Calendar Integrations

Connecting Google Calendar is the single most important step after creating your account. It lets Bookme see your existing events so it never offers a slot you are already booked for, and writes new bookings into your calendar automatically.

1. Open The Calendars Page

In your dashboard sidebar, click Settings, then click the Calendars tab. You will see a list of supported calendars on the left and any already-connected calendars on the right.

2. Click Connect Google Calendar

A Google sign-in window opens. Bookme requests: – Read events on your calendars. – Create, edit, and delete events on your primary calendar.

Click Allow and you are returned to the Calendars page.

3. Choose Which Calendars To Read From

Once connected, you see a list of every Google Calendar you own or subscribe to. Tick the boxes for the calendars you want Bookme to read.

• Read from. Bookme treats events on this calendar as busy.
• Write to. Pick exactly one calendar where new Bookme events will be created.

4. Confirm The Two-Way Sync Is Working

Bookme syncs every 5 minutes automatically. To test: – Create a fake event on Google Calendar at 3 PM tomorrow. – Wait 60 seconds. – Open your public booking page in incognito. – Pick tomorrow. The 3 PM slot should not appear.

If the slot still appears, click Force sync on the Calendars page.

5. (Optional) Connect Multiple Google Accounts

You can connect multiple Google accounts to one Bookme account. Click Add another Google account and repeat steps 2 and 3.

6. What To Do If The Sync Breaks

Tokens occasionally expire. When that happens, a yellow banner shows on your dashboard and the connected calendar shows a Reconnect button. Click it, sign back in, the sync resumes.

Outlook and Microsoft 365 calendars work in Bookme the same way as Google Calendar. The integration uses Microsoft’s official Graph API.

1. Open The Calendars Page

Settings, then Calendars tab. Click Connect Outlook / Microsoft 365.

2. Sign In With Microsoft

A Microsoft sign-in window opens. Use your work or school account (Microsoft 365) or personal Outlook.com account. Bookme requests:

• Read your calendars and events.
• Create, modify, and delete events in your primary calendar.
• Send mail on your behalf. Only used when Bookme needs to forward a meeting update; never used for marketing.

Click Accept.

3. Pick Calendars To Read And Write To

Same as Google: tick which calendars Bookme reads as busy, and pick one calendar where it writes new bookings.

4. Confirm Sync

Same test as Google: create a fake event in Outlook 30 minutes from now, refresh your Bookme booking page, the slot should disappear.

5. Common Outlook-Specific Issues

“Resource calendars” are not supported. Bookme only connects to user calendars, not Microsoft 365 resource calendars (conference rooms, equipment). If you need to check resource availability, use the user-level calendar instead.

Mailbox tenant restrictions. Some Microsoft 365 admins restrict third-party OAuth. If you see “Need admin approval” during sign-in, contact your IT admin to grant Bookme app permission for your tenant.

Delegated mailboxes. If your account is a delegated mailbox (you handle someone else’s email), connect using your own primary account, not the delegated one. Delegated mailboxes do not have a personal calendar.

6. Hybrid Microsoft + Google Setups

Many hosts have: – Microsoft 365 for work meetings. – Google Calendar for personal commitments.

Connect both. Configure: – Microsoft as Write to (work meetings go to work calendar). – Both as Read from (no double-bookings against personal events either).

iCloud / Apple Calendar connects via CalDAV. The setup is slightly more involved than Google or Microsoft because Apple requires an app-specific password.

1. Generate An App-Specific Password

Apple does not let third-party apps connect to iCloud with your regular Apple ID password. You need an app-specific password.

• Sign in at appleid.apple.com.
• Under Sign-In and Security, click App-Specific Passwords.
• Click Generate Password and label it “Bookme.”
• Apple shows you a 16-character password. Copy it; you will not see it again.

2. Open Bookme Calendars

Settings, then Calendars tab. Click Connect iCloud / Apple Calendar.

3. Enter Credentials

• Apple ID email. Your iCloud email.
• App-specific password. The 16-character one you just generated.

Click Connect. Bookme verifies via CalDAV and lists your iCloud calendars.

