How to show a Google Calendar on a TV as a digital display

The calendar and its events here are made up. The live preview above is the events app, drawn with sample data.

1. In Google Calendar on a computer, open Settings, then Settings again.
2. Under Settings for my calendars, choose the calendar.
3. Choose Integrate calendar and copy the Secret address in iCal format.
4. Give it to your agent in a file, not in the chat.

Google's help page describes the same steps. Only you and your agent should know the address, because anyone who has it can read the calendar. If it leaks, choose Reset on the same page to make a new one. On a work or school account, an administrator may have turned the secret address off.

• Recurring events. Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly rules, exceptions, and moved or cancelled occurrences are worked out on the server, so an event keeps its hour across daylight saving time.
• Private events. An event marked private or confidential shows its times and the title Private, with no organizer or location. You can choose another title.
• Cancelled and free time. Cancelled events are dropped. Events marked free stay on an agenda and are left out of a room sign.
• All-day events show as dates.
• Days ahead. From 1 to 31 days from today. The default is 7.
• Several calendars. 1 to 60 calendars come together as one agenda. If one fails to read, the whole sync fails and says which, so the screen never shows part of the set.
• Keep or hide by keyword. Give a list of words, and an event stays only if its title holds one of them, or goes if its title holds one you hide.

A calendar source reads the address every 5 minutes, and runs within seconds of being created or changed. It writes to the screen only when something changed. If Google stops answering, the screen keeps the last agenda it read, and you set how long it may stay before it clears. screenRIG can email you when a read fails and again when the data runs out.

A calendar address fills a room's door sign and a building's room board as well as an agenda: the signs work out free, in use and next on the screen every second from the bookings they hold, so a sign stays right even while its screen is offline. Google Workspace room calendars can be read through a Google connection, which comes with Plus and above (see pricing). The meeting rooms page shows the signs, and data sources has every setting. A calendar shows bookings only: nothing is booked, ended or checked in from a screen.

The same route works for Outlook, iCloud and Nextcloud calendars, and for any webcal:// link. A Microsoft 365 room mailbox is read through a Microsoft connection.

A calendar page that asks for a Google sign-in cannot open on a TV, because the TV cannot sign in. A calendar published to the web is a web page that needs the internet the whole time, and its text is small for a room. The agenda your agent draws is sized to read across a room, and the screen keeps the last agenda it read if the network drops.

How do I display a Google Calendar on a TV?

Copy the calendar's Secret address in iCal format from Settings, Integrate calendar, and give it to your agent. It fills an agenda on the screen and keeps it current.

How often does the TV update when I change an event?

Every 5 minutes. A newly created or changed source reads within seconds, and your agent can refresh it on request.

Is my calendar made public?

No. The secret address is a link that lets whoever has it read the calendar, so keep it private. screenRIG stores it sealed, shows it back only as a scheme and host, and never writes it to a log.

Can I show several calendars on one screen?

Yes. Up to 60 calendars combine into one agenda, or fill one room each on a room board.

Does it cost anything?

screenRIG is free, with unlimited screens, and syncs are free. Paid plans add business tools, more people, people to talk to, governance and contract terms. See pricing.

Next: put numbers beside the calendar with Display a Google Sheet on a TV.

• support.google.com/calendar/answer/37648
• screenrig.ai/docs/sources