Big meetings always block your time

Meetings with ten or more guests land as Busy, even when you marked them Free. Smaller ones keep their original status.

Works on: Plus.

When this is for youCopy Anchor Link

All-hands calls and webinars are often marked Free, so colleagues book over them on the calendar they look at.

Before you turn it onCopy Anchor Link

• Guest count counts each guest address once. An event with no guests has a count of 0 and keeps its original status.
• A rule can make a copy Busy or leave it as the original. It cannot make a copy Free.

How it worksCopy Anchor Link

SYNCDATE reads the calendar with the meetings and writes a copy of each event to the other calendar. A rule on the Free or busy row looks at the guest count: ten or more guests gives Busy, anything else keeps the original status. The calendar with the meetings is never changed.

What you'll pickCopy Anchor Link

• The calendar with the meetings (1 calendar; copies come from here): Nothing is written to it.
• The calendar others look at (1 calendar; copies land here): Where the copies appear.

Setting it upCopy Anchor Link

1. Pick the calendar that holds the meetings as the source. Nothing is written to it.
2. Pick the calendar other people look at. The copies appear here.
3. Under "What copies look like", open the "Free or busy" row. It is already set to "Custom" with one rule: if "Guest count" is at least 10, use "Busy". "Otherwise" stays on "Same as original". Change the number if your cut-off is different.
4. Check it worked: find a meeting with ten or more guests that you marked Free. Its copy should show as Busy. A smaller meeting keeps its original status.

VariationsCopy Anchor Link

You can add these to this sync at any time, without starting over.

Sync everything except all-day eventsCopy Anchor Link

Add an "All-day events" exclude rule and holidays, birthdays and travel banners stay out of the calendar you sync into. It also catches birthdays from a subscribed calendar, which "Special dates from contacts" cannot — those arrive as ordinary events, so only the all-day rule sees them.

Only invitations you've acceptedCopy Anchor Link

Set "Invitations" to "Only yes" and meeting requests you haven't answered stay out of the calendar you sync into until you accept them.

Set this upCopy Anchor Link

Start with this recipe opens the sync screen with this recipe's direction and common settings already filled in. You pick the calendars, and you can change any setting before anything syncs.

The rule is already written. Open the row it names under "What copies look like" to read it or change it before you start the sync.

Start with this recipe

Related

Custom text and rules: decide what each copy says

Write a copy's title, description or location yourself with pieces of the original dropped in, and use if-this-then-that rules for text, privacy and free or busy.

Why your free slots show as Busy

Free or busy decides whether a copy blocks your time; the title setting doesn't. Which one you actually want, and what to check when it's already on.

Hide details only for some events

Use a rule to show Busy or Private for the events you pick, such as big meetings or one source calendar, and leave every other copy as it is, on Plus.