Issue to open an ics file in new outlook

Question

Issue to open an ics file in new outlook

Paul USUBELLI 215

Hello there,

A colleague is having a problem: when he tries to open an .ics file located in his C: drive with Outlook New, nothing is offered. He has to go to the calendar, manually import it, for the event to appear in his calendar.

Is this normal? If not, what can I do to resolve this problem?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Sincerely,

Paul

Pete Lauria 110 Reputation points

2025-07-13T00:57:01.6466667+00:00

Neither of these options work.

Re-associating ICS with outlook did nothing. Double-clicking doesn't even return an error. Nothing.

Drag/drop gives an error "Cannot copy the item."

Could someone at Microsoft please actually research the root cause of this error? Routine troubleshooting steps will not fix an underlying change that Microsoft clearly pushed out that broke this basic functionality.

Thanks.
Bill Ramsey 30 Reputation points

2025-07-16T18:18:46.41+00:00

Same issue here. If I double click the .ics file nothing happens. If I go to new outlook, click on calendars, then I see a popup to import the file. But even that only works 3/10 times.
Fred Nielsen 15 Reputation points

2025-09-05T18:20:16.6666667+00:00

I have the same issue as others here: when I open an ICS file using New Outlook, nothing happens. I've doubled-checked that the default association for ICS is to New Outlook, and also tried manually Opening With - nothing happens.
Ganesh Gholap 10 Reputation points

2025-10-16T13:48:13.8933333+00:00

Microsoft team I also having same issue, and this is an genuine issue where ics file is not opening wherein old version was supporting it.

Can you please update.
Wally 15 Reputation points

2025-12-16T14:12:12.88+00:00

Some don't import because they lack a "UID" in the .ics file. Others the "METHOD:PUBLISH:REQUEST" is in there and I deleted "REQUEST" from the statement and save. Then it will add. Obviously, this is not efficient at all and I wish someone at these "TRILLION DOLLAR" companies would talk to each other and fix the issue.
John Neu 105 Reputation points

2026-04-01T19:22:25.5166667+00:00

Same issue for us. Assigning the Default Apps .ics to Outlook New does not launch the calendar invite in Outlook New BUT instead we must go to Outlook New then must go to Calendar and 'surprise surprise' there we see a popup for "Add calendar .. upload from file.." and my user must choose her Calendar to add to and then IMPORT is highlighted and clicking Import then adds the Calendar appointment... oh and then we must kill that popup as well.. very annoying number of steps. . Of course, as pointed out by others, Outlook Classic is so much easier... If I put Default Apps .ics back to Outlook Classic, it then is just a simple click on the .ics and it opens in outlook classic.
Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-10T08:49:35.46+00:00

Dear all,

Please check the answer provided by MK for more information how to add .ics file.

Answer recommended by moderator

MK 50

I found this thread while searching for a solution to this extremely annoying behavior. I'm writing this from a burner account but I'm mainly writing because I have to deal with this on my work account.

With the old Outlook, you could double click on an .ics file and have the even pop up in your default calendar, automatically. With the new Outlook you need to follow the procedure as described by @Jayden-P . When you double click on an .ics file, the new Outlook will not show anything. You need to select the calendar tab, and only then you'll see the event import dialog. In it, you need to manually select the calendar you want to import the event into. And then you need to click on the Import button.

There are so many inefficient steps in this workflow compared to the old Outlook's behavior. For example, the new Outlook cannot even recognize that I have only one calendar, and I need to manually select it. My org blocks Feedback Hub so I don't know who to reach out to regarding this and similar issues, but if anyone from the development team is reading this - please can you fix it.

Gustav 0 Reputation points

2025-08-26T17:26:54.17+00:00

Thanks for the post. Helped alot!
Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-10T08:46:55.1333333+00:00

Hi @MK

Thank you for your sharing and helpful information.

I'm sure that it will help other people who have the same situation.

6 additional answers

Your answer

Pete Lauria 110 Reputation points

2025-07-13T00:57:01.6466667+00:00

Neither of these options work.

Re-associating ICS with outlook did nothing. Double-clicking doesn't even return an error. Nothing.

Drag/drop gives an error "Cannot copy the item."

Could someone at Microsoft please actually research the root cause of this error? Routine troubleshooting steps will not fix an underlying change that Microsoft clearly pushed out that broke this basic functionality.

