Then perhaps add your google calendar to Thunderbird. Then you can just click in the mail body and do what is necessary.

Thunderbird is set up to work as a whole email and calendar otherwise the attachments would not be formatted with buttons etc. Having the calendar included in Thunderbird make the most sense, as having the same google calendar in a browser is somewhat self defeating as you are saving file and importing them instead of clicking a single button.

I have no problem downloading an .ics file form an email and importing to Google - it takes about 20 seconds, and as I’m retired, I only get a few meetings a month

I share my Google calendar with my husband and across various devices, whereas Thunderbird only sits on our desktop and I don’t use it on laptop (Outlook) or iPad (Mail) so using TB calendar would be a waste of time I’m afraid.

re :I share my Google calendar with my husband and across various devices,

So you are able to access the google calendar from everywhere except Thunderbird on desktop.

Why don't you want to access it from Thunderbird as well ?

I can access google calendar directly via a browser from other computers whether they use Thunderbird or not is totally irrelevant.

But I have the google calendar being accessed via Thunderbird because it convenient to see google calendar. Anything I add to the google calendar via Thunderbird's calendar is also visible in the google calendar when accessed via a browser. Thunderbird synchronises with the google calendar so I don't have to do it manually.

re :so using TB calendar would be a waste of time I’m afraid.

It cannot be a waste of time if you use Google Calendar. It sounds like you do not understand that Thunderbird can hook up to google calendar. Thunderbird does have it's own built in calendar which is perfect for many people who do not use any other calendar. However, you can also add the google calendar and choose to use it instead. It's like seeing google in Thunderbird.

Try it out:

• Menu icon > New > Calendar
• Select 'Google Calendar' and click on 'Next'
• Select or type: full gmail email address and click on 'Find Calendar'
• Choose calendar and click on 'Subscribe'

The gmail calendar gets added to the Calendar list. You may get a prompt by gmail to allow if Oauth needs to be set up.

Ah - thank you - the original answer suggested to me that I should export my G-cal into TBird. Didn't know you could open G-Cal inside - the process is a bit different to the one you showed as I don't get the option to select "google calendar" but it got there with the email account and a couple of extra steps.

Hopefully it will not not only give me proper ics invites but also keep the server version updated - I'll have a play