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Calendar events or Reminders missing after an iCloud change or a new Mac? What to check first

By Kayabyte · Last updated 11 November 2026

Short answer: if your calendar events or reminders vanished after a new Mac, a macOS update or a change to iCloud, they are often not deleted. They are usually in another account, switched off in iCloud settings, hidden because a calendar is unticked, or stored only “On My Mac” and so never synced. Check those first, look at iCloud.com, and give the sync time. Only if the items are truly gone do you need an iCloud archive or a backup. The checks below are free, and none of them changes your data.

Do not turn iCloud off and on, sign out or restore anything yet. A change made in a panic can sync to your other devices.

1. Check the same Apple Account and the iCloud switches

Apple’s page “If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync” (checked 11 November 2026) says first to make sure you signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on all of your devices, and then to check that Contacts, Calendars and Reminders are turned on in your iCloud settings. A Mac signed in to a different Apple Account shows a different set of data.

For Reminders on a Mac, the same page says to choose Apple menu, then System Settings, click your name, and click See All next to Saved to iCloud, and check that Reminders is turned on.

2. Check which account your events are in

The same Apple page says that events stored in iCloud are updated by iCloud automatically, while events kept somewhere else, such as On My Mac, Exchange or Google, are not. If you use several accounts on the Mac, such as iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo, Apple says to make sure one of your iCloud calendars is the default: open Calendar, choose Calendar, then Settings, and look in the General tab.

Open the calendar list too (View, Show Calendar List) and make sure the calendars you expect are ticked.

3. An “On My Mac” calendar is different

Apple’s Calendar guide, “Import or export calendars on Mac” (checked 11 November 2026), says that if you use a calendar account such as iCloud or Exchange, your calendars are stored on the provider’s servers. Calendars in the On My Mac section are not, and Apple says you back those up by exporting them. If your missing events were On My Mac, they were not kept in iCloud, so an iCloud.com archive is not where to look. Look in a Time Machine or iPhone backup instead, and export what you still have: File, Export, Export for one calendar, or File, Export, Calendar Archive for all of them. Apple warns that importing a calendar archive replaces all of your current calendar information, so import single .ics files unless you want that.

4. Check iCloud.com

Sign in at iCloud.com and open Calendar and Reminders. If your items are there, they are safe and the problem is this Mac or its settings. Apple’s page suggests, if iCloud.com itself shows problems, signing out and in, or opening another app on iCloud.com such as Mail and coming back. On the Mac, Apple also says to use View, Refresh Calendars, to restart the computer and to check that the date and time are correct.

5. Give it time after a new Mac or update

A new Mac may need a while to download everything again. Keep it on Wi-Fi and powered, leave Calendar and Reminders open, and look again. Compare with your iPhone: if the phone still shows the items, nothing has been lost.

6. If the items are really gone

Work in this order:

  1. Edit, Undo in Calendar or Reminders, only if you just deleted something.
  2. iCloud.com Data Recovery. Apple’s iCloud guide (checked 11 November 2026) says you can restore calendars and events, along with reminders and reminder lists, from an earlier version that iCloud archived automatically. On icloud.com/calendar, select the icon in the toolbar, then Data Recovery, then Restore Calendars; for reminders, on icloud.com/reminders, the choice is Restore Calendars and Reminders. Versions are listed by the date and time they were archived. Apple warns that all sharing information is removed when you restore shared calendars or reminder lists, so write down who shares what first, and that changes you make during the restore are not saved. Restored items appear on all your devices with the app turned on in iCloud settings, so this replaces what is there now. Apple says you can restore the most recent version if you change your mind.
  3. A Time Machine or iPhone backup from before the loss. See how to recover deleted Calendar events and how to recover deleted Reminders.

A faster way for step 3: NoteRescue

NoteRescue is a Mac app we make. It scans your Time Machine snapshots and iPhone or iPad backups (encrypted ones too) and compares what is in them with your Calendar and Reminders today. The scan is free and read only. It lists the events and reminders that are missing or changed. For Calendar it writes the ones you pick as an .ics file in a new calendar, using Calendar’s own import. It never writes into Calendar or Reminders itself.

Reminders cannot be put back automatically: the Reminders app does not import the .ics file. NoteRescue exports .ics, CSV and Markdown files, and you add the reminders you still need by hand. Repeat rules are not read.

Steps with NoteRescue

  1. Open NoteRescue, allow Full Disk Access and press Scan. Enter the backup password if an iPhone backup is encrypted.
  2. Open the Calendar and Reminders row, filter to Missing and select what you need.
  3. Choose a folder and recover. For events, import the .ics into a new calendar; for reminders, open the CSV or Markdown file and add them yourself.
  4. Check the result on a second device after a few minutes.

One free proof item per app. Calendar and Reminders is USD 19.99 once, or USD 39.99 for all apps, for up to 3 Macs, with a 30-day refund. macOS 15 or later, Mac only, offline, no account, no AI. Download NoteRescue

What cannot come back

Questions

Why are my calendar events missing after setting up a new Mac? Most often the Mac is signed in to a different Apple Account, Calendars is off in iCloud settings, a calendar is unticked, or the events were On My Mac and never synced. Check those before anything else.

Are my reminders gone if iCloud.com shows them? No. They are safe in iCloud and this Mac needs to sync again.

Will an iCloud.com restore bring back On My Mac events? Apple says exporting is how you back up calendars in On My Mac, and that iCloud keeps the calendars of an account, so look in a Time Machine or iPhone backup.

Does NoteRescue need my Apple Account password? No. It never signs in to iCloud and reads only your backups and local data.

Apple, Mac, iPhone, iCloud, Time Machine and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc. NoteRescue is made by Kayabyte and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.