Tools & setup
How to Sync Canvas With Google Calendar (and See Every Deadline in One Place)
Canvas can send your due dates to Google Calendar, but the phone app can't set it up, changes can take a day to arrive and some items never make it. Here are the exact steps, the phone routes and the fixes.
By the Lykke teamUpdated 14 min read
Key takeaways
- In Canvas, open Calendar and copy the Calendar Feed link. In Google Calendar on a computer, go to Other calendars, then From URL, and paste it.
- The Google Calendar phone app can't add the link. Add it once on any computer, then make sure its box is checked in the app's menu.
- A change in Canvas can take up to 24 hours to reach Google, so check anything due soon in Canvas itself.
- The feed skips assignments with no due date and To Do items, and a course you join later needs the link added again.
- Treat the feed link like a password: anyone who has it can see your assignments and events.
In this guide
- How to sync Canvas with Google Calendar on a computer
- How to see your Canvas calendar on your phone
- What the Canvas calendar feed includes and leaves out
- How often Google Calendar updates your Canvas deadlines
- How to keep your Canvas feed link private
- Troubleshooting: missing, late, doubled or wrong-time deadlines
- How to turn a list of deadlines into a plan
- Apple Calendar and Outlook: the same link works
- A checklist for the start of each term
- FAQ
- Sources
Canvas already holds every due date your instructors have entered. To sync Canvas with Google Calendar, you copy a private link from the Canvas Calendar and paste it into Google Calendar on a computer. From then on, your assignments and course events sit in Google next to your classes, shifts and everything else, and they follow along when Canvas changes.
The setup is two steps. What decides whether you can rely on it is the fine print: the Google Calendar phone app can't add the link, a change in Canvas can take up to a day to reach Google, some items never make it into the feed, and anyone who gets the link can read it. This guide covers the steps and each of those catches, then how to turn a column of deadlines into a plan for the week.
How to sync Canvas with Google Calendar on a computer
You need Canvas open in a web browser and Google Calendar on a computer. The steps follow Instructure's own guide for this setup (How do I subscribe to the Calendar feed using Google Calendar?) and Google's instructions for adding a calendar from a link (Google Calendar Help).
Step 1: Copy your Canvas calendar feed link
- Sign in to Canvas in a browser and click Calendar in the menu down the left side (Canvas calls it Global Navigation).
- In the Calendar sidebar, click Calendar Feed.
- Copy the whole link in the URL field.
Skip the Click to view Calendar Feed link in the same box. It downloads a file instead of giving you the live link. One feed link covers all your courses, and it's personal to you: it works without a password, so keep it to yourself (more on that below).
Step 2: Add the link in Google Calendar
- On a computer, open Google Calendar and sign in to the Google account whose calendar you actually check. If your school runs Google Workspace, that may be your school account.
- On the left, next to Other calendars, click the plus sign (Add other calendars), then From URL.
- Paste the Canvas link into the URL of calendar field and click Add calendar.
If the page offers to make the calendar public, leave that unchecked.
Use From URL, not Import. Google Calendar can also import a downloaded .ics file, but a file is a copy of the feed on the day you saved it. When your instructor moves a due date, that copy stays wrong. The link keeps Google checking Canvas for changes.
Step 3: Check that it worked
The Canvas calendar appears on the left under Other calendars. Open this week or next. Course items end with the course code in square brackets, so "Lab 4 [CHEM 142]" tells you which class it's for. Canvas's open-source code adds that label when it builds the feed, and it sends anything Canvas treats as all-day as a date with no time.
That matters for anything due at 11:59 PM. Canvas marks an assignment due at exactly 11:59 PM as all-day, so in Google it usually shows up as an all-day item on its due date, with no time on it. Anything due at another time sits at that time.
If it stays empty, check that the Calendar in Canvas shows dated items, then copy the link again and make sure you pasted all of it.
How to see your Canvas calendar on your phone
Google's help is direct about this: to subscribe to a new calendar, you must use a computer web browser, and you can't do it in the Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone or iPad (Google Calendar Help). Do the steps above once on any computer. A library or computer lab machine is fine; sign out of Google when you're done. The calendar then belongs to your Google account and appears in the app.
If it isn't showing in the Google Calendar app:
- Tap Menu at the top left and make sure the box next to the Canvas calendar is checked.
- On Android, go to Menu, then Settings, tap the Canvas calendar (tap Show more if it isn't listed) and make sure Sync is on.
- On Android, tap Menu, then Refresh, to sync the app by hand (Google's sync troubleshooting page). It pulls from your Google account, so it can't bring in a Canvas change that Google hasn't picked up yet.
