> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.binarysludge.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# How To Force Refresh Google Calendar
- URL: https://www.binarysludge.com/2012/02/01/how-to-force-refresh-google-calendar/
- Published: 2012-02-01T09:00:19.000Z
- Updated: 2015-01-15T00:38:35.000Z
- Author: Andrew Martin
- Tags: error, time management, URL redirection, URL shortening, Google Calendar, #Import 2026-10-22 12:56

![Google Calendar](http://c213.r13.cf3.rackcdn.com/2012-01-23-755652287549775328.png "Google Calendar")

Google Calendar caches remote calendar URLs for some time - not helpful if you want to verify a change.

This can be circumvented by altering the URL while requesting the same content. Adding a query parameter (or attempting to add another one) will cause Google to treat the calendar as a new feed.

Here's an example with the UK holidays calendar feed from CalendarLabs:

Original Calendar URL: 

webcal://www.calendarlabs.com/templates/ical/UK-Holidays.ics

Updated Calendar URL: 

webcal://www.calendarlabs.com/templates/ical/UK-Holidays.ics?noCache

And another example with an updated query string from Facebook: 

Original Calendar URL: 

webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=123456789&key=ABCdefGHIjkl_m123

Updated Calendar URL: 

webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=123456789&key=ABCdefGHIjkl_m123&noCache

Any string can be used instead of `noCache`, as Google Calendar just remembers the full URL. So next time you want to force an update, use `noCache-2`, `noCache-3` etc.

If the calendar's URL already has query parameters, or adding another parameter breaks the feed, the URL can be shortened with bit.ly (or any URL shortener). This is [less useful](http://boingboing.net/2009/04/04/why-url-shorteners-s.html?ref=binarysludge.com), as you're relying on the query shortening service always being available.