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Deleting a Calendar Event created by a now-deleted Google Apps User

I’ve recently ran into an issue with Google Apps where a number of staff had recurring events in their calendar that were created by a now deleted Google Apps user. I didn’t have any luck finding a resolution to this, but it was suggested I contact the BetterCloud support team (who we use in work for a number of Google Apps functions).

Usual disclaimers about responsible use and checking apply – no fault of mine if you put in and nuke the wrong event. K?

1. First off, create a Google Sheet with the affected users e-mail address in the first column. This can be created by a BetterCloud Export, or by hand.
2. In Google Sheets, click on Tools > Script Editor
3. Copy this script into the Script Editor:
4. Open up the Google Calendar debug link by clicking on this debug link. If you don’t have this event in your calendar, pass this link to someone that does.
5. Once the Debug Calendar opens, click More Actions at the top and choose Troubleshooting Info from the menu.
6. Copy the Event ID – it will look along the lines of feabfps49dfal9v8rt2rckejkc.
7. Paste the Event ID into the var eventId = ""; between the “”.
8. In the Script Editor, click Resources and Advanced Google Services.
9. Enable the Calender API, then click on the link to Google Developers Console.
10. Search for and enable the Calendar API in the Google Developers Console.
11. Return to the script window and click OK.
12. Click the Run button.
13. Grant the script the permissions required, then switch to the Google Sheet to watch the results filter in.
14. Repeat as nessecary, replacing the Event ID as many times as required.
15. If the event(s) do not disappear when the script is running, refresh the Google Calender.
16. Done!

2 Comments

  1. Hey Tom!

    This video was extremely helpful! We had a terminated employee who controlled a lot of calendar invites and now they’re all orphaned with no way to delete them.

    Your tutorial was super helpful in deleting events one at a time, but is there a way to delete recurring events? Or maybe change the recurring setting using the script you made?

    • Hi Jeff,

      I don’t know about recurring events, I’m afraid. I’ve since moved on from that role and don’t use Google as much as I used to. I’m sure the event ID should work for all events if it re-occurs. I’ll have a quick look and see if I kept any other notes from this.

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