVerde
        Active Contributor
        5 years ago

        Guys this is woefully insufficient. Requiring users to download ics files and upload them to google caledar is a sign of lazy development. Every other platform calls a google calendar event page for the user to save. In fact most users of Google Calendar don't even know how to work this ics upload process.

         

        I counted the number of mouse clicks if you do it perfectly. 12 clicks to add a calendar entry.  This should be 2 clicks!

  • Joseph Shanabar's avatar
    Joseph Shanabar
    New Member
    8 years ago
    I have the GoToWebinar plug-in loaded into my Outlook.  I have a new PC now (3 months old) from last time I conducted webinars.  In my old laptop (with the plug-in), when I scheduled a webinar, it automatically added to my calendar so I would be prompted to start it on day of.  I click the link today to "Add or organizers calendar" and it is saving and ICS file to my local drive but nothing I try will actually add it to my calendar.  Please advise.  It's manual to copy and paste the details into my calendar.  Thank you.
    • GlennD's avatar
      GlennD
      GoTo Manager
      8 years ago

      Hi Joseph,

      The GoToMeeting Outlook Plug-in is specifically for GoToMeeting, it does schedule or add GoToWebinars to your Outlook Calendar.

      To add your webinar to your Outlook calendar, you need to double click the .ics file that is downloaded to your computer. Outlook will then ask you if you want to add it to your calendar.

  • Elena Pintilie's avatar
    Elena Pintilie
    New Member
    8 years ago
    Hi, As an organizer, I used to be able to "Add the organizer details" to my Google calendar. Now, when I click on that, it opens the Microsoft Office Calendar. How do I switch back to the Google calendar? Thank you in advance.
    • AshC's avatar
      AshC
      Retired GoTo Contributor
      8 years ago

      Hi Elena,
      Sorry for that.  There is a slight difference in experiences seen between Organizers and Registrants of GoToWebinars, where Orgs can send themselves the Attendee invitation template via email, and publish them through several different media options-- but there is not an 'add to calendar' option on the Manage Webinar page.

      Attendees on the other hand, do have the ability to add a GoToWebinar confirmation to several different calendar types after registering.

      You will likely receive a reminder email from the system which you can then add to your calendar manually if you like.  This reminder will have your Organizer join link inside with instructions etc.

  • David Bishop1's avatar
    David Bishop1
    New Member
    8 years ago
    What does an organizer need to do when setting up a panelist who uses Gmail as the "add to calendar" features isn't available like it is for attendees?   I know that participants can add to a) Outlook, b) iCal, and C) Gmail; however, Outlook is the only option for panelist for some reaason.
    • AshC's avatar
      AshC
      Retired GoTo Contributor
      8 years ago

      Hi David,
      I'm sorry this feature is not currently under development, so there is no timeline associated.


    • David Bishop1's avatar
      David Bishop1
      New Member
      8 years ago
      Ok.  I kind of understand.  It's not clear why this feature can work fine for attendees, but not panelists.   The only difference i can see is who and how someone connects to an event, e.g., panelists are added by the organizer; whereas, attendees register themselves.   I'm not a tech guy, but this just seems strange.  The issue I have is when I have a panelist who uses Gmail, it makes me look bad to tell them this work around as it simply doesn't make sense to others.   I've already had one event rescheduled as the panelist book something else because this wasn't on their calendar.   When will this issue be addressed?  I really like GTW otherwise, but this could be the straw that breaks my back!
    • GlennD's avatar
      GlennD
      GoTo Manager
      8 years ago

      Hi David,

      I apologize for the frustration, we should have been more detailed in our previous replies.

      Trying to open an .ics file on a computer will always trigger it to launch the installed calendar software, Outlook on a PC and Calendar on a Mac. Since Google Calendar is a web based tool, you have to use it's import feature in order to add the .ics file to it.



      At this time we only have add to Google Calendar options for attendees registering for the webinar, organizers and panelists need to import the .ics file into their calendar or have their Outlook/Calendar set to sync automatically with Google Calendar.

  • Cody Cassady's avatar
    Cody Cassady
    New Member
    8 years ago
    We're having a heck of a time getting our webinar registrants to click the URL in the auto-generated GTW event reminders to add the item to their calendar. Is there a plug-in or any way to actually attach an Outlook calendar invite to the email (On24 does this) that will contain their unique login information? If it was an attachment they could just open and accept, we feel like our audience would do that and thus remember to attend more!
    • AshC's avatar
      AshC
      Retired GoTo Contributor
      8 years ago

      Hi Cody,
      Sorry for the frustrations there.
      The 'Add to Calendar' option for GoToWebinar is for attendees to utilize themselves, after receiving confirmation of acceptance into the live event.  They are offered a link on the post registration web page, and also in the email reminders as you know. 

      I would suggest registering yourself for a test webinar to see what the experience is like.  Each registrant has options to add for Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook.com.  If you want to add some special instructions, you may do so by customizing the email reminders for each GoToWebinar you schedule.