How to Import a School Calendar PDF into Big Nest

A parent-teacher group is intimately linked with its school and the school district. Give parents some context around your events by also including the school district’s calendar on your Big Nest site.

You can upload a school calendar PDF and Big Nest will extract the events automatically, allowing you to review them and add them directly to your calendar.

This guide shows how it works.

 

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Step 1: Go to the Calendar Events Dashboard

First, open the calendar dashboard in your admin area.

From the Admin Dashboard, navigate to:

Main Pages → Calendar

Then open the Events tab.

This page is where you manage events, import documents, and create additional calendars.

At the top of the screen you’ll see the Import Events button.

 

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Step 2: Upload Your School Calendar

Click Import Events.

You will see the document upload screen.

Upload the file that contains your calendar.

Big Nest currently supports:

• PDF documents
• PNG images
• JPG images

Most groups upload their school district calendar PDF, but this also works with:

• event flyers
• activity schedules
• district announcements

Once you select the file, Big Nest begins analyzing the document.

This process usually takes a few seconds.

 

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Step 3: Review the Events Big Nest Found

After processing the document, you’ll see a review screen showing the events that were detected.

Each row shows:

• the event name
• the detected date
• optional start and end dates

Before saving the events you can:

• edit event names
• adjust dates
• remove events that aren’t relevant

This step allows you to confirm everything looks correct before the events are added to your calendar.

 

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Step 4: Link Events to a Calendar

Once the events look correct, you can choose where to store them.

Most groups create a separate calendar such as:

School District Calendar

This allows your website to display:

• PTG events
• school district events

side-by-side.

You can also add the events to an existing calendar if you prefer to keep everything in one place.

 

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Why This Is Helpful

Many parent groups spend hours manually copying dates from school calendars.

Importing the PDF removes that work.

It also helps families see everything happening at the school in one place, including:

• district holidays
• teacher workdays
• PTG fundraisers
• after-school programs
• community events

Instead of checking multiple calendars, families can simply subscribe to your Big Nest calendar and see all updates automatically.

 

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Tips for Best Results

Most school calendars import cleanly, but these tips help improve results:

Use the original PDF if possible

Screenshots or photos of calendars sometimes contain less readable text.

Review the events before saving

Big Nest will detect most events correctly, but it’s always good to scan the list quickly.

Create a separate calendar for district events

Keeping district events in their own calendar makes it easier to turn them on or off later.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can Big Nest read any calendar PDF?

Most school calendars work well. Documents with clear dates and event names are easiest to interpret.

If a document is more complex, you can edit or remove events during the review step.

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Do I have to import the calendar every year?

Yes. Most districts publish a new calendar annually, so you’ll typically upload a new PDF each school year.

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Can I import other types of documents?

Yes. Big Nest can also analyze event flyers or schedules, not just district calendars.

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Summary

Uploading a school calendar PDF is one of the fastest ways to populate your Big Nest calendar.

Instead of manually entering dozens of dates, you can:

• upload the calendar
• review the detected events
• publish them in minutes

That means less time managing the website and more time focusing on your school community.