Thanks.
Bill Ramsey 30 Reputation points

2025-07-16T18:18:46.41+00:00

Same issue here. If I double click the .ics file nothing happens. If I go to new outlook, click on calendars, then I see a popup to import the file. But even that only works 3/10 times.
Fred Nielsen 15 Reputation points

2025-09-05T18:20:16.6666667+00:00

I have the same issue as others here: when I open an ICS file using New Outlook, nothing happens. I've doubled-checked that the default association for ICS is to New Outlook, and also tried manually Opening With - nothing happens.
Ganesh Gholap 10 Reputation points

2025-10-16T13:48:13.8933333+00:00

Microsoft team I also having same issue, and this is an genuine issue where ics file is not opening wherein old version was supporting it.

Can you please update.
Wally 15 Reputation points

2025-12-16T14:12:12.88+00:00

Some don't import because they lack a "UID" in the .ics file. Others the "METHOD:PUBLISH:REQUEST" is in there and I deleted "REQUEST" from the statement and save. Then it will add. Obviously, this is not efficient at all and I wish someone at these "TRILLION DOLLAR" companies would talk to each other and fix the issue.
John Neu 105 Reputation points

2026-04-01T19:22:25.5166667+00:00

Same issue for us. Assigning the Default Apps .ics to Outlook New does not launch the calendar invite in Outlook New BUT instead we must go to Outlook New then must go to Calendar and 'surprise surprise' there we see a popup for "Add calendar .. upload from file.." and my user must choose her Calendar to add to and then IMPORT is highlighted and clicking Import then adds the Calendar appointment... oh and then we must kill that popup as well.. very annoying number of steps. . Of course, as pointed out by others, Outlook Classic is so much easier... If I put Default Apps .ics back to Outlook Classic, it then is just a simple click on the .ics and it opens in outlook classic.
Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-10T08:49:35.46+00:00

Dear all,

Please check the answer provided by MK for more information how to add .ics file.
Gustav 0 Reputation points

2025-08-26T17:26:54.17+00:00

Thanks for the post. Helped alot!
Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-10T08:46:55.1333333+00:00

Hi @MK

Thank you for your sharing and helpful information.

I'm sure that it will help other people who have the same situation.

Answer 1

Alex Liddle 35

Same issue as others. Right clicking the ics file doesn't provide an "open with" option. The drag-and-drop option is inefficient and non-intuitive. The previous version of Outlook was far better.

0 comments

Answer 2

Peter Henderson 0

So I fixed this by right-clicking and going to Open With... and selecting Outlook. Outlook was already selected, of course, but there's two versions of Outlook in the list, with identical names and icons. So switch from Outlook to Outlook and you'll be fine. Is that clear?

$3 trillion company everyone

Wally 15 Reputation points

2025-12-16T13:38:08.24+00:00

Nope, doesn't work. I have tried all of the suggested procedures from above and nothing works. The only luck I have had since the New outlook released was to modify the .ics file myself in notepad.

Answer 3

Jayden-P 22,645 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Paul USUBELLI
Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on the information you have provided, looks like you want to import .ics file automatically to Outlook. I suggest you try this solution.

Right-click the .ics file.
Select Open with > Choose another app.
Select Outlook, check "Always use this app to open .ics files", then click OK.

Additionally, you also can drag and drop the .ics file into the calendar window to import it.

I hope this information helps.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-06T08:07:15.45+00:00

Hi @Paul USUBELLI
May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer? I am glad to help if you have any other questions.
Jayden-P 22,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-09T08:32:13.8666667+00:00

Hi @Paul USUBELLI
Is there any update on this thread?

If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers.

This helps others in the community facing similar problems.

Thanks for your understanding.
Anshuman Sabath 20 Reputation points

2025-08-21T16:01:31.8733333+00:00

It does not solve the issue. Sometimes the opening works, sometimes it does not.

This is so inconvenient....
Beth Grierson 0 Reputation points

2025-11-19T19:32:47.98+00:00

Even when New Outlook opens the file (which is inconsistent), it still requires several extra steps (selecting the calendar to use, etc) than it did previously.
Shannon Day 1 Reputation point

2026-04-22T14:17:14.1133333+00:00

This answer helped, thanks. But it doesn't resolve the actual issue. Microsoft has become a joke...breaking things that worked just fine. This has been an issue for at least a year (in addition to alllll the other issues) and they just don't seem to care. European countries are leaving Microsoft for other services and I am hoping my company follows suit. It's hard in the US because Microsoft is so embedded in everything, but it can be done.

Answer 4

Régis Denèfle 0

Tried it: right-clicked on the ICS, Open With..., selected the new Outlook icon (hard to tell if you also have classic Outlook installed, but possible). In apparence nothing happened, but the import ICS dialog box was opened and I was able to specify which calendar to import it in. The ICS I imported created multiple appointments, as desired. So that works in my experience.

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Issue to open an ics file in new outlook

6 additional answers

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