Calendar Saver
A free Windows 11 screensaver that turns your monitor into a family wall calendar — every event from your Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendars, readable from across the room.
free & open source · Windows 11 · no account, no subscription
download → right-click → Install
Everything on one screen
The monitor you already own becomes the family command center whenever it idles.
Add any number of ICS feeds — Google, Outlook, iCloud, Nextcloud — each with its own name and color, with a legend on top.
No “+3 more” hiding things. Text auto-scales so even the busiest day fits, readable from the kitchen doorway.
To-dos from feeds that carry them, sorted by due date — overdue items highlighted so nothing slips.
Point it at your photo folders and the side panel becomes a gently crossfading family photo wall.
Fixed theme, or light during the day and dark at night — it follows the hours you choose.
Feeds refresh on an interval and cache to disk. A dropped connection still shows the last good calendar.
Set up in three minutes
Download, right-click the .scr file, choose Install. Self-contained — nothing else to install.
In Screen Saver Settings pick PactoTechCalendarSaver, then open Settings… to add calendars and photos.
In Google Calendar: Settings and sharing → Integrate calendar → copy the Secret address in iCal format. The settings dialog walks you through it and live-tests every feed.
Prefer a dedicated display on the wall?
This screensaver is the free way to get a family calendar on a screen you already own — but it sleeps when someone sits down at the PC. A Skylight Calendar is the appliance version of the same idea: a wall-mounted touchscreen that shows your family’s schedule 24/7, syncs with Google, Apple, Outlook and Cozi, and adds chore charts and meal planning the kids can tap. If your family loves the screensaver, it’s the natural upgrade. Three sizes:
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What is a calendar screensaver? — and is this a free Skylight alternative?
A calendar screensaver puts your family’s schedule on a screen that would otherwise sit dark. Instead of bouncing logos, an idle Windows PC or a spare monitor shows a full-month wall calendar: school events, work meetings, birthdays, practices, and appointments from every calendar your family uses, color-coded by person or category, plus a task list and a rotating photo collage.
Calendar Saver works with any calendar that publishes an ICS feed — Google Calendar’s secret iCal address, Outlook, iCloud, Nextcloud, and most others. Nothing leaves your machine: the screensaver fetches the feeds directly, caches them for offline viewing, and never asks for your account password. It is completely free, open source, and subscription-free.
People often find this tool while searching for a free Skylight Calendar alternative — and that’s a fair description: same month-at-a-glance idea, using hardware you already own. The trade-off is that a screensaver yields the screen when someone uses the PC. Families who want an always-on, touch-first display in the hallway or kitchen eventually add a dedicated device like the Skylight Calendar above — many run both: the screensaver on the office PC, the Skylight by the fridge.