You have two Google accounts — work and personal, or two jobs — and the second account has to hold real events. Find a time, a booking page, or a colleague opening that calendar needs to see the time as taken. If you only want both calendars checked in one sidebar, that is share or subscribe, not this page. Google and Outlook is a different setup: How to Sync Google Calendar with Outlook.
Overlay looks like a sync until someone else looks at the other account and it is empty. That is the wall in Google's help community and on Reddit.
Who is this for?
People who need an event to exist on the other Google account, not merely appear in one view. A share or a subscribe is enough if you are the only person looking. It is not enough if the other account is what other people or tools query.
What you'll need: two Google accounts you can sign in to. Keeper.sh Free covers one two-way pair — 2 accounts, and 2 of the 3 connections.
Why doesn’t sharing two Google accounts copy events?
Sharing lets another account look at, or edit, your calendar. It does not write a second event onto theirs. Google says they get an email, and “To find your calendar, they need to click the link in the email.” The permissions — See only free/busy, See all event details, Make changes — still apply to your calendar. A work or school administrator can block sharing.
On your computer, open Google Calendar. Under My calendars, click More → Settings and sharing → Shared with → Add people and groups, then Send.
Caption: Settings and sharing → Shared with → Add people and groups.
Share your calendar is the source for that path.
Add people and groups shares your calendar. It does not copy events onto the other account.
Why doesn’t Subscribe to calendar or From URL copy events?
Subscribe to calendar puts the other calendar under Other calendars after the owner approves. Google says it then “shows under Other calendars.” That is an overlay on your view, not a copy on your primary calendar. Google is explicit: “To subscribe to a new calendar, you must use a computer web browser.”
From URL is the same Other calendars menu. Google: “You can only add a calendar with a link if the other person's calendar is public.”
On your computer: Other calendars → Add other calendars → Subscribe to calendar (email), or From URL.
Caption: Other calendars plus menu → Subscribe to calendar.
Caption: From URL field.
A related control, Secret address in iCal format, lives under Settings → the calendar → Integrate calendar. Google: “The Secret Address lets you view your calendar in other applications.” And: “If you want to let someone else view your calendar, you can share your calendar.” Also: “You should not give your Secret Address to other people.”
Caption: Integrate calendar → Secret address in iCal format.
Subscribe to someone else’s calendar and Share your calendar with someone are the sources. Google does not publish how often a URL-added calendar is re-read.
Subscribe to calendar and From URL overlay the other calendar. They do not write copies onto the subscriber’s primary calendar.
Why doesn’t Import & Export stay in sync?
Google’s import help says it outright: “Imported events don't stay in sync between your 2 accounts. If you want your calendars to sync, share your calendar with the other account.” Import can “transfer your events from a different calendar application or Google Account.” Guests and conference data are not imported. It is a snapshot.
Settings → Import & Export → Select file from your computer.
Caption: Import & Export.
Source: Import events to Google Calendar.
Import & Export transfers events once. It does not keep two accounts in sync.
How do you copy events between two Google accounts?
Connect both Google accounts to Keeper.sh. On each source calendar, under Send Events to Calendars, tick the calendar that should receive copies. Two-way is two one-way connections.
- Connect both Google accounts.
- Open the first source calendar. Under Send Events to Calendars, tick the other account’s calendar.
- Repeat from the other source if both sides should receive copies.
A two-way pair uses 2 of Free’s 3 connections. Copies are private by default: the destination event is titled after the source calendar, and description and location stay hidden unless you turn each on. Those toggles are Pro. Sources are read every minute on every plan. Free writes into destinations every 30 minutes. Pro writes every minute, and Google notifies Keeper.sh on change.
Dashboard click-by-click lives in Docs and Guides, not here.
Caption: Keeper: two Google accounts connected.
Caption: Keeper: Send Events to Calendars ticked toward the other account.
What breaks if both sides can write the same events?
If both accounts have Make changes on the same shared calendar, there is only one event. Whoever deletes it deletes it for both. If you run two one-way copies and each copy is allowed to travel back without a mapping, the second pass can clone the clone. A work Google Workspace account can block sharing or third-party calendar access — Google’s share article says the administrator decides whether you can share.
A copy that carries the real title into a work calendar is visible to anyone who can read that calendar. Leave the default private copies on unless you have a reason to show the real event name.
Keeper.sh keeps the mapping so a move or a delete updates the paired copy instead of leaving a stale duplicate. Unticking a destination under Send Events to Calendars stops new copies. Already-copied events stay until you clear them.