Guide

How to export hours from Google Calendar to CSV or PDF

Google Calendar can export your events, but only as .ics calendar files. Those files are made for other calendar apps, not for spreadsheets or invoices. You need one more step to get hours.

What Google gives you

The export is a .zip file with one .ics file per calendar. Each .ics file lists events with their start, end, time zone and repeat rules. A repeating weekly meeting is stored once, with a rule, not as fifty-two separate rows. That is why opening an .ics file in a spreadsheet does not give you usable hours.

Step 1: Export from Google Calendar

1. Open Google Calendar on a computer. The export is not available in the phone app. Go tocalendar.google.com.
2. Open Settings. Click the gear icon at the top right, then Settings.
3. Export. In the left menu choose Import & export, then click Export. Google downloads a .zip file with one .ics file for each calendar you own. To export only one calendar, open it under Settings for my calendarsand choose Export calendar.
4. Upload the file here. Drop the .zip or .ics file into the tool. You do not need to unzip it.

Google's own instructions: Export events from Google Calendar.

Step 2: Convert the export to hours

1. Open the timesheet tool and drop in the .zip file. All calendars in it are read.
2. Choose the period you want hours for.
3. Enter a keyword to keep only one client's events, or leave it empty to include every event.
4. Download the CSV for a spreadsheet, or the PDF to send to a client.

What is in the CSV

One row per included event, plus a total row. The columns are:

• Date, start time and end time, in your time zone
• Client and event title
• Hours (decimal) and minutes
• Rate, amount and currency

The file is UTF-8 with a header row, so it opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice, and can be imported into most invoicing tools that accept CSV.

If something looks wrong

• A calendar is missing. The export may not include calendars someone else owns. Ask the owner to export it or share it with you with permission to make changes.
• The times are off by an hour or more. Times are shown in your computer's time zone. If you worked in another time zone, the totals are still correct, but the start and end times are converted.
• No events appear. Check the date range and the keyword. Clear the keyword to see every event in the period.
• The file will not open. Download the export again. Partly downloaded .zip files cannot be read.

Your data stays with you

The export is read in your browser. It is not uploaded to us or anyone else. See the privacy policy.