How do I create a CSV file in Excel that I can import into Outlook calendar ?

Question

It does not care what fields I use, headers, no headers. I am not doing a contact list, I want calendar invite events imported into Outlook calendar from Excel but I can't setup the excel sheet. I can't find a clear, concise and working example of what the excel sheet needs to look like to allow it to import into Outlook calendar (again not contacts).

Answer 1

To import events from Excel into Outlook calendar, the Excel sheet should be structured with specific headers that Outlook recognizes. Create a CSV file with the top row containing these headers exactly: Subject,Start Date,Start Time,End Date,End Time,Description,Location. Each subsequent row represents one event. Dates should be in a standard format like MM/DD/YYYY, and times should be in HH:MM AM/PM format.

An example row looks like:

Team Meeting,03/31/2026,10:00 AM,03/31/2026,11:00 AM,Monthly planning session,Conference Room A

For all-day events, populate Start Date and End Date, and either leave Start Time and End Time blank or set them to cover a 24-hour period. Do not merge cells; each event must be on a separate row.

Save the Excel sheet as a CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) file. Make sure the CSV file is closed before importing. In Outlook, go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export, select Import from another program or file, choose Comma Separated Values, select your CSV, map the CSV columns to Outlook calendar fields, and ensure the calendar is selected as the destination folder.

If needed, you can use Excel formulas to format raw dates and times: =TEXT(A2,"MM/DD/YYYY") for dates and =TEXT(B2,"hh:mm AM/PM") for times, assuming your raw data is in A2 and B2.

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hth

Marcin