Calendar event QR — Troubleshooting

Worked example

Raw BEGIN:VCALENDAR text means the reader skips calendar import; an hour-off event is a time-zone issue, as the record has no zone.

If the scan result is raw text starting BEGIN:VCALENDAR, the reader does not hand iCalendar data to the calendar. Use the phone camera app or another scanner that supports calendar events, and print the date and place as plain text on the poster for people who cannot import.

If the event appears at the wrong hour, the cause is time-zone handling. The record has no zone marker, so a phone interprets the time in its own zone, and some calendar apps treat it differently. Check the displayed appointment, print the zone beside the time, and avoid scheduling the example for a different zone from your readers. If the end is missing, a calendar may apply its own default length, so set an explicit end.

If a comma in the title appears as backslash-comma, the reader is not unescaping the text. Rewrite the title without commas or semicolons, for example "Open House Room 2". If the form shows "Enter a valid event start date and time", the start picker is empty; if it says the end must be after the start, move the end later. A contrast under 4.5:1 also stops export.

If a printed code will not scan, it is probably too dense. The full record is about 146 bytes and 65 x 65 modules; dropping the location and end reduces it to about 108 bytes and 57 x 57. Print larger, export 1200 px or more, or use the SVG.

Event title + start and end

Calendar event payload

A reader that ignores calendar data cannot be fixed from the code; give people the date and place in plain text too.