4. Pick Calendars To Read And Write

Same flow as Google or Microsoft. Tick the calendars Bookme reads as busy; pick one to write new bookings to.

5. Sync Limitations

CalDAV is older than the Google or Microsoft Graph APIs. Some limitations: – Sync interval is 15 minutes (not 5 like Google). – No webhook push. Bookme polls; new external events take up to 15 minutes to be reflected. – No “Force sync” button; you wait for the next interval.

For most use cases this is fine. For high-frequency calendar work, prefer Google or Outlook.

6. Disconnecting

Click Disconnect next to the iCloud entry. Bookme stops reading the calendar. You should also revoke the app-specific password at appleid.apple.com for tidiness.

Yes. You can connect any number of calendars from any combination of Google, Outlook, and iCloud accounts. Bookme reads busy times from all of them and writes new bookings to the one you pick.

1. Why You Would Want Multiple

• Separate work and personal Google accounts.
• Microsoft 365 work calendar plus Google personal calendar.
• Multiple Google accounts if you run several businesses.
• A team-shared calendar plus your personal one.

2. How To Add Another Calendar

On the Calendars settings page, click + Add another calendar. Choose the provider, sign in, and configure read / write settings just like the first one.

3. Read From Many, Write To One

You can have: – Read from: every connected calendar. – Write to: exactly one calendar.

The “write to” choice determines where new Bookme bookings physically land. Pick the one you actually use day-to-day to schedule meetings.

4. Per-Event Override (Pro+)

On Pro and Elite, you can override the write-to calendar per event type. For example: – Default write to: Personal Google. – “Sales demo” event type writes to: Work Microsoft 365.

This is useful for hosts juggling multiple businesses or roles.

5. Disconnecting One Of Many

Click Disconnect next to any account. The others stay connected. If you disconnect the “Write to” calendar, Bookme will warn you and ask you to pick a new one before saving.

6. Calendar Limit

Free and Pro accounts can connect up to 3 calendars. Elite allows unlimited.

Bookme writes new bookings to exactly one calendar: the one you mark as “Write to” on the Calendars settings page.

1. Find Your Current Write Calendar

Settings, then Calendars. Each connected calendar shows two badges: – Read from (one or many can be enabled). – Write to (exactly one is the active write target).

The currently active write calendar has a green “Write to” badge.

2. Change It

Click Set as write calendar next to any other connected calendar. The badge moves; the next booking writes to the new target.

Note: Past bookings stay in the calendar they were originally written to. Changing the write target only affects future bookings.

3. What Gets Written

For each new booking, Bookme creates a calendar event with: – Title: the event-type title plus the invitee’s name (e.g. “30-Min Intro: Sarah Chen”). – Time: the booked slot. – Description: invitee details, intake form answers, reschedule and cancel links. – Location: the meeting URL (Zoom, Google Meet, brandID Meet) or in-person address. – Attendees: you and the invitee. – Color: the event-type color.

4. Per-Event Write Calendar (Pro+)

In the event editor, Advanced tab, the Write to calendar dropdown lets you override the workspace default for that event only. Useful for hosts with multiple businesses or roles.

5. Subcalendars / Categories

Some calendar providers (Google, Microsoft) support subcalendars within an account. Bookme writes to whichever subcalendar you pick as “Write to.” If you want all Bookme events on a “Client Meetings” subcalendar, create that subcalendar in Google or Microsoft first, then point Bookme to it.

6. Cancelling The Write Target

If you disconnect or remove the write calendar without picking a replacement, new bookings will fail with an error. Always have one calendar marked as Write to.

Two-way sync is the engine that keeps Bookme and your external calendar in agreement. Bookme reads your busy times and writes its own events.

1. The “Read” Side: Preventing Double-Bookings

Every time an invitee opens your booking page, Bookme: – Checks your weekly schedule for the requested day. – Subtracts any date overrides. – Pulls busy times from every “Read from” calendar. – Subtracts those busy times from your schedule. – Subtracts existing Bookme bookings. – Returns the remaining slots as bookable.

This means a meeting added to your Google or Outlook calendar by someone else (your assistant, a colleague who sends a meeting invite) is immediately treated as busy. You cannot be double-booked.

