How to open a GPX file in Garmin Connect

Activity or Course — pick before uploading

• Activity (recorded workout). Use this when the GPX is something you actually did — a recorded ride, run, or hike. The file appears in your activity feed, counts toward weekly stats, syncs to Strava if connected, and feeds into Garmin's training-load and recovery metrics. The GPX should have realistic timestamps; without them, the activity shows zero moving time.
• Course (planned navigable route). Use this when you want to follow the route on a Garmin head unit. Courses don't appear in the activity feed and don't affect training load. They push to the device on the next sync and are followable from the device's Courses menu with turn-by-turn cues (on devices with mapping).

A common mistake: importing a planned-route GPX as an Activity, ending up with an empty workout entry on your profile. If you want to follow the route, take the Course path. If the file is a recording you want logged, take the Activity path.

Activity import — step-by-step

1. Open viewmygpx and drop the GPX file onto the viewer. Visit viewmygpx.com, drag in the .gpx, confirm the route looks right.
2. Open connect.garmin.com → Activities → Import Data. Sign in if prompted.
3. Drop the .gpx onto the import area, or click Browse. Garmin Connect processes the file and displays a confirmation.
4. Open the new activity from your activity feed to verify it. Distance, elevation, and timestamps should match the file. Heart rate, cadence, and temperature appear if the GPX had Garmin's TrackPointExtension data.
5. Edit the activity name and sport type. Garmin Connect picks defaults; override if needed. Sport type matters for the activity feed icon and for Strava sync if you have it connected.

Course import — step-by-step

1. Open viewmygpx and drop the GPX file onto the viewer. Same first step — verify the route in the browser before sending to Garmin.
2. Open Training → Courses → Create a Course → Import a Course. Sign in if prompted.
3. Drop the .gpx onto the import area. Garmin processes the file and previews the Course on a map.
4. Set the activity type for the Course (Cycling, Running, Hiking, etc). This matters because Edge cycling computers don't show running Courses, and vice versa. Pick the type that matches the device you'll follow it on.
5. Save the Course and let your device sync. Open the Garmin Connect mobile app with your device nearby (or over Wi-Fi for newer Edge / fenix models). The Course pushes within a few seconds. Find it on the device under Courses (Edge / fenix) or Navigation → Courses (Forerunner) and start following.

What follows-the-line vs turn-by-turn cues looks like by device

Garmin's navigation experience differs by device. The same imported Course produces different on-screen behavior:

• Devices with onboard maps — Edge 530/540/830/840 and 1030/1040/1050; fenix 6/7/8 with mapping; Forerunner 945/955/965 — match the Course polyline against the device map and produce specific turn cues with vibration alerts. The route shows on top of the map; you see where you are, where the route goes, and the next turn.
• Devices without maps — entry-level Edge models, older Forerunner — show the Course as a breadcrumb line on a blank background. You see your position relative to the route line and an off-course alert if you stray, but no specific turn instructions.
• fenix without maps — same breadcrumb-only behavior. Plenty for following a known route, less useful for decision points where multiple paths cross.

For routes that follow well-mapped roads or trails, even the breadcrumb-only experience is enough. For routes with many unmarked junctions, a mapping device is significantly more comfortable to follow.

Sensor data — heart rate, cadence, temperature, power

Garmin Connect reads its own TrackPointExtension namespace inside GPX. On every trackpoint that has them, the heart rate, cadence, and temperature values are preserved and rendered on the activity's charts. Power data uses the same extension if the sensor wrote it.

For richer sensor metadata — left/right power balance, smoothness, stride dynamics, Glide ratio, lap markers, training-load metrics — upload the original FIT file from the head unit instead of GPX. FIT carries Garmin-specific fields that GPX doesn't represent natively. GPX is the right format for portability across platforms; FIT is the right format inside Garmin's ecosystem.

Common pitfalls

Course doesn't appear on the device

Three usual causes. (1) Device hasn't synced — open the Connect mobile app with the device nearby and force a sync. (2) Course storage is full — Edge devices typically hold ~100 Courses; delete old ones from the device or from Connect. (3) Course was created in the wrong activity type — edit the Course in Connect and set the activity type to match the device.

Imported Activity has zero moving time

The GPX has no timestamps or has all timestamps at the same value. Use the viewmygpx editor to add timestamps based on a target activity duration before re-importing.

Elevation total looks too high or too low

For an Activity, the displayed total comes from the GPX file itself. If the file's elevation is unreliable (consumer GPS altimetry in mixed weather), Garmin Connect lets you recompute against its DEM under the activity's edit menu. For a Course, elevation is recomputed automatically.

Sport-type mismatch causes filtering issues

Garmin's activity feed filters by sport type. An imported ride with the wrong sport type (Running instead of Cycling, or Other instead of Mountain Biking) won't appear when you filter. Edit the activity type after import to fix.

Alternatives

• Strava for activity logging and segment matching. Strava's social feed and segment leaderboards are unique; connect Strava to Garmin Connect to mirror activities both directions.
• Komoot for turn-by-turn navigation on the phone. If you don't have a Garmin device or prefer phone-based navigation, Komoot does turn-by-turn voice cues from an imported GPX.
• Ride with GPS for cue-sheet generation. RWGPS produces written turn-by-turn cue sheets from imported GPX, useful for handlebar instructions on long routes.