How to Back Up Your iCloud Contacts and Calendar Data GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Computers, Laptops & Tablets > Apple
How to Back Up Your iCloud Contacts and Calendar Data
Keep your contacts and calendar data available even during outages
By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 6, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Apple Macs iPad What to Know
To back up a calendar, go to Calendar > File > Export and navigate to the location where you want to save the calendar.To back up contacts, go to Contacts > All Contacts > File > Export > Export vCard > navigate to the location where you want to save them. This article explains why and how to keep a current local backup of the documents and data you're storing in iCloud in OS X 10.7 (Lion) and later. Mutlu Kurtbas / Getty Images Like any cloud-based service, iCloud is susceptible not only to local server-based problems that can cause brief outage issues but also to wide-area interconnect problems that can cause it to be unavailable when you need it the most. These types of problems can be beyond Apple's control. They can involve your local ISP, network gateways and routers, Internet connections, peering points, and half a dozen other points of failure that can occur between you and the Apple cloud servers. How to Back Up Calendars From Your Mac
iCloud stores data in an application-centric system. That is, instead of a pool of storage space you have direct access to, storage space is assigned to each app that uses iCloud; only that app has access to its storage space. This means that you'll need to use various apps to do the backing up for you. Launch Calendar from your Mac's Applications folder. If the Calendar sidebar, which shows all of the individual calendars, isn't displayed, click the Calendars button in the toolbar. From the Calendar sidebar, select the calendar you wish to back up. Under the File menu, mouse over the Export option and click Export in the submenu that appears. Use the Save dialog box to browse to a location on your Mac to store the backup, and then click the Export button. The exported file will be in the iCal (.ics) format. Repeat these steps for any other calendars you wish to back up. How to Back Up Calendars From iCloud
You have another option to save your data from the Calendars app: using the official iCloud website. Go to the iCloud website. Log in to iCloud. On the iCloud web page, click the Calendar icon. Select the calendar you wish to back up. The calendar sharing icon to the right of the calendar name appears in the sidebar. It looks similar to the AirPort wireless signal strength icon in Mac's menu bar. Click the icon to reveal the sharing options for the selected calendar. Place a checkmark in the Public Calendar box. Click Copy link. Paste the copied URL into the Safari web browser's address bar and replace webcal with http. The calendar will download to your designated downloads folder in the .ics format. The calendar's file name may be a long string of seemingly random characters. This is normal. You can use the Finder to rename the file if you wish; just maintain the .ics suffix. Repeat the above process for any other calendars you want to backup from iCloud to your Mac. How to Back Up Contacts from Your Mac
You can also manually download your contact data for safekeeping in case you need to access it offline. Here's what to do. Launch Contacts from your Applications folder. If the Groups sidebar isn't displayed, select Show Groups under the View menu. The keyboard shortcut to show and hide groups is Shift+Command+1. Click All Contacts to ensure you get a complete backup. Select Export under the File menu, and then click Export vCard from the submenu. Use the Save dialog box to select a location on your Mac to store the backup. Click Save. How to Back Up Contacts From iCloud
Like Calendars, you can also back up your contacts from the iCloud website. Go to the iCloud website. Log in to iCloud. On the iCloud web page, click the Contacts icon. Click All Contacts. Click the gear icon in the bottom left corner of the sidebar and select Select All and then click the gear icon again. From the pop-up, select Export vCard. Contacts will export the contacts to a .vcf file in your Downloads folder. Your Mac's Contacts app may automatically launch and ask if you wish to import the .vcf file. You can quit the Contacts app on your Mac without importing the file. Backup Schedule
Consider backing up your iCloud files as part of a good backup strategy in your routine practice. How often you need to perform this procedure depends on how often your Contacts and Calendar data changes. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Export Contacts From iPhone How to Back up Your Mac to an External Hard Drive With Time Machine How to Import Outlook Contacts Into Apple Mail How to Sync Contacts from iPhone to Mac How to Back Up Contacts to Google Export Mac Mail Address Book Contacts to CSV File How to Use macOS Contacts With Outlook How to Transfer Your Contacts From Android to iPhone How to Back Up Your Android Phone to a PC How to Transfer Contacts From iPhone to Android How to Back Up iPhone 5 How to Retrieve Deleted Phone Numbers on Android What Is a VFC File? How to Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone How to Back up the Windows Registry How to Transfer Contacts From iPhone to iPhone Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies