You can delete a calendar in Google Calendar in about one minute

Open Google Calendar in your web browser. On the left side under "My calendars," find the calendar you want to delete. Hover your mouse over the calendar name until three dots appear to the right of it. Click those dots and select "Delete calendar" from the menu. Google will ask you to confirm — click "Delete" again, and the calendar is gone.

The calendar disappears when ready from your view and from anyone else's calendar if you had shared it with them. If you shared the calendar with others, they lose access to it at the same moment you delete it. There is no waiting period and no way to undo the deletion after you confirm, so make sure you want it gone before you click that final button.

Key Takeaways

  • Deleting a calendar removes it when ready from your account and from anyone you shared it with.
  • You cannot undo a deletion, so read or export the calendar first if you need to keep the events.
  • Shared calendars that other people own cannot be deleted by you — you can only unsubscribe from them.
  • Deleting a calendar does not delete your Google account or affect your other calendars.

Export your calendar before you delete it if you want to keep the events

If the calendar contains events you might need later, export it first. In Google Calendar, hover over the calendar name on the left, click the three dots, and select "Settings and sharing." Scroll down to "Export calendar" and click the link. Google downloads a file with a .ics extension that contains all the events from that calendar.

Save that file somewhere you can find it — your Downloads folder, a cloud storage service, or an external drive. You can then import those events into another calendar later if you change your mind, or keep the file as a record. Once you delete the calendar from Google, this exported file is your only copy of those events.

The difference between deleting your own calendar and leaving a shared one

If you created the calendar yourself, you own it and can delete it. If someone else created a calendar and shared it with you, you cannot delete it — you can only remove it from your view. To do that, hover over the calendar name, click the three dots, and select "Unsubscribe." The calendar disappears from your list, but it still exists in the other person's account.

If you are the owner of a shared calendar and you delete it, everyone who has access to it loses that access when ready. They cannot see the calendar or its events anymore. If you only want to remove one person's access instead of deleting the entire calendar, go to "Settings and sharing" for that calendar and remove them from the sharing list.

What happens to events when you delete a calendar

All events in that calendar are deleted along with it. If an event was on your calendar and also on another calendar (because you had it on multiple calendars at once), deleting the calendar removes the event from that calendar only — it stays on your other calendars.

If you had set reminders or notifications for events on that calendar, those reminders disappear too. Any invitations you had sent to other people for events on that calendar remain in their inboxes, but they will see that the event no longer exists when they try to open it.

Deleting a calendar does not affect your Gmail or other Google services

Your Google Calendar and your Gmail inbox are separate. Deleting a calendar does not delete your email, your contacts, or anything else in your Google account. You can delete as many calendars as you want without affecting any other Google service.

If you had used that calendar to send meeting invitations through Gmail, those emails stay in your sent folder. The invitations themselves remain in other people's inboxes, but the calendar event they pointed to no longer exists.

How to delete a calendar on your phone

On the Google Calendar app for iPhone or Android, tap the three horizontal lines (hamburger menu) in the top left. Under "My calendars," find the calendar you want to delete. Press and hold the calendar name until a menu appears, then tap "Delete." Confirm the deletion when Google asks.

The process is the same whether you use an iPhone or Android phone. The calendar deletes from your phone and from all your other devices at the same time, because Google Calendar syncs across all your devices automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a deleted calendar back?

No. Once you delete a calendar and confirm the deletion, it is gone permanently. Google does not keep a trash folder for calendars the way it does for Gmail. If you need the events from that calendar, you must have exported it before deleting it.

What if I accidentally deleted the wrong calendar?

If you have an exported .ics file of that calendar, you can create a new calendar and import the events back into it. Go to "Settings" in Google Calendar, click "Import and export," and upload the .ics file. If you do not have an exported file, the events cannot be recovered.

Will deleting a calendar remove it from my coworker's view?

Yes. If you shared the calendar with your coworker and then delete it, the calendar disappears from their calendar list when ready. They will no longer see any of the events that were on that calendar.

Can I delete a calendar that someone else shared with me?

No. You can only unsubscribe from it, which removes it from your view but leaves it in the other person's account. To truly delete a shared calendar, the person who created it must delete it themselves.