Connect your school with a calendar link

If your school uses Brightspace, Moodle, Blackboard, ManageBac, Toddle or Veracross, you can bring your assignments into Planner with a calendar link. Schoology works this way too, if you'd rather not use the extension.

Most school platforms give each student a private calendar link that lists their assignments and due dates. You copy that link from your school platform and paste it into Planner. Planner reads it and brings in each assignment for you to review.

It works in any browser, with no extension: Safari, Firefox, Edge, Chrome, an iPhone or iPad, a Chromebook, and Planner for Mac. Planner never asks for your school password.

What comes in

• Assignment titles, classes and due dates. New and changed work comes to you to review first, the same way it does for other school platforms.
• Not grades. A calendar link doesn't carry grades, or whether you've turned something in. You can add grades in Planner yourself.
• Not everything on your calendar. Planner skips entries that aren't work you have to do, like class meetings, repeating events, and notes that a quiz opens.

Step 1: Copy your calendar link

Find your platform below. Menu names can differ a little from school to school.

Brightspace

1. Open Calendar in Brightspace.
2. Open Settings, tick Enable Calendar Feeds, and save.
3. Back on the calendar, choose Subscribe, pick All Calendars and Tasks, and copy the address.

Moodle

1. Open Calendar in Moodle, then Import or export calendars (or Export calendar).
2. Choose Events related to courses and Recent and next 60 days.
3. Choose Get calendar URL and copy the address.

Blackboard

1. Open Calendar from the menu under your name in Blackboard.
2. Open Calendar Settings, then Share Calendar.
3. Copy the link. It covers all your courses.

Schoology

1. Open Calendar in Schoology.
2. Choose Calendar Feed. At some schools it's under Account Settings, as a shared calendar.
3. Copy the iCal link.

The Chrome extension also syncs Schoology, and it brings in grades too. The setup guide walks through it.

ManageBac

1. Open My Workspace, then View Full Calendar.
2. Choose Subscribe to Calendar.
3. Copy the link.

Toddle

1. Open Calendar in Toddle.
2. Choose Subscribe at the top right, and pick class assignments.
3. Copy the iCal link.

Veracross

1. Sign in to your school's Veracross portal.
2. Open Calendar, then Calendar Subscriptions.
3. Copy the link for your assignments calendar. Some schools call it All Assignments.

Not every school offers an assignments calendar in Veracross. A class schedule or a school events calendar won't bring in assignments.

Step 2: Paste it into Planner

1. In Planner, open Settings and find School sync.
2. Choose Connect with a calendar link.
3. Pick your school platform, paste the link, and choose Connect.
4. Check the assignments Planner found. Match each one to a class, or let Planner add the class for you, then choose Import Selected.

How it stays up to date

Planner checks your calendar link when you open it, when you come back to it, and every half hour while it's open. You can also choose Sync now in Settings.

• New work comes to you to review before it's added.
• A moved due date shows up as Moved, and Planner moves its study sessions with it once you accept.
• Work your teacher removes is listed so you can delete it in Planner, or keep it.
• Ignore hides an entry for good, so it isn't offered again.

Your link and your privacy

Your calendar link is saved to your Planner account, like any other calendar you connect, so it works on all your devices. If you set a passphrase, it's encrypted with the rest of your planner.

Anyone with the link can see your school calendar, so don't share it. Planner fetches it through a small service that passes the calendar along so your browser can read it. To stop syncing, choose Remove next to the link in Settings. Assignments that already came in stay in Planner.

Troubleshooting

"That address isn't a calendar link." The link you pasted opened a web page instead of a calendar. Copy the link again from the subscribe, share or export option, not from your browser's address bar.

"That calendar is private." Your school platform refused the link. Make a new one, or check that calendar feeds are turned on.

The link works but no assignments came in. The calendar may only have classes or school events on it, or nothing is due in the next few months. In Veracross, make sure you copied the assignments calendar.

The class names look wrong. Each platform labels classes its own way. Pick the right class for each assignment when you review it, and Planner remembers it for that assignment.

Still stuck? Email jeremy@severnplanner.com and say which school platform you use.