Calendar link generator: A simpler way to add events to emails

Imagine that you regularly send your subscribers emails inviting them to webinars. Actually, you don’t even have to imagine it. If you’re a marketer, you probably do this all the time. 

Adding an “Add to calendar” button is not a problem. There are plenty of free calendar link generators you can use. The real problem starts when you need to make these links work in your email. You generate five URLs using a third-party service, copy them one by one into the buttons in your template, and hope you don’t mix up Outlook and Yahoo. The calendar block is not really part of your email either. When the next event comes around, you have to do the whole thing again.

The worst part is that you may never know when something goes wrong. Because a wrong link can still get a click, you may not see any obvious problem. There is no error message or complaint. The subscriber does not add the event to their calendar, so it may never show up.

So, how can you quickly create working links for the most common calendar services, add them to your email without manual work, and reduce the risk of mistakes?

In this article, we look at different ways to add calendar events to emails, the problems each option presents, and what to look for in a solution that makes the process easier.

Why adding an event to a calendar is harder than it looks

A few numbers show why making an event easy to save to a calendar matters:

• 47.7% was the average webinar show-up rate in 2025, according to Livestorm’s analysis of 33,786 webinar sessions in the Webinar Benchmark Report 2026;
• 49.6% of webinar registrations happen during the final week before the event, according to Livestorm’s report.

This means the gap between registration and the event can be very short. Adding the event to the subscriber’s calendar right away gives them a simple reminder and reduces the chance they’ll forget.

Making an event easy to add to a calendar sounds simple, but there are several technical issues to consider:

1. Different formats for calendar links and ICS files. A link only works with calendars that have a web interface. A file works almost everywhere but only if the recipient knows what to do with it and can access the hosted file.
2. There is no single standard for calendar event links. Google, Outlook, Office 365, and Yahoo use different URLs and parameter names for the same fields. Outlook also uses different versions for different applications. Apple doesn’t have a public link format and works only with ICS files.
3. Link formats can change without warning. Calendar services update their URLs, so links that have worked for years can suddenly stop working.

To prepare an event invitation for a subscriber list of a few hundred addresses, you need to create several links and host the ICS file on a server. Each link has to be created correctly, include the right time zone information, and still work on the day of the event.

This sounds like a fairly time-consuming task for a typical Tuesday, and it is something an email marketer still needs to deal with.

What a universal solution should include

We put together the following criteria for solving this problem:

• how many times you need to manually transfer data between the tool and the email; 
• whether the solution is free or paid and whether it requires registration;
• whether you can save the block for future reuse or have to add it separately to each template;
• who controls the link after the email is sent, including whose domain it uses, whether there are any limits, and whether the link can stop working without your involvement;
• whether the solution works with Apple and desktop Outlook or requires additional options for these email clients;
• whether the recipient’s local time is set automatically.

Ways to solve the event reminder problem 

Marketers, among others, have been trying to solve this problem for quite some time, so there are plenty of options. Each option has drawbacks or creates new problems that need to be addressed.

Below, we look at the main ways marketers help recipients get all the event information they need in time.

Email with all event details

The simplest way is to put all the necessary information in a single email and send it to everyone interested in or registered for the event. Use a clear subject line with the event name and date. Inside the email, include the time, a short description, and a link to the event or calendar invitation. People who regularly work with email may star the message or save the information somewhere so they don’t forget about it.

This approach requires entering the information manually, which carries the risk of errors. You can save this part of the email as a module, but you will still need to update the event details and links before each new send. You also cannot set the recipient’s local time automatically or cover all email clients. For Apple Mail users, you need to attach an ICS file so they can open the event in their calendars. This option is free and doesn’t depend on any third-party tool.

Cons: The email may end up in spam and never reach the subscriber. It may also reach them but get lost among daily tasks and more important things. Reminder emails can improve the situation, but they don’t solve the problem completely.

Calendar link to add the event

A slightly more convenient option is to include a calendar link in the email so that the recipient can add the event to their calendar. This way, they are less likely to forget about the event and can plan their tasks around it.

This option requires manually transferring the link to the email. The calendar shows the event in the recipient’s local time, but only if you set the time zone correctly for each link. Saving the block for reuse doesn’t make much sense, as you need to update the calendar link for each new event. This option is not universal across all email clients, so some recipients may need an alternative way to add the event to their calendars.

Cons: You don’t know which calendar your recipients use, so they may have trouble adding the event to it.

ICS file for calendar events

Another possible way is to send the event information as an ICS file. Apple Mail users can download the file and import it into their calendars because Apple Calendar supports the ICS  format.

