How to send an email with a calendar reminder?
Short answerAttach a calendar file with the .ics extension to your confirmation email, and the customer can add the visit to their own calendar in one tap. Most calendar apps will create the event for you, and your email app or scheduling tool can generate the file. Include the address and arrival window in it.
The explanation
An ICS file is a small text file that describes an event: title, start, end, location and description. When the customer opens it, their phone offers to add it to their calendar, where their own alert settings take over.
Build the file with the visit window as the start and end, put the address in the location field, and add the crew's phone number in the description. Name the file with the date so a customer with several visits can tell them apart.
Test it on both an iPhone and an Android phone before you rely on it, because some mail apps show the attachment differently. Always repeat the key details in the email body, since a customer who skips the attachment should still know the day and the window.
Steps
- Create the event with window, address and phone number.
- Export or generate the .ics file.
- Attach it to the confirmation email and repeat the details in the body.
- Open the email on two different phones to confirm the add-to-calendar prompt appears.
What to watch for
- Files that open as plain text.
- Time zones set wrongly in the file.
How Apex does it
In progress
Part of this is built. The rest is not. Status as of 2026-10-07; the badge shows the least-built feature involved.
Apex builds confirmation messages and an iCal subscribe feed so visits can appear in a personal calendar. The feed is partly built, and customer reminders by email come first with text added once the owner connects a provider.
- CM04Confirmation messages(Built, rolling out)
- SC16iCal/ICS subscribe feed(In progress)
- CM03Appointment reminders (SMS/email)(Built, rolling out)
Apex Flow Scheduler is in early access. See how we label status.
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