macOS

Where Does Apple Calendar Store Events on Mac?

Apple Calendar local event files and cache index on Mac, and which ones are safe to rebuild.

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Apple Calendar mirrors each synced calendar under ~/Library/Calendars as a randomly named .caldav folder: one .ics file per event (handy for Spotlight) plus Info.plist with the calendar title and color. Local On My Mac calendars use .calendar folders the same way.

The Calendar Cache trio (Cache, Cache-shm, Cache-wal) is just a sqlite index over those files. Deleting all three with Calendar and CalendarAgent quit forces a clean rebuild from servers, which fixes most phantom event bugs. Local only calendars have no server copy, so back those up first. Reach ~/Library via Finder Go to Folder.

Where macOS stores this, by platform

macOS
~/Library/Calendars/

Synced calendars in *.caldav/Events/*.ics (UUID names, Info.plist metadata); local ones in *.calendar. Index in Calendar Cache plus shm/wal sidecars; delete all three (app quit) to rebuild. Sandboxed helper caches under ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iCal etc. vary by version.

Frequently asked questions

How do I fix Apple Calendar showing phantom or duplicate events?

Quit Calendar and CalendarAgent, delete the three Calendar Cache files in ~/Library/Calendars, and reopen. The index rebuilds from CalDAV, iCloud or Google servers; cloud data is never at risk from this.

Where are my On My Mac calendars stored?

In *.calendar folders under ~/Library/Calendars, same .ics per event layout. Unlike synced calendars they exist nowhere else, so export or copy them before any cache surgery.

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