2. The “Write” Side: Pushing Bookme Events To Your Calendar

When an invitee books a slot, Bookme writes a calendar event to your “Write to” calendar with: – The meeting time. – The meeting URL. – The invitee’s details. – Reschedule and cancel links in the description.

This means your calendar always shows your real schedule, including Bookme bookings.

3. Sync Frequency

• Google and Microsoft: real-time push notifications when external events change, plus a polling sync every 5 minutes as a fallback.
• iCloud (CalDAV): polling every 15 minutes.

In practice, an event added to Google Calendar is visible to Bookme within a few seconds.

4. The Reschedule Flow

When an invitee reschedules: – The old calendar event is updated to the new time (not deleted and recreated). – The meeting URL stays the same (no Zoom or Google Meet re-issuance). – All workflow jobs (reminders, follow-ups) are rescheduled to fire at the new offsets.

5. The Cancel Flow

When a booking is cancelled (by the invitee or you): – The calendar event is deleted from your write calendar. – The meeting URL is invalidated where the provider supports it (Zoom does, Google Meet does, brandID Meet does). – Any scheduled workflow jobs are cancelled.

6. When Sync Breaks

If sync breaks (token expired, network outage, calendar permissions changed), Bookme stops reading your busy times. Invitees can book over existing events. A yellow banner appears on your dashboard immediately.

Calendar sync issues are usually fixable in under 2 minutes. Here are the most common causes and the right fix for each.

1. Token Expired

The most common cause. OAuth tokens for Google and Microsoft can expire if: – You changed your password recently. – Your IT admin revoked third-party access. – You went 6+ months without using Bookme.

Fix: Settings, then Calendars. Find the calendar with a yellow warning. Click Reconnect. Sign back in.

2. Permissions Changed

You may have accidentally revoked Bookme’s permissions in Google or Microsoft’s security settings.

Fix: Disconnect from Bookme entirely, then reconnect from scratch. This regrants permissions.

3. Calendar Was Renamed Or Deleted

If you deleted or renamed the calendar Bookme was syncing to, the sync fails.

Fix: Settings, then Calendars. Pick a new “Read from” / “Write to” calendar from the dropdown.

4. Network Or Provider Outage

Google or Microsoft occasionally have brief outages. Bookme cannot fix these, but the sync resumes automatically once the provider is back.

Fix: Check status.google.com or status.microsoft.com. Wait 15 minutes and try Force sync.

5. Calendar Has Too Many Events

Bookme reads up to 60 days ahead and 7 days back. If you have a calendar with thousands of all-day or recurring events in that window, syncing can be slow.

Fix: Reduce the noise. Move bulky recurring events (birthday reminders, etc.) to a separate calendar that Bookme does not read.

6. iCloud App-Specific Password Was Revoked

If you regenerated or revoked your Apple app-specific password, Bookme cannot authenticate anymore.

Fix: Generate a new app-specific password at appleid.apple.com, then update it in Bookme under Settings, then Calendars.

7. Diagnostic Steps

Open Settings, then Calendars. For the broken calendar, click Sync diagnostics. Bookme shows: – Last successful sync time. – Last error message. – Token status.

This usually tells you which fix to apply.

8. When To Contact Support

If Reconnect fails repeatedly, or if you see a 5xx error in diagnostics for more than an hour, email [email protected] with: – Your account email. – The calendar provider (Google, Microsoft, iCloud). – The exact error message from diagnostics.

Disconnecting a calendar removes the integration entirely. Reauthorizing keeps the integration but refreshes the OAuth permissions.

1. Open The Calendars Settings

Settings, then Calendars tab. Each connected calendar has a three-dot menu on the right with two options: – Reauthorize. Refresh permissions without disconnecting. – Disconnect. Remove the integration entirely.

2. When To Reauthorize

Pick Reauthorize if: – You see a “permissions changed” or “token expired” warning. – You changed your password recently and want to refresh. – Sync has been broken but no major change happened on your end.

Reauthorize keeps your read/write selections; you sign in again and continue.

3. When To Disconnect

Pick Disconnect if: – You no longer want Bookme to access this calendar at all. – You switched email accounts and the calendar account is being decommissioned. – You are troubleshooting and want to start clean.

