Installation

ical2org is distributed as a set of Python source files, and requires that Python already be installed. The source distribution is created using Distribute, which will be installed with ical2org.

$ pip install ical2org

$ easy_install ical2org

Generating org-mode Files

While ical2org supports multiple output formats, the default is an org-mode outline. Each calendar entry includes the summary, location, date and time, and complete description (useful for searching).

For example, to extract the entries from a calendar called “Meetup: Python”, you would run:

$ ical2org "Meetup: Python"
Starting 14 days ago at 2010-01-03 00:00:00-05:00
Ending 30 days from now at 2010-02-17 00:00:00-05:00
Processing: Meetup: Python
  Python Atlanta February Meetup
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
* Meetup: Python    :clubs:
  :CATEGORY: Personal
** Python Atlanta February Meetup
   <2010-02-11 Thu 19:30-21:30>
   - PyAtl: Atlanta Python Programmers

     After an optional 6pm dinner at Figo Pasta at the corner of
     Howell Mill Road and Huff Road, we will meet as usual in the
     spacious and comfortable auditorium of the GTRI Food
     Processing Building at 7:30pm for our monthly meeting.

     Topics for this meeting:

     Brandon Rhodes will give his PyCon talk: "Learning Hosting
     Best-Practices From WebFaction"

     Atlanta, GA  30318 - USA

     Thursday, February 11 at 7:30 PM

     Photo: http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/7/3/5/event_5238229.jpeg

     Attending: 3

     Details: http://www.meetup.com/python-atlanta/calendar/12325308/

Output is encoded as UTF-8, which may not work with Unix pipes and shell redirection. To save the output to a file instead of having it printed to standard output, use the -o option.

By default, ical2org processes all of the calendars which are displayed in iCal. Hidden calendars are ignored unless you give their name on the command line.

Generating Diary Files

The default output format uses org’s outline structure. If you would rather use emacs’ diary-mode, use -f diary to switch modes. The diary entries do not include the full text of the event.

Recommended Use

The recommended way to use ical2org is to export your iCal data at least every day. That gives you a moving window of fresh data, since the date range for export is limited. Save the output to a file (e.g., ~/Documents/Notes/calendar.org) and add the file to org’s list of inputs for building agenda views.

If you use org-mode for taking notes in meetings, refile each event as you make notes to avoid overwriting it the next time your calendars are exported.

For example, you might run a command like:

$ ical2org -o ~/Documents/Notes/calendar.org -b 30 -e 30

to export the data starting 30 days ago and ending 30 days from today to the file calendar.org.

Recurring Events

Recurring events in iCal are “exploded” to create separate entries in the output. This makes it easy to refile an event when you add notes, without having the notes from one meeting occurance appear on the wrong date.

Command Line Options

-h

show this help message and exit

-c CONFIG_FILENAME, --config=CONFIG_FILENAME

Configuration file name. Defaults to ~/.ical2org

-b DAYS_AGO, --begin=DAYS_AGO, --days-ago=DAYS_AGO

Number of days back in time to search. Defaults to 14.

-e DAYS_AHEAD, --end=DAYS_AHEAD, --days-ahead=DAYS_AHEAD

Number of days forward in time to search. Defaults to 30.

-v, --verbose

Increase verbose level

-q, --quiet

Turn off verbose output

-o OUTPUT_FILE_NAME, --output-file=OUTPUT_FILE_NAME

Write the output to the named file instead of stdout

--all

Include all calendars, not just active.

--input-directory=INPUT_DIRECTORY

Directory containing calendars. Defaults to ~/Library/Calendars.

-f FORMAT, --format=FORMAT

Output format. One of [‘org’, ‘diary’]. Defaults to “diary”.

--opt=OPT, --formatter-option=OPT

Formatter-specific option name=value

--help

Verbose help

History

1.2

• Fix bug with event spans due to mis-interpretation of iCalendar standard.

1.1

• Fix DST handling for recurring events.

1.0.3

• Patches from KANEUCHI Tetsuya to fix problems with unicode console output and empty descriptions

1.0.2

• Updated installation instructions.

1.0.1

• Fixed some installation annoyances.

1.0

• First public release.