A published .ics URL is a link that lets other apps and calendars subscribe to your Outlook calendar and keep it in sync. Publishing creates a read-only feed at a stable web address you can paste into another tool. This guide shows where to find that URL, the difference between the ICS and HTML links, and what to do when your organization has turned publishing off.
What "publishing" actually does
Publishing a calendar generates a public, read-only feed. Anyone with the link can subscribe and see the events you chose to share, but they cannot edit anything. This is different from sharing a calendar with specific people, who sign in to view it. For that approach, see How to Publish and Share an Outlook Calendar.
Get the .ics URL in Outlook on the web or new Outlook
New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com or outlook.com) use the same settings panel.
- Select the gear icon to open Settings.
- Go to Calendar → Shared calendars.
- Under Publish a calendar, choose the calendar you want to publish.
- Pick a permission level (see below) and select Publish.
- Two links appear: an HTML link and an ICS link.
- Select the ICS link and copy it. This is the URL you paste into another app to subscribe.
ICS link vs. HTML link
| Link type | What it's for |
|---|---|
| ICS | A subscription feed. Paste it into another calendar app (Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, nocal, etc.) to sync events automatically. |
| HTML | A web page. Open it in a browser to view the calendar as a webpage—no subscription, no syncing. |
For subscribing in another app, you almost always want the ICS link.
Choose the right permission level
When you publish, you decide how much detail the feed exposes:
- Availability only — others see only free/busy blocks, not event titles.
- Limited details — shows titles and free/busy, but not full descriptions.
- Full details — shows titles, times, locations, and descriptions.
Pick the least revealing level that still meets your need, since anyone with the link can view it.
Classic Outlook desktop
Classic Outlook for Windows does not publish calendars to a web .ics feed on its own. Calendar publishing is an Exchange Online / Microsoft 365 feature managed through the web settings above. In classic Outlook you can still save a static .ics file (right-click a calendar → not the same as a live feed) or use Publish Online if your organization runs a compatible server, but the recommended path is to publish from Outlook on the web and copy the ICS link there.
If you don't see "Publish a calendar"
Calendar publishing can be turned off by your administrator, and it's commonly disabled on work and school accounts for privacy reasons. If the option is missing or grayed out:
- Confirm you're signed in to the account that owns the calendar.
- Check whether you're on a free Outlook.com account versus a managed Microsoft 365 work account—publishing availability differs. See Which Calendar Do You Have?.
- Ask your IT administrator whether external calendar publishing is permitted. They control this org-wide.
After you copy the URL
Once you have the ICS link, paste it into the other app's "subscribe from web" or "add by URL" option. Note that subscribed feeds usually refresh on a delay—often several hours—so changes won't appear instantly everywhere.
If juggling separate feeds gets tedious, nocal brings your Outlook and Google calendars into one timeline — see how.
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