How to Put Your University Timetable into Google Calendar or iPhone

Your timetable lives in a student portal, a PDF grid or a screenshot. Your day lives in your phone's calendar. Getting the two together means each lecture and lab shows up every week, with its room, without you checking the portal every morning.

Quick answer: First look for a Subscribe, iCal or Export to calendar link in your university's timetable system. Subscribing keeps room changes up to date. If there isn't one, paste the timetable text, upload the PDF or screenshot to a converter, and each class becomes one weekly repeating event. Then set the repeats to end when term ends.

Step 1: Look for your university's calendar link first

Many university timetable systems can send your personal timetable straight to a calendar. Look in the timetable page or student app for:

• Subscribe, Calendar feed, iCal or ICS
• Export to calendar or Add to Google Calendar / Outlook

A link is the better option when there is one, because room changes and cancellations reach your calendar on their own. To add it:

• Google Calendar: on a computer, next to Other calendars click + → From URL, paste the link and click Add calendar. If it starts with webcal://, change that to https://.
• iPhone: tap the link and confirm Subscribe, or go to Settings → Apps → Calendar → Calendar Accounts → Add Account → Other → Add Subscribed Calendar.

The rest of this guide is for when your university only gives you a PDF, a web page or a grid you can screenshot.

Step 2: Convert the timetable

Pick the route that matches what you have:

• Text you can select (a portal page, an email): copy it and paste it into the text to calendar converter.
• A PDF grid (days across the top, times down the side): upload it to the class schedule converter. It reads the grid cell by cell, so a class in the Tuesday column at 10:00 lands on Tuesday at 10:00.
• A screenshot from the student app: upload it to the image to calendar converter. If your week doesn't fit on one screen, add several screenshots to the same upload.

Each class becomes one event that repeats weekly on its day. The room usually goes in the location, and the lecturer or module code in the notes.

Tip: if you can see when term ends ("Teaching ends 12 December"), include that line when you paste or crop, so the converter can stop the repeats there. Check that it did. If not, Step 5 shows how to set the end yourself in one edit.

Step 3: Check before you add

• Days and times: spot-check two or three classes against the portal.
• Week A / Week B timetables: if a class runs every other week, it will come out as weekly. Fix it after importing (Step 5).
• Classes that only run in some weeks (e.g. "weeks 1–6"): check where they start and stop.

Step 4: Add it to its own calendar

Download the calendar file (.ics) and import it into a calendar just for your timetable:

• iPhone: in Calendar, tap Calendars → Add Calendar and name it (e.g. "Uni"). Then tap the file, choose Add All, and pick that calendar. Step-by-step guide.
• Google Calendar: create a calendar (Other calendars → + → Create new calendar), then on a computer Settings → Import & export → Import and choose it. Step-by-step guide.
• Outlook: import the file and choose Open as New.

A separate calendar gets its own color, can be hidden on weekends, and can be deleted in one step at the end of the year.

Step 5: Fix the bits a timetable doesn't say

When term ends. If the repeats don't stop at the end of term, open one class, edit its repeat, and set an end date:

• Google Calendar: open the event → edit → Does not repeat / Weekly menu → Custom → Ends: On a date → save for All events.
• iPhone: open the event → Edit → End Repeat → On Date.

Reading week and holidays. Open the class on that week, delete it and choose This event only (Google) or Delete This Event Only (iPhone). The other weeks stay.

Every-other-week classes. Edit the repeat to every 2 weeks (Google: Custom → Repeat every 2 weeks; iPhone: Repeat → Custom → Every 2 weeks).

Room changes. Edit that week only, or all following weeks if the move is permanent.

Step 6: Reminders that actually help

• 15 minutes before each class is enough on campus. Set it once as the timetable calendar's default (Google: Settings → click the calendar → Event notifications).
• Put your exams in a separate calendar with louder reminders: How to add your exam timetable to your calendar.

What it costs

Each class counts as one event, however many weeks it repeats. The first 3 are free without an account, and a new account gets 5 more free. A full timetable of 10 to 20 classes usually needs the $4 pack (50 events, one payment, no subscription), which covers next term's timetable too.