[Release] Sync iCal to Obsidian Daily Notes & Kanban via Shortcut & Keybinding (One-Touch Import)

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Sync iCalendar’s events for each day into your Periodic Notes and track the task todo in Kanban

The Workflow

If you use Apple Calendar (iCal) to manage your life but Obsidian to manage your day, you probably find the duplication of events tedious. I’ve built a macOS/iOS Shortcut that fetches your day’s agenda and formats it into clean Markdown tasks (- todos) directly into your active note.

I use this specifically with my Daily Periodic Notes to bridge the gap between my calendar and my task list.

:rocket: Features:

  • Zero-Friction: Trigger it via a global keybinding (default ⌃⌥C).

  • Clean Formatting: Events are formatted as, e.g.,:
    - [ ] 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM – ==Test Event== (*1:00:00*) @due(2026-03-28 @@13:00 -0400) #events/iCal/2026-03-28

  • Intelligent Filtering: Only grabs events for the current day.

  • Unicode Support: Uses clean icons for visual clarity.

:open_file_folder: The Shortcut

Shortcut Title: iCal Daily Events → Obsidian Daily Tasks

Download Link: Shortcuts

  • Note: The local file is usually placed into ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~is~workflow~my~workflows/Documents/iCal Daily Events → Obsidian Daily Tasks.shortcut for sharing across Apple devices

:hammer_and_wrench: How to Set Up the Keybinding (macOS)

To get the most out of this, you should trigger it without leaving Obsidian:

  1. Install the Shortcut via the link above.

  2. Open System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts.

  3. Select Services on the left sidebar.

  4. Find iCal Daily Events → Obsidian Daily Tasks under the “General” or “Text” section.

  5. Assign a hotkey (I personally use Option + Shift + C).

  6. Grant Permissions: The first time you run it, macOS will ask for permission to access your Calendar and Obsidian/Files.

:fountain_pen: How I use it in Obsidian

I have a Tasks section in my Daily Note template. Every morning, I place my cursor under the ## Tasks heading and hit my hotkey.

The Output looks like this:

  • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM – ==Test Event== (1:00:00) @due(2026-03-28 @@13:00 -0400) #events/iCal/2026-03-28

Features

  1. == provides highlighting
  2. (1:00:00) italicized event duration
  3. The todo formatting includes time and an offset that’s set by your locale, which is cross-compatible with Kanban rendering of tasks (todos), and other task management plugins

:gear: Customization Tip:

If you want to change the formatting (e.g., you prefer bullets instead of tasks), you can open the Shortcut and edit the Text action block that defines the output string. It’s currently set to handle Unicode safely, making it perfect for PDF exports (e.g., using Pandoc) later if you use the DejaVu Sans font family!

Hope this helps speed up your morning routine! Happy to answer any questions on the setup.

#apple-shortcuts #productivity #automation #calendar #daily-notes