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Load the GPX on a Garmin — and get one back.

Menus differ by model and firmware. The file types do not. Below: the documented way to bring a file in through Garmin Connect, what a GPX course cannot carry, and the two export paths Garmin publishes.

Import a GPX file into Garmin Connect

Garmin's documented route for a file that starts on your computer is Garmin Connect. Course import there accepts .fit, .gpx, and .tcx files, so a GPX track from this site can go straight in.

  1. Sign in to Garmin Connect on a computer.
  2. Choose Training & Planning → Courses.
  3. Choose Import at the bottom right of the course list.
  4. Drag your file into the box, or browse to it.
  5. Select Get Started, pick a course type, and continue.
  6. Rename the course if you want, then save it.

The Garmin Connect phone app can take the same file without a computer: open the file on the phone and send it to Garmin Connect from the share sheet, then choose a course type and save.

Send the course to the watch or handheld

A saved course still has to reach the device. Garmin documents two ways:

  • Phone app. More → Training & Planning → Courses → pick the course → send → pick the device. The course arrives on the next sync.
  • Web. Training & Planning → Courses → pick the course → Send to Device → pick the device → Send to Device, then sync with Garmin Express or the Connect app.

On a fēnix 7 or a similar watch, open the activity profile the course was made for, then Settings or the scrolled menu → Navigation → Courses. Cycling computers put the same list under Navigation → Courses.

“You can send a course from your Garmin Connect™ account to your device. After it is saved to your device, you can navigate the course on your device.”

— Garmin, fēnix 7 Series Owner's Manual — Courses

Two limits are worth knowing before a trip. Most devices read only the first 15 characters of a course name, so keep the distinguishing part of the name at the front. Many devices also hold only about 100 courses, so delete what you no longer need. Both limits are documented on the Garmin pages listed under this article.

Cue sheets on a fēnix 7 course

Here the file type matters. A track from this site is an ordered line: points, distance, and estimated elevation. It has no GPX route element and no turn-by-turn instructions, so a course built from it has no custom cue sheet — no text prompts at the junctions you care about.

“While .gpx is standard, .tcx files are often larger because they include extra data like turn-by-turn 'cue sheets' and speed info.”

— Garmin Customer Support, Importing a third-party course into Garmin Connect

Cue data belongs to Garmin's own course formats: only TCX and FIT course files can hold named points for landmarks and turn-by-turn cues. If the prompts are the point of the ride, build the course in a tool that writes them — a Garmin Connect course you create, or a course builder that exports TCX or FIT — and use the GPX track only as the line.

A watch can still navigate a course built from a plain track — the fēnix 7 manual's wording is that once the course is saved to the device, you can navigate it. What the watch cannot show is your own wording at your own landmarks.

Download GPX from Garmin: activities and courses

Garmin publishes two export paths, and they behave differently.

  • An activity you recorded. Sign in to Garmin Connect on the web → Activities → All Activities → open the activity → the gear in the top right corner → Export to GPX. The file downloads immediately.
  • A course you saved. Training & Planning → Courses → pick the course → the three-dot menu beside Send to Device → Download. Garmin does not state which format comes back, so check the file's extension: only a .gpx, .kml, or .kmz file can be opened here.

Once you have the file, drop it on the Map to GPS canvas to see the line, correct a point, and download it again — or open it in the GPX viewer to check distance and elevation gain first.

Where these steps come from

Course import, device transfer, export paths, and the naming and storage limits above are taken from Garmin's support articles, the fēnix 7 Series owner's manual, and the FIT SDK, checked on 23 September 2026. Garmin updates them without notice, so those pages remain the authority.

  1. 01Garmin: importing a third-party course into Garmin ConnectAccepted file types, both import paths, and the note about cue sheets.
  2. 02Garmin: sending a saved course to a deviceThe app and web send paths, plus where courses appear on a watch.
  3. 03Garmin: exporting an activity as GPXThe gear menu path that produces a GPX file from a recorded activity.
  4. 04Garmin: share or export a course from Garmin ConnectThe three-dot Download entry for courses, whose format Garmin leaves open.
  5. 05Garmin: fēnix 7 Series owner's manual, CoursesThe device-side wording for courses quoted above.
  6. 06Garmin FIT SDK: course filesCourse Point messages, which carry landmarks and turn-by-turn cues in FIT courses.