Sync a Notion content calendar to Apple Calendar
To get a Notion content calendar into Apple Calendar, give the database a Date column and connect it to a sync that writes iCloud events. Calnio does this: each post becomes an event, with the post title as the event title and the date as its time. A database syncs one date column, so shoot dates and upload dates need two databases or one date range.
3 min read
Set up the database
A content calendar needs a title and a Date column, and anything else you track is yours. A typical one has Name, Publish date, Status and Platform. If the database has one date column, Calnio uses it. With several, it picks one named Due date, Due, Deadline, Date, When or Start date, and asks you to choose when none match.
Calnio copies the title and the date and nothing else, so Status and Platform stay in Notion. If you want the platform visible in the calendar, put it in the title, such as "YouTube: Studio tour".
Shoots and uploads
One sync reads one date column from one database, so a database cannot send both a shoot date and an upload date. You have two options. Keep two databases, Shoots and Uploads, and each becomes its own calendar with its own colour in Apple Calendar. Or use one Date column with a range, from the shoot day to the upload day, and the event spans the whole range.
The free plan syncs one database, so pick the one you check most. The paid plan syncs as many as you have.
Times and ranges
A date without a time becomes an all-day event. A date with a time becomes an event at that time, an hour long unless the Notion date has an end time. For a shoot from 10:00 to 13:00, set the end time in Notion and the event is three hours long.
Moving a post
On the free plan, sync runs one way: a date you move in Notion moves the event on the next check. On the paid plan and in the trial, two-way is a switch on each database. With it on, dragging an event to another day in Apple Calendar changes the date in Notion, renaming it renames the page, and deleting it sends the page to the Notion trash.
A new event you create in that calendar becomes a new page, but only when the calendar belongs to a single database and the event was made after you switched two-way on. That makes quick capture from your phone possible. Ticking a Status as published changes nothing in the calendar, so the event stays where it is.
None of this is instant. Calnio checks every 30 minutes on the free plan, every 15 by default on the paid plan, and as often as every 5. If you move a shoot on set, expect a few minutes before the other side shows it.
What a user says
Carlos, a content creator who uses Calnio, wrote to me that it "has become a key part of my daily workflow."