Calendars and meeting links

Connect each staff member's own calendar so Booking Orbit never books them when they are busy, and their appointments show up where they already look.

Connect a calendar

1. Open Calendars and meetings.
2. Next to the person, choose Connect Google or Connect Microsoft 365, and sign in with their account.
3. Booking Orbit picks their main calendar. Choose which calendars block times and which one gets appointments.

A person can connect more than one account, such as a work Google calendar and a personal Outlook calendar, so private plans block times too.

What happens next

• Busy times block bookings. Anything busy in a blocking calendar, such as a dentist appointment or a team meeting, takes those times off the booking page. Events marked free don't block anything.
• Appointments go into the calendar. New, moved and cancelled appointments appear in the calendar that gets them, with the customer's name, phone number and notes.
• Changes arrive within seconds. Booking Orbit asks Google and Microsoft to tell it when a calendar changes, and also checks every 10 minutes. Live updates on a calendar means the quick path is on.

If a calendar stops working, for example because the person changed their password or removed the access, the card says Needs a look and admins are told. Connect it again to fix it.

Meeting links for online services

For an online service, choose under Services where its meeting happens:

• Google Meet needs the staff member's Google calendar connected.
• Microsoft Teams needs their Microsoft 365 calendar connected.
• Zoom uses the staff member's Zoom account, or one Zoom account for the whole location under Zoom for the whole location.

The link is made when the appointment is booked and is in the confirmation, every reminder and the calendar event. When the appointment moves or is cancelled, the meeting moves or is removed too.

Privacy

Booking Orbit keeps only the start and end of busy events, never their titles or details. Connections are stored encrypted, and disconnecting removes the busy times Booking Orbit learned from that calendar.