---
key: add-a-calendar-overlay
title: Add a calendar overlay
audience: staff
section: settings/scheduling
routes: ["/settings/org/schedule-calendar-overlays"]
permissions: ["schedule.calendar_overlays.create"]
features: ["schedule.calendar_overlays"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Show an outside calendar, such as a supplier's holidays or a shared team calendar, on top of Nova's schedule as a read-only overlay by pasting its ICS link.
keywords: [ICS, iCal, Google Calendar link, Outlook calendar, external calendar, calendar feed, subscribe to calendar, vendor calendar]
related: [set-up-schedule-policies, add-a-holiday-calendar, find-a-booking-on-the-calendar]
---

In the sidebar, open **Settings**, then choose **Calendar Overlays** under **Scheduling**. The page address is `/settings/org/schedule-calendar-overlays`.

## Before you start

- You need the calendar link from the other system. In Google Calendar, Outlook and most others it is called the ICS or iCal address and ends in `.ics`.
- Overlays are read-only. Nova shows the events; it never changes the other calendar.
- Your role needs permission to create overlays, and your plan has to include calendar overlays. Without the plan feature the page reads **Calendar overlays unavailable**; without the permission, **Add overlay** is missing.

## Steps

1. Press **Add overlay**. A drawer opens.
2. Type a **Name** people will recognise, and leave **Status** on **Active**.
3. Paste the link into **ICS URL**. Add a **Description** if the name needs explaining.
4. Under **Sync settings**, leave **Refresh interval (seconds)** on its default unless the other calendar changes often. **Past window (days)** and **Future window (days)** set how far back and ahead Nova keeps events.
5. Under **Display**, pick a **Feed color** and **Text color** so the overlay is easy to tell from your own work, and set **Opacity**. **Timezone fallback** is used for events that do not say their time zone.
6. Under **Privacy mode**, choose how much of each event to show. Full Details shows everything, Title Location shows only each event's title and place, and Busy Only just marks the time as taken.
7. Under **Targets and visibility**, tick the **Target calendars** the overlay should appear on: **Schedule** (ticked to start), **Schedule**, **Social** or **Availability**. Then set **Visibility scope** to say who sees it: the whole organization, particular branches, roles or users, or chosen targets such as certain resources or crews.
8. Under **Test feed preview**, press **Test feed**. **Preview ready** means Nova could read the link and shows how many events it found; **Preview failed** shows what went wrong.
9. Press **Create overlay**.

## What you see

- The list shows each overlay's **Name**, **Color**, **Status**, last and next refresh time and event count. **Stale** means the last refresh is overdue; **Issue** means the last refresh reported a problem.
- Each row has icon buttons: **Edit overlay**, **Pause overlay** or **Resume overlay**, **Run sync** to refresh now, **View sync runs** for the history, **View audit** for who changed it, and **Archive overlay**.
- **Open ICS export feeds** at the top goes the other way: publishing Nova's calendar to other apps.

## If something looks different

- The list reads "No inbound calendar overlays configured.": nothing has been added yet.
- **ICS URL** shows a saved source and a **Replace URL** button instead of a field: you are editing an overlay whose link is stored. Press **Replace URL** to paste a new one.
- The drawer says you do not have permission to save, replace or test the feed source: your role can edit the overlay but not its link. Ask your admin.

[[route:/settings/org/schedule-calendar-overlays|Open Calendar Overlays]]