No computer? Try the Canvas Student app
- Android: in the Canvas Student app, open the user menu, tap Settings, then Subscribe to Calendar Feed, and tap Subscribe to sync the Canvas calendar to Google Calendar. Instructure's guide says to then sign in to the Google Calendar app to turn the sync on (Instructure).
- iPhone: the same Subscribe to Calendar Feed option in the app's settings adds all your courses to the iPhone's own Calendar app, view-only (Instructure). That's Apple's Calendar, not Google's.
If Google Calendar is the app you live in on an iPhone, the computer route is the one that gets Canvas into it. If you'd rather use Apple's Calendar, you can also paste the link in yourself (steps below).
What the Canvas calendar feed includes and leaves out
Instructure describes the feed as the events and assignments from all of your Canvas calendars. The limits are in the notes of its guides for the iCal feed and for Google Calendar:
| Item in Canvas | In the feed? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments, graded quizzes and graded discussions with a due date | Yes | At the due time, or as an all-day item if it's due at 11:59 PM. If your due date differs from the rest of the class, you see yours (Instructure). |
| Events on your course calendars and your personal Canvas calendar | Yes | Includes events your instructor adds, like a review session. |
| Anything without a due date | No | Canvas lists these under Undated items in the Calendar sidebar. |
| To Do items | No | Including to-dos you add to your own Canvas calendar. |
| Items older than 30 days or more than 366 days away | No | The feed is a rolling window. |
| Anything past 1,000 items | No | The feed stops at 1,000. |
| A course you join after subscribing | Re-add the link | Instructure says to re-import the feed after you enroll in a new course. Remove the old Canvas calendar first so you don't end up with two. |
| School deadlines that aren't in Canvas | No | Drop dates, financial aid and housing deadlines usually live elsewhere. Add them to your own calendar. |
Two rows are easy to miss.
No due date, no calendar entry. Due dates are optional in Canvas, and they're separate from availability dates: an Until date only says when submissions close (Instructure). The feed places assignments by due date, so a quiz with an availability window and no due date never reaches Google. Check the Undated items list in the Canvas Calendar sidebar (Instructure) when a week starts.
New courses need the link added again. Instructure's guides say that after you enroll in a new course, you must re-import the feed to include that course's calendar. At the start of each term, or after you add a class, remove the Canvas calendar from Google and add the link again.
How often Google Calendar updates your Canvas deadlines
Google's help page for adding a calendar by URL doesn't give a refresh schedule or a way to make Google check the feed sooner. Instructure's guide for this setup says Google Calendar updates periodically but may take up to 24 hours to show a change made in Canvas (Instructure).
In an ordinary week, that means:
- Your instructor moves a due date on Monday morning, and Google may show the old one until Tuesday.
- An assignment posted tonight may not appear in Google until tomorrow.
- A cancelled event can linger for a day.
So let Google show you the shape of the week, and let Canvas settle what's due. Before you start anything due within 24 hours, open it in Canvas and check the date and time.
How to keep your Canvas feed link private
Google reads your feed without your Canvas password, which makes the link itself the key: anyone who has it can open the feed and see every assignment and event in it. In security terms, it works like a password with no second factor behind it. The free Information Systems course's section on information security covers passwords, second factors and the tricks people use to get them.
- Don't paste it into a group chat, a shared doc, a Discord server or a class forum, and don't post a screenshot of the Calendar Feed box.
- Give it only to calendar apps you trust. Any app you paste it into can read your schedule.
- Keep the Canvas calendar private in Google. If an option offers to make it public, leave it off.
- If the link leaks, Canvas's guides don't describe a way to reset it yourself. Ask your school's Canvas support what they can do.
Troubleshooting: missing, late, doubled or wrong-time deadlines
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A due date changed in Canvas but not in Google | Google hasn't re-read the feed yet | Go by Canvas; allow up to 24 hours |
| A whole course is missing | You enrolled after you subscribed | Remove the Canvas calendar in Google, then add the link again |
| One assignment is missing | No due date, a To Do item, or outside the 30-day to 366-day window | Check Undated items in Canvas; ask your instructor if a date seems to be missing |
| Every item appears twice | The link was added twice, or the feed was also imported as a file | Remove the extra Canvas calendar, or delete the imported copies |
| Assignments show as all-day, with no time | They're due at 11:59 PM, which Canvas sends as all-day | Nothing is broken; check Canvas if your course is in another time zone |
| Times are a few hours off | Google Calendar's time zone doesn't match where you are | Fix Google's primary time zone (see below) |
| It shows on the computer but not the phone | The calendar is hidden or not syncing in the app | Check its box in the app's menu; on Android, turn Sync on |
| The Canvas calendar stays empty | Part of the link was cut off, or nothing in your courses has a date yet | If Canvas's own Calendar shows items, copy the full link again from Calendar Feed |
When Canvas times look wrong in Google
Canvas shows dates in each course's time zone unless you set your own under Account, then Settings, then Edit Settings, then Time Zone (Instructure). The feed sends each due time as an exact moment in UTC, and Google Calendar shows it in your Google Calendar time zone, which you set under Settings, then General, then Time zone (Google Calendar Help).
