Cannot import .ics file into Outlook (new) app

Like Finn, none of these solutions work for me because the new Outlook app does not allow me to select my calendar. The "select calendar" field is grayed out and cannot be modified. No one here has addressed this issue.

I found a solution for this:

Save the iCal Attachment (.ics File)

• When you receive an email with an iCal attachment, save the attachment to a location on your computer where you can easily find it (e.g., Downloads folder or Desktop).

Open Outlook Calendar

• Open New Outlook on your desktop.
• Click on the calendar icon located at the bottom left corner to switch to the calendar view.

Import the iCal (.ics) File

• • In the Outlook Calendar view, click on the “Add Calendar” option in the left-hand pane.
    • From the dropdown menu, select “Upload from file.”
    • Click on “Browse,” locate your saved .ics file, and select it.
    • Choose the calendar where you want the events to be imported. If you have multiple calendars, select the appropriate one.
    • Click “Import” to add the events to your calendar
    • Go to your calendar and confirm you can see the meeting that was imported

Neither the TheThirdSpy's online nor Fabio's within-Outlook solutions worked for me. I also tried emailing the .ics file to myself. In all cases, I get an error trying to import my GCal .ics file. The error message says "Couldn't import calendar. Try again later."

Anyone else having the same issue I am, and any workarounds for it? Could it be that my .ics file is simply too big? It contains over 14k events, according to the MS message when I try to import it.

In my experience, Outlook does not handle well .ics files with too many events in them.
I had an .ics file with about 11k events in it. I always got the "Couldn't import calendar. Try again later." error.

I edited the file (any text editor works as it's just a text file) and reduce it to about 1.8k events.
Just delete any number of rows as long as you start with: BEGIN:VEVENT and end with: END:VEVENT.

To my surprise, the smaller file was imported (into a new, empty calendar), although it took quite a lot of time with no progress indicator.

It also seems to be a two step process... First it seems to parse the file and load it somewhere. Then, you have to "Save" it, and then it will take again some time... until you see the events in your calendar.

I hope this helps!

PS My guess is that the same applies for "Add calendar \ Subscribe from web" option. Which fails for me with the url from where I downloaded the 11k ics file. It's probably too big to handle and the error messages are not helping at all.

We need to have the new version of outlook fixed, since Microsoft's stated direction is to use the "New Outlook" exclusively soon.

We need to all report the useability issues with the "new outlook", so that they all get addressed before the deadline.

Yes this is exactly the problem.

Thanks for you help @YMicrosoft I understand that is how it's *supposed* to work

Try dragging the .ics file from your Downloads folder into the calendar (in Calendar view) until the "Drop .ics files here" icon appears. For me, I have to drop it in the date area, not in the daily schedule area.