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So I currently use Thunderbird with Lightning and have imported several ICS files there on my Windows system (more details on how I did this here). This works great. But for Android there does not seem to be a simple app for this.

To sum up: overall I already have Dropbox for syncing. So I would just need a app that let me choose the ICS files and let me use it just like in Thunderbird. I already tested 20 apps. None was able to do my task so far.

I also don't need just an import app for ICS files. Because then the Dropbox wouldn't sync anymore for sure and I would have trouble on my Windows system. So just an editor that accesses ICS files would be perfect. As I have currently 7 ICS files, it would be great if the app would show them together like Thunderbird does.

By the way I already tried to open an ICS file with the Android Calendar app and it actually showed me an event. But I was not able to show all and the behaviour was very strange.

Update from the comments

  1. I found ICSDroid which allowed me to add ICS files from Dropbox correctly
  2. these Calendars where correctly added to the Calendar system
  3. the problem is that they are not added to "My Calendars", instead they are added to an external list, which is read-only!
  4. also the Sync is kind of broken on these calendars, updates in thunderbird are not shown on my Android calendar apps (I tried the normal, aCalendar, Planner Plus)
kwoxer
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    BTW: Be welcome to check with my list of Calendar Tools. ICSdroid seems to fit your description: "ICSdroid allows you to add/subscribe and manage external (web) and local (i.e. *Dropbox,* adb push etc) iCalendar/ics files on your Android device." If you can confirm this, feel free to flag a mod to have your question migrated to SR, so I will setup an answer there. – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 13:10
  • Well it's not free. Before buying and it does not maybe not work, you might know some others that are for free? And sure if this question does now fit here, move it. Maybe it's also possible without an app, so I changed the title :) – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 13:44
  • I just found 2 similar questions. But none of the answers worked for me: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/10085/how-to-sync-calendar-with-android-without-google?rq=1 and http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/64333/sync-android-calendar-tasks-with-calendar-from-pc?rq=1 – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 13:51
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    I've never been in need of that, so I didn't check for this specific feature. But besides: If you look up that app in my list (which I linked), you might note it's available for free from F-Droid (from the list, you could even download the .apk directly to try it out). – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 13:51
  • Installed ICSDroid and tested it. Actually adding ics files works well. I can see all the events from different ics files in the usual Calendar app. But somehow I'm not able to edit them on my phone. It just says I have no Calendar chosen? I'm new to Android maybe I'm using the Calendar in a super unusual way? I think this is a non ICSDroid issue :) – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 14:08
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    I've no idea with that part, sorry. ICS files are plain ASCII – but editing them with a text editor might not be convenient (nor recommended if you don't know what you do). They are thought as a format to exchange informations rather than to be edited directly. The preferred way is editing the events within your calendar app, and then export that calendar again to .ics. – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 14:12
  • Sure sure, that's the way I want to do it, too. Reading ICS file and editing the events directly in the Calendar app. I don't want to edit them in an editor for sure. I also now tried to change an event on my Windows system. Then the ICS was updated by Dropbox. But anyway I can't get the new Event on my Android Calendar. Synced anywhere it was possible. Any idea on this? I mean if this does not work that app does not make sense for me =/ – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 14:16
  • Why do I get the impression we're having some kind of XY problem here? Could it be your real question is "how to sync my calendars between Win and Android without using a 3rd party service"? Because in that case, answers might be very different. – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 14:23
  • Yes that would be the abstract way to describe my issue indeed. But I really want to use Dropbox and ICS files for some reason. So this is very important for me as well. What would you say, how can I improve this question? And many thanks man. – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 14:26
  • Ohh I know understand why I was not able to create or edit events. You can just edit events that are under My Calendars. But there is no way to move the external Calendars to that section. Wow that really frustrating =( – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 14:32
  • Uh-oh. Well, first off it might be a good idea to keep things separate then: having this question dedicated to your Dropbox approach (where I've to resign from), asking a separate generic one as suggested with my previous comment, and finally mention "the other question" in each (linking them together) to make clear why they're no duplicates. In the generic question, include your environment (PC and Android versions etc.) and whether applications/web-server components (I think of ownCloud here) would be acceptable as well. Keep it as "how-to", not "which apps" ;) – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 14:33
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    Alright my friend, gonna do that tomorrow. Thanks. – kwoxer Jan 30 '16 at 14:35
  • When on it, may I suggest you try to include the essence of our comment chain with your [edit] of this question – and then ping me for a comment-cleanup? Looks like a mess already :) – Izzy Jan 30 '16 at 14:37
  • http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/135793/how-to-move-icsdroid-calendars-to-the-phone-section is this fine? Feel free to improve :) No let the comments here. I don't need to delete my friend. – kwoxer Jan 31 '16 at 07:47

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I now solved with installing ownCloud on my server. It was not difficult and is easy to setup. Also it gives the possibility to enable even more features.

So in Thunderbird I just add the online calendar URL to the specific calendar. That's it. The only bad thing is that Thunderbird(Lightning) does not get the colors from the server. So you have to set them manually.

And on Android you need a special app like CalDAV which is really cheap and as well easy to setup.

Now you can use any calendar app like the of your Android. Planner Plus or aCalendar. This is totally up to you. I really like Planner Plus somehow.

For me this is a really good solution. Synching is working perfectly even with different users on it at the same time. You can also manage the rights the users have in your ownCloud which was impossible with the row ics Dropbox solution.

I also use the Tasks app of ownCloud, what is called the app OpenTasks under Android, which makes it pretty easy also to use tasks on Android.

kwoxer
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