Disconnect removes the OAuth tokens. To bring the calendar back, you reconnect from scratch.

4. What Happens To Existing Bookings

• Bookings already on the calendar stay on the calendar. Bookme cannot remove them after disconnect because it no longer has access.
• Cancelling those bookings inside Bookme will not remove the calendar event after disconnect. You will need to delete them manually from the calendar.

5. What Happens To Your Booking Page

• Read access lost. Bookme stops reading busy times from this calendar. Invitees may book over existing events.
• Write access lost. Bookme stops creating new events on this calendar. Bookings now write to whichever calendar you pick as the new Write target.

6. Revoke From The Provider Side

You can also revoke Bookme’s access from inside Google or Microsoft: – Google: myaccount.google.com/permissions – Microsoft: myaccount.microsoft.com under “Privacy.” – Apple: appleid.apple.com under “App-Specific Passwords.”

This has the same effect as disconnecting from Bookme.

Disconnecting a calendar has different effects on existing bookings versus new bookings. Knowing the difference saves headaches.

1. Existing Bookings: Already Written, Stay Written

Past Bookme bookings have already been written to your external calendar. Those calendar events stay there even after disconnect; Bookme cannot reach back through a disconnected integration to remove them.

If you cancel one of those bookings in Bookme after disconnect: – The Bookme record updates (booking shows as cancelled). – The calendar event remains. You will need to delete it manually from Google or Outlook.

2. New Bookings: Have Nowhere To Land

After disconnect, Bookme has no place to write new bookings. Without a Write calendar set, the next attempted booking will fail with an error.

Always pick a new Write calendar before disconnecting. If no other calendar is connected, your booking page should not be live; pause your active event types first.

3. Busy-Time Reading Stops Immediately

Right after disconnect, Bookme stops pulling busy times from the disconnected calendar. Slots that were “blocked” by external events become available again on your booking page.

This means invitees may book over events on the disconnected calendar. Reconnect quickly if this matters.

4. Past Booking Records In Bookme

All your past bookings stay visible in Bookme’s dashboard regardless of calendar connection. The disconnect only affects sync with external calendars, not Bookme’s internal record.

5. Reconnecting After A Disconnect

If you change your mind and reconnect: – Bookme begins reading busy times again within minutes. – New bookings made after reconnect write to your calendar normally. – Bookings made during the disconnect are NOT retroactively pushed to your calendar. Manually create them if needed.

6. Migration Checklist (If You Are Switching Calendars)

If you are moving from one calendar provider to another:

1. Connect the new calendar.
2. Set it as Write to.
3. Verify it works with a test booking.
4. Manually export any active bookings from the old calendar and import to the new one.
5. Disconnect the old calendar.

Bookme has a “Read inspector” that shows exactly which events from your external calendars are being treated as busy. It is the right tool when you want to debug “why is this slot not available?”

1. Open The Read Inspector

Settings, then Calendars tab. Click Read inspector.

2. What You See

A timeline view of your next 7 days with: – Bookme bookings (one color). – External calendar events being read as busy (a different color, per calendar). – Bookme date overrides (a third color).

The total picture is what your booking page sees when computing available slots.

3. Filter By Calendar

At the top of the inspector, toggle each connected calendar on or off to isolate what is coming from where. Useful when you suspect one calendar is pulling in junk.

4. Common Issues You Can Spot

• All-day events blocking everything. A “Holiday” all-day event on your calendar blocks the entire day in Bookme. Move it to a different calendar Bookme does not read, or accept the block.
• Tentative events being treated as busy. By default, Bookme treats tentative Google events as busy. Toggle this off in Settings if you want only “Accepted” events to block.
• Recurring events with corrupted RRULEs. Rare, but happens with calendars imported from other systems. Re-create the event in Google or Outlook directly.

5. Force A Fresh Read

Click Force sync now to bypass the 5-minute sync cache and refresh immediately. Useful right after changing your external calendar.

6. When To Use The Inspector

• An invitee says “I can’t see any times today.”
• Your booking page seems to offer fewer slots than expected.
• You want to verify a calendar reconnect worked.