Connecting your calendars

Connecting a calendar does two things. Forge reads when you are busy, so nobody can book over something you already have. And Forge writes new bookings onto it, so your diary stays in one place.

Everything here lives in Settings → Calendars.

Which calendars work

The Free plan syncs one calendar provider. Paid plans connect all of them. You can connect more than one account from the same provider.

Connect Google

1. Choose Connect Google Calendar, or + Google account if you already have a calendar connected.
2. Sign in and allow access.

Forge asks Google for permission to see your calendars, to see and edit events, and to see your email address. Busy times count from every calendar on the account, including ones you have hidden in Forge.

Google tells Forge when something changes, so updates arrive quickly. A full re-check also runs twice a day.

Connect Microsoft 365 or Outlook

1. Choose Connect Microsoft 365, or + Microsoft 365.
2. Sign in and allow access.

Things to know:

• Some organisations require an IT admin to approve Forge before anyone can connect. If you see Your organisation needs to approve Forge first, ask your admin to grant access.
• Busy times on your other Outlook calendars block bookings too. Forge can't change events on those calendars yet, only on your default one.
• Teams links need a work or school account. With a personal Microsoft account the booking still goes through, and the calendar invite has no Teams link.

Connect iCloud or another CalDAV calendar

CalDAV is the standard that Apple Calendar, Fastmail and many other calendars speak.

1. Choose Connect iCloud / CalDAV, or + iCloud / CalDAV.
2. For iCloud, enter your Apple ID and an App-specific password. Create one at appleid.apple.com under App-Specific Passwords. Forge can't use your normal Apple ID password.
3. For anything else, switch to Other CalDAV and enter the Server URL, your Username and your Password.
4. Choose Connect.

Things to know:

• Forge checks CalDAV calendars on a timer rather than being told about changes, so a change made elsewhere can take up to 15 minutes to appear.
• A booking is written as a plain busy block, with no invitation sent from your calendar, unless the booker added guests.
• CalDAV calendars can't create meeting links. Use a Google or Microsoft account for that.
• You can't reply to invitations on a CalDAV calendar from Forge yet, and repeating events can only be changed in the calendar's own app.
• Hiding a CalDAV calendar in Forge also takes it out of conflict checks.

Choose where bookings go

Open an account's menu and choose Calendar settings…

• Make default makes the account your default for new bookings.
• Add new bookings to this account can be switched off. Forge then checks that account for clashes and never adds bookings to it. It shows a Bookings not added badge.
• Default conferencing sets the meeting link Forge adds when it creates something new on that account: No meeting link, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.
• Under Calendars on this account, choose which calendar is Primary. New events you create land there. A read-only calendar can't be primary.

A booking is written to every account that has bookings switched on. The meeting itself is hosted on the provider that matches the event type's location, and the other accounts get a copy so your time is blocked everywhere.

Prep time

Prep time holds a few minutes before every Forge booking, so a full day never drops you straight into a client call. It is off until you switch it on.

1. Switch on Hold time before bookings.
2. Choose How long: from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

Forge writes a busy block on the calendars it writes to. Nobody is invited and the booker never sees it. Cancel or move a booking and its prep block goes with it.

When a connection breaks

Connections can lapse, for example when a sign-in expires. When that happens:

1. Forge shows a banner in the app with a Reconnect button, and the account card in Settings → Calendars shows the same.
2. We email you after 24 hours, again on day 6, and again on day 7.
3. If Forge still has not been able to read that calendar after 7 days, your booking page shows no times until it can. We would rather offer nothing than offer a time you are busy.

Your existing bookings are safe throughout. Reconnecting takes a minute and clears it.

Disconnect a calendar

Open the account's menu and choose Disconnect… Forge stops syncing that account and its events disappear from your Forge calendar. Bookings already on your real calendar stay there.

What Forge does with your calendar data

Forge uses your connected calendar to show your events and to keep your availability right. We do not use it for advertising, we do not sell it, and it is never sent to AI. See What Forge's AI does, and what it never sees and Security and privacy.