Block long events as Busy and label focus time

Events of two hours or more always block your time. Events with Focus in the title and no guests show as Focus time.

Works on: Plus.

When this is for youCopy Anchor Link

Long blocks are easy to book over when they are marked Free, and you want your focus time to read clearly.

Before you turn it onCopy Anchor Link

• Focus is a placeholder. Change the word in the Title rule to the one you use. Text checks ignore upper and lower case and match anywhere in the title.
• Event length is the real time between start and end. An all-day event counts as 24 hours for each day, so it always blocks time.
• 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 copies each event to the calendar others look at. A rule on the Free or busy row checks the event length: two hours or more gives Busy, anything shorter keeps the original status. A rule on the Title row relabels events that have Focus in the title and no guests as Focus time.

What you'll pickCopy Anchor Link

• The calendar with your blocks (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 with your blocks as the source. Nothing is written to it.
2. Pick the calendar others look at. The copies appear here.
3. Under "What copies look like", open the "Free or busy" row and the "Title" row. "Free or busy" is already set to "Custom": if "Event length" is at least 2 hours, use "Busy", and "Otherwise" is "Same as original". "Title" is set to "Custom": if "Title" contains Focus and "Guest count" is 0, use the text "Focus time", and "Otherwise" is the "Title" variable. Change the word Focus to the one you use.
4. Check it worked: look at a copy of an event that lasts two hours or more. It should show as Busy. A guest-free event with Focus in the title should read Focus time.

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.