For example, a quiz due at 10:00 AM Eastern shows at 7:00 AM in a Google Calendar set to Pacific time. That's the right deadline in your local time, not an error. It's only a problem when Google's time zone is wrong for where you are. On the same settings page, Google can offer to update your time zone when you travel.
All-day items don't shift, because they carry a date and no time. That hides one trap: if your course runs on Eastern time and you're on Pacific, an 11:59 PM deadline is 8:59 PM for you, and Google won't say so. Set your own time zone in Canvas; then hovering over any date in a course shows both your time and the course's (Instructure).
How to remove the Canvas calendar from Google Calendar
On a computer, open Google Calendar, click the Settings gear, then Settings, select the Canvas calendar in the left column, click Remove calendar, choose Unsubscribe and confirm with Remove calendar (Google Calendar Help). Nothing changes in Canvas. To hide it for a while instead, uncheck its box under Other calendars.
How to turn a list of deadlines into a plan
A calendar full of due dates tells you when work is due. It doesn't tell you when you'll do it, and at a glance a 10-point reading quiz looks just like a paper worth 20% of your grade. A due date only measures urgency. Lykke's free Eisenhower matrix demo ranks tasks by urgency and importance together: set both for a task and watch the queue reorder.
Once a week, take 15 minutes to turn the coming deadlines into work sessions:
- Look 7 days ahead, and glance at the week after. Big items due next week usually need hours this week.
- Put a number of hours on each item. Base it on how long the last similar assignment took, not on how long you hope this one takes.
- Book the work before the deadline. Add each session as an event in your own Google calendar, named after the assignment. The Canvas calendar is view-only, so your plans go in yours.
- Split anything over about 2 hours across two or more days, and aim to finish a day early. That day also covers a due date that moved in Canvas before Google caught up.
- Add the deadlines that usually aren't in Canvas: registration, the last day to drop a class, financial aid and housing dates. That includes your FAFSA deadlines (the 2027–28 checklist for returning students) and applications on their own clock, such as summer 2027 internships.
Here is a sample week, planned on Sunday:
| Due in Canvas | Item | Estimate | Work sessions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 11:59 PM | Problem Set 6 [MATH 221] | 3 hours | Sun 1.5 h, Mon 1.5 h |
| Wed 9:00 AM | Reading quiz [PSYC 101] | 1 hour | Mon 30 min, Tue 30 min |
| Thu 11:59 PM | Lab 4 [CHEM 142] | 4 hours | Mon 1 h, Tue 1.5 h, Wed 1.5 h |
| Next Mon 11:59 PM | Essay draft [ENGL 110] | 5 hours | Thu 2 h, Fri 2 h, Sat 1 h |
No day carries more than 3 hours, and every item is done at least a day before it's due. Exams need a different shape: work back from the test date with spaced review sessions, as in our 14-day plan for midterms. To see why the gaps between those sessions matter, add reviews in the free forgetting-curve simulator and watch how much each one slows forgetting.
Apple Calendar and Outlook: the same link works
The Canvas link isn't tied to Google. Instructure lists Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook and Yahoo Calendar among the apps that accept it (Instructure).
- iPhone (Apple Calendar): open the Calendar app, tap Calendars, tap Add Calendar, then Add Subscription Calendar, paste the Canvas link and tap Find (Apple). Apple calls these read-only calendars. To remove it later, tap Calendars, tap the info button next to it, then Unsubscribe.
- Outlook on the web (Outlook.com or your school account): open Calendar, click Add calendar, choose Subscribe from web, paste the link and select Import. Microsoft says a subscribed calendar should update about every 3 hours on a personal account and about every 6 hours on a school or work account, and either can take more than 24 hours. Uploading an .ics file instead gives you a snapshot that doesn't refresh (Microsoft Support).
Subscribe in one place. If you add the link to both Google Calendar and Apple Calendar, and your iPhone also shows your Google calendars, the same deadline can appear twice.
A checklist for the start of each term
- Once your new courses show up in Canvas, remove the old Canvas calendar from Google and add the feed link again.
- Check that Google Calendar's time zone is right for where you'll be this term.