This option adds an extra step for the email marketer, and it is important not to forget to attach the file. As long as the file includes the time zone, the calendar shows the event in the recipient’s local time. This option is widely supported by most email and calendar clients. The event link is fully under your control and doesn’t depend on third-party platforms.

(Source: learn.microsoft.com)

Cons: You need to create the ICS file first. This is not a problem today, as many tools can generate an ICS file for you. The problem is that you need to host the file somewhere publicly accessible so everyone can open it. Your own Google Drive may not be the best option if the file is not publicly shared, as users may not be able to access it without permission.

Third-party calendar generator services 

This is another option worth considering. You enter all the event information, create a link, and add it to your email. One of the main advantages is that it is a universal solution that will most likely work with different calendars.

We tested several tools. Their interfaces and button sets are very similar, which is expected for this type of service. The main differences are in how they work. Some services require registration, while others let you generate a link anonymously. Several tools have an intermediate event page that you can customize to some extent by adding your own image. 

But you can remove the tool’s branding only on paid plans. The links use the domain of the specific tool, and only some services allow you to use your own domain with a paid plan. On the free plans, the tools we tested require at least five steps to set up the link and add the finished block to the email. 

Cons: Advanced options require a paid plan. A free plan may have limits on the number of clicks or events you can create. Many services also require you to register before you can use them.

There are other workarounds, but they require different processes and sets of tools:

• an invitation through an event platform: This makes sense when you already use an event platform to manage registrations and attendance;
• a booking tool such as Calendly: This works when the event is a one-to-one meeting, and the recipient needs to choose a suitable time slot;
• a subscription calendar: This can be useful when you run regular events and want subscribers to receive updates to their calendars automatically;
• automatic event creation after registration: This works well when you want to add the event to a participant’s calendar as part of the registration process.

Keep in mind that an event saved from a calendar link or an ICS file becomes the subscriber’s own copy. You can’t update it after the email is sent, so any change means a new email. Only real calendar invitations and subscription calendars allow updates to reach people who have already saved the event.

Real invitations are sent from the organizer’s calendar, not from your ESP, so they don’t work well for mass campaigns. This is why links and ICS files are still the standard for webinar invitations, even though you can’t update them.

How Stripo solves the “add to calendar” problem

Stripo’s calendar link generator covers most of the criteria above: it’s free, needs no registration, hosts the ICS file for you, and shows the event in the recipient’s local time. It is an easy-to-use calendar link generator with a simple interface. You don’t need to have a Stripo account to use it.

It only takes six steps to create a universal link that you can add to your email and send to your subscribers.

When recipients open the link, they see a mini landing page with all necessary event details, including the date, time, event name, and link to join. The recipient’s local time is set automatically. It also has buttons that let them add the event to various calendar platforms, regardless of which one your readers use. These include Google Calendar, Outlook, Yahoo, Apple Calendar, and an ICS file that you don’t need to host yourself. 

The generator also supports recurring events, with options to set the frequency, specific days, and end date. We cover adding a calendar event to emails in detail in our Help Center article.

The Stripo calendar link generator also has some limitations. You cannot edit an event after the email has been sent, and there is no option to add your own branding, such as a logo, colors, or fonts. You can hide the “Powered by Stripo” watermark on a paid Stripo plan, but you can’t personalize the link.

 

But generating links is only part of the job. You still need to add them to the email, and this is where manual copy-and-paste can create another problem, especially when you work with several calendar platforms.

Add calendar links directly in the Stripo editor

Using Stripo, you don’t have to generate calendar links in a separate tool and copy them into your email one by one. You can create them directly in the editor.

When you add a link to a button, text, or other clickable element, you can choose Calendar Event Link as the link type. Then enter the event details, including the title, date and time, time zone, location or video call link, and description. The editor generates the calendar link for you, so you don’t have to create and copy each URL manually.

You can also reuse the generated event across other clickable elements in the same email. This is useful when the same event needs to appear multiple times in the template.

You can also save the calendar link in a module and reuse that module in future emails. When you have a new event, you only need to replace the old calendar link with the new one, so you don’t have to build the whole block from scratch every time.

This workflow removes one of the most error-prone parts of the process: manually copying links from an external generator and matching each URL to the right calendar option.

Wrapping up

Events are a regular part of marketing, and inviting participants and encouraging them to attend are key aspects of an email marketer’s work.

If you do this often and haven’t found the right tool for generating calendar links yet, start by analyzing which events you send invitations to most often and how many participants they usually have. This will help you understand which factors are most important when choosing a tool for your specific situation.

 

There is no single solution that works equally well for every event. The right option depends on your audience, the number of participants, the calendar platforms they use, and how much control you need over the event details. For most mass webinar invitations, the first row of this table applies: try the calendar link generator, or add a Calendar Event Link directly in the Stripo editor.