Holiday calendar import checklist: inspect, import and update safely

Choose a holiday file, check all-day dates, avoid duplicate imports and maintain an updated calendar.

Updated October 9, 2026 · HolidayDates.net

Choose the file that matches your purpose

HolidayDates provides CSV files for inspecting and organizing rows and ICS files for calendar events. Start with one country and one year when that is all you need. A combined file is convenient for a regional team, but it also adds events for places that may not affect your work. Read the country name and year before downloading. The files are public date references; they do not include your employer’s confirmed closure schedule, personal leave or private appointments.

Use CSV when you want to sort, compare or annotate the data in a spreadsheet. Use ICS when you want all-day entries alongside an existing calendar. Do not treat the CSV as a universal calendar-app import template: calendar applications can require their own column names and fields. The download page lists the fields supplied here so you can see what information is present before deciding how to use it.

Choose the country, year and calendar type

The downloads contain the same dates as the country calendar. Each row gives the holiday name, date, type and applicable scope, with make-up workdays kept as separate entries. Choose the country and year that match your project. A federal, government-office or financial-institution calendar describes that group of institutions; it does not include a private company's additional closures. Where a calendar contains statutory dates only, the file uses that same scope rather than adding predicted extended breaks.

A downloaded file is a snapshot of the selected calendar, not a subscription that changes automatically. Give the imported calendar a country-and-year name so another team member can recognise it. Keep your travel reservations or customer delivery promises in a separate calendar, where they can retain their own notes and contacts. If you later replace the holiday file, that separation lets you update public dates without deleting the appointments or commitments you added for the project.

Create a separate destination calendar

Import public holidays into a dedicated calendar rather than mixing them permanently with personal meetings. Give it a clear name such as the country and year, and review its sharing settings before adding private notes. The imported events already contain public holiday information; your customer names, order details and contact information belong in your own planning system. Keeping those separate makes it easier to replace public dates without exposing or losing private work.

In your calendar application, use its documented import function and select the intended destination. Menu names and supported import behavior vary by application and version, so follow the application’s own help if the controls differ. This guide does not claim that every calendar product has been tested. Start with a small country-year file and inspect the result before importing the combined regional calendar.

Check all-day dates after import

The ICS files represent public dates as all-day events. An event for one date has an exclusive end date on the following day in the iCalendar format; that does not mean the holiday lasts for two days. After importing, open several entries and confirm that the calendar displays the intended date and country. Include an observed holiday, if the file contains one, so you can see whether its label remains understandable.

Keep timed meetings distinct from these all-day events. A meeting needs an agreed time zone and clock time, while a public holiday belongs to a local calendar date. If your application displays an unexpected date, compare the imported event with the downloaded row to identify a time-zone or import-setting problem. Keep the underlying holiday date unchanged while resolving the display setting. This prevents an accidental one-day shift from spreading into a shared project calendar.

Understand availability and working-day limits

Public holiday entries in these files are informational and marked transparent in the calendar format. They are not intended to reserve meeting time or declare that every colleague is unavailable. Your application may also have its own availability behavior, so inspect an imported entry rather than assuming it blocks appointments. Ask the relevant people to record their actual absences separately, especially when their working pattern differs from a standard weekday schedule.

Public holiday files include the listed make-up workdays as separate entries where applicable. A project working-day calculation also needs ordinary weekends, company shutdowns and the team's actual work pattern. Configure adjusted Saturdays or Sundays as working days in the project tool instead of simply importing their event labels. A tool that automatically excludes every Saturday can otherwise produce the wrong deadline, even when the imported holiday dates and make-up entries are displayed correctly.

Avoid duplicate imports and false update expectations

Downloading and importing an ICS file is different from subscribing to a maintained calendar feed. Treat these files as snapshots. A later website update will not necessarily change the events you already imported. Before importing a replacement file, check how your application handles an existing event identifier and whether it creates duplicates. Do not assume that all calendar products update events in the same way simply because the file uses stable identifiers.

A separate destination calendar makes the replacement process easier to control. Review any private changes you added before removing or replacing old events, and use the application’s normal backup or export option if needed. Import into a temporary test calendar first when the update behavior is uncertain. Compare a few changed and unchanged dates before deciding which copy the team will use for future planning.

Make sure the import displays correctly

After import, make sure the country, year and event count match the downloaded file. Names and notes should remain readable, and the calendar's sharing setting should match the audience you intended. Keep delivery bookings and receiving appointments in the project calendar, so a warehouse's own operating schedule remains attached to the particular shipment rather than being inferred from a public holiday label.

If something looks wrong, record the filename, calendar application, affected date and what you expected to see. Remove private information before sharing a screenshot or sending a correction request. Keep the original file so the downloaded date can be distinguished from an import or display problem. Our contact page accepts reports about calendar dates and downloads; include the country, year and affected holiday so we can investigate the entry and update the page and related files together when needed.