- Open the next two weeks in Google next to each syllabus. A syllabus deadline with no match in Google may not have a due date in Canvas yet.
- Add the dates that usually live outside Canvas: the add and drop deadlines, the withdrawal deadline, and financial aid and housing dates.
- Make sure the feed link hasn't ended up anywhere public.
Frequently asked questions
Does Canvas automatically sync with Google Calendar?
Not until you connect them once. Canvas doesn't push anything to Google by itself: you copy the Calendar Feed link from the Canvas Calendar and add it in Google Calendar with From URL. After that, Google checks the feed on its own timetable, and Instructure warns that a change can take up to 24 hours to appear. Nothing you do in Google flows back to Canvas.
Why is my Canvas calendar not updating in Google Calendar?
Usually because Google hasn't fetched the feed again yet. Give a Canvas change up to 24 hours to show, and check anything urgent in Canvas directly. If an entire course is missing, you probably enrolled after subscribing; Instructure says to re-import the feed, so remove the Canvas calendar in Google and add the link again. If a single item is missing, see whether it has a due date in Canvas.
Can I add my Canvas calendar to Google Calendar on my phone?
Not in the Google Calendar app. Google's help says subscribing to a calendar needs a computer web browser and can't be done in the app on Android, iPhone or iPad. Add the link once on any computer and the calendar appears in the app, as long as its box is checked in the app's menu. On Android, the Canvas Student app's settings also offer a Subscribe to Calendar Feed option that syncs to Google Calendar.
How do I get Canvas assignments on my iPhone calendar?
Use the Canvas Student app or Apple's Calendar app. In the Canvas Student app, open Settings and tap Subscribe to Calendar Feed; Instructure says this adds all your courses to the iPhone calendar, view-only. Or copy the Calendar Feed link from Canvas on the web, then in Apple's Calendar app tap Calendars, Add Calendar and Add Subscription Calendar, paste the link and tap Find.
Can I sync Google Calendar to Canvas?
No. The feed runs one way: Google displays what Canvas sends and can't change it, and events you create in Google never show up in Canvas. You can't edit the Canvas items in Google either, since due dates are set by your instructor in Canvas. Put your plans in your own calendar instead, as separate events before each deadline, so they stay put when the Canvas feed updates.
Is it safe to share my Canvas calendar feed link?
No. The link opens without a Canvas login, which is how Google can read it, so anyone who has it can see the assignments and events in your feed. Keep it out of group chats, shared documents and screenshots, and paste it only into calendar apps you trust. Canvas's guides don't describe a way to change the link yourself, so if it leaks, ask your school's Canvas support.
Why do Canvas assignments show as all day or at the wrong time in Google Calendar?
An assignment that shows as all day, with no time, is due at 11:59 PM on that date: Canvas flags those as all-day and its feed sends them without a time. A time that's a few hours off is usually a time zone difference. Google shows timed events in your Google Calendar time zone, while Canvas shows each course's time zone unless you've set your own under Account, then Settings. Check Google's primary time zone under Settings, General, Time zone. If your course runs in another time zone, the shifted time is correct: it's the same deadline in your local time.
How do I remove the Canvas calendar from Google Calendar?
Open Google Calendar on a computer, go to Settings, select the Canvas calendar in the left column, click Remove calendar and choose Unsubscribe. This deletes nothing in Canvas. If you only want it out of sight for a while, uncheck its box under Other calendars instead.
Sources
- How do I view the Calendar iCal feed to import and subscribe to an external calendar? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- How do I subscribe to the Calendar feed using Google Calendar? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- How do I use the Calendar? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- How do I subscribe to the Canvas calendar in the Canvas app on my Android device? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- How do I subscribe to the Canvas calendar in the Canvas app on my iOS device? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- How do I set a time zone in my user account? — Instructure Community (Canvas guides)
- canvas-lms: app/models/calendar_event.rb (calendar feed events) — Instructure, Canvas LMS source code on GitHub
- canvas-lms: app/models/abstract_assignment.rb (all-day due dates) — Instructure, Canvas LMS source code on GitHub
- Subscribe to someone else's calendar — Google Calendar Help
- Fix sync problems with the Google Calendar app — Google Calendar Help
- Use Google Calendar in different time zones — Google Calendar Help
- Delete or unsubscribe from a calendar — Google Calendar Help
- Set up multiple calendars on iPhone — Apple, iPhone User Guide
- Import or subscribe to a calendar in Outlook.com or Outlook on the web — Microsoft Support
This guide was researched from the sources above, drafted with AI assistance and checked against those sources before it was published. Dates, deadlines and offers change: check the official page before you act. Found something wrong or out of date? Email support@getlykke.com.