Frequently asked questions (FAQs): Google Calendar two-way sync – Timely

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Our Google Calendar sync lets you sync your business appointments with your personal life, helping you manage everything smoothly. This article covers some of the most frequently asked questions Timely customers have when using the Google Calendar two-way sync. If you do not find the answer to your question, please contact our friendly support team.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

My calendar has disconnected or stopped updating

If we have problems syncing your Timely calendar with your Google Calendar, we automatically disconnect the connection. When this happens you will see a notification in Timely with a link to reactivate the connection using these setup steps.

1 If you notice that events have stopped syncing, or are out of date, you can check for any errors under setup > integrations (formerly add-ons). If you don't see any errors, scroll down to Google Calendar and click configure.

2 On the Google Calendar page check the refresh sync now option and then refresh selected staff. This will trigger a full sync of your Timely and Google calendars which may take a few minutes.

Timely note: in order to limit the amount of data we need to transfer between Google and Timely, we only sync future events between Google and Timely Calendars. If you refresh the calendar sync, past Timely appointments in the Google calendar will be removed due. To restore these events, continue reading through this article.

There are duplicate events showing up in my calendar

If you have previously used the one-way calendar sync with Google and now use the two-way sync, then you'll need to make sure you unsubscribe from your one-way sync before setting up your two-way sync. Google Calendar have some detailed instructions for removing a calendar subscription here.

Why can't I see all day events, or events that span multiple days in Timely?

When you create an all-day event in Google Calendar, the default setting for show me as is set to available. Only events where you are set to busy will be synced back to Timely, so if you edit the event in Google Calendar and change the status of the event to busy then it will be synced.

Timely does not support events with a duration of greater than 24 hours, so these will not be synced to your Timely calendar. If you're wanting to block out time off, it's better to use the roster or closed dates function to change your rostered hours within Timely.

How do I change the Google Calendar a staff member is connected to?

In order to change the calendar, you'll need to disconnect the current calendar for the staff member:

1 Head to setup from the main menu in your Timely account dashboard, and click staff.

2 Click edit next to the staff member, and scroll down to the calendar sync section.

3 Uncheck the box next to sync Timely appointments with Outlook, Google or Apple calendars.

4 When you are ready, click save to apply your changes.

This will remove your events from Timely and appointments from Google Calendar, which may take a few minutes. When it is ready, you can reconnect the staff member using our How to set up Google Calendar guide.

Timely note: you will see a hold your horses message if you try to set up a new calendar before the original calendar was disconnected.

Can I connect multiple staff to the same Google Calendar?

Yes! You can connect more than one staff member to the same Google Calendar using the two-way sync. As all appointments will be added to the same calendar, you won't be able to toggle staff on/off like you would for a one-way subscription. Connecting more than one staff member to a single Google Calendar will not allow staff to see each other's calendars.

What happens when I delete a Timely appointment in my Google Calendar?

When a Timely appointment is deleted in your Google Calendar, it will also be deleted in your Timely calendar. This will send a notification to the customer that the appointment has been cancelled. If the appointment was already paid for, the related invoice will still remain in Timely.

Timely note: if you use a third-party calendar app to manage your Google Calendar, not all changes may be supported. We recommend using the Google Calendar app instead.

Are there any Google Calendar features that aren't supported in Timely?

Yes, there are some actions that can be done in Google Calendar that cannot be done in Timely. These are:

Using the Undo option in Google Calendar.
Adding recurrence to a non-recurring Timely event via Google Calendar. If this is done the recurrence added will be removed from your Google Calendar and a warning displayed in Timely.
Changes to titles, descriptions, locations or attendees of Timely bookings or busy times made in Google Calendar will not be replicated to your Timely calendar.
Events that span multiple days in a Google calendar are not imported into Timely as Timely does not support appointments that span multiple days.

Why are deleted events still showing up in my Timely Calendar?

There is a known limitation within Google Calendar when you delete an event that has been set as recurring. Google Calendar doesn't notify us that the recurring event has been deleted, rather, Timely sees that the original event still exists and that it is recurring so it remains on your calendar.

Refreshing the calendar of affected staff should help to remove the offending event, otherwise, you can try deleting the original event (the first occurrence) in Google Calendar.

Can I restore Timely events deleted in Google Calendar?

If you refresh a sync or delete past appointments in the Google Calendar you can restore these in Google Calendar. These steps below will help you sync back to Timely and create a Google Calendar booking at the same time as past Timely bookings. To do this:

1 Head to my calendars > view trash. Then tick the appointments you wish to restore and press restore selected events at the bottom of the page.

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