Keep Your Calendars in Sync
If you keep more than one calendar, the people who can only see one of them get the wrong answer about when you are free. A coworker looking at your work calendar cannot see the dentist appointment on your personal one, so they book over it.
Pair two of your connected calendars and Groupthink fixes that. When something lands on one calendar, Groupthink writes a private Busy placeholder on the other. The time is held on both, and nobody sees what the commitment actually is.
Before You Start
You need at least two calendars connected to Groupthink. They can be from different accounts and different providers. See Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar for how to connect more than one account.
The Keep your calendars in sync card only appears once you have connected calendars. With exactly one connected, it shows a short prompt to connect a second and nothing else.
Pair Two Calendars
- Go to User Settings > Calendar.
- Find the Keep your calendars in sync card, below your calendar list.
- Click Pair two calendars.
- Pick your first calendar under Calendar, and the other one under Paired with. Each calendar is listed by its name and the account it belongs to, so two calendars both called "Calendar" stay easy to tell apart.
- Choose a Direction (see below).
- Click Pair calendars.
Groupthink starts writing placeholders on the next sync. You do not have to wait on the page.
Choosing a Direction
The Direction menu has three options. The first is Both ways: each calendar gets placeholders for the other one's commitments. The other two are the one-way options, and they are labeled with your real calendar names and an arrow, such as Work (you@company.com) → Personal (you@gmail.com). The arrow points at the calendar that receives the placeholders.
Both ways is the usual choice for a work calendar and a personal calendar. Pick a one-way direction when you want your personal commitments reflected at work but not the other way around.
You can change the direction on an existing pair at any time. Groupthink removes the placeholders that no longer apply.
What Crosses Over, and What Does Not
Only the block of time crosses over. The placeholder carries no title, no attendees, no location, and no meeting link. Anyone looking at the other calendar sees that you are busy and nothing more. On an Outlook calendar the placeholder also carries a short line of text saying it was synced by Groupthink, which is how Outlook lets us tag our own events. Nothing from the original meeting is in it.
Groupthink also skips events that do not really block your time:
- Events you marked Free in your calendar.
- Invitations you declined.
- Placeholders written by another calendar sync tool.
Placeholders are written for upcoming events out to about two months ahead.
Why a New Pair Can Look Slow to Start
Groupthink only mirrors an event once it has read whether that event is marked Busy or Free. It reads that when an event is created or changed, so events that have not been touched since you set the pair up may not have it yet.
Groupthink fills the gap in automatically on a later sync, and the placeholders appear on their own. If a brand new pair looks like it has done nothing yet, this is usually why. Give it a day before assuming something is wrong.
The Placeholders Do Not Come Back Into Groupthink
Groupthink tags every placeholder it writes and skips its own tags when it reads your calendars. A Busy block never turns into a meeting in Groupthink, never creates a contact, and never gets a notetaker sent to it.
Renaming the Placeholder
Each pair has a Placeholder title field with the helper text What the other calendar shows. Change it to anything you prefer, then click away from the field or press Enter. There is no Save button. The change applies to that pair's existing placeholders as well as its new ones: Groupthink removes the old blocks and rewrites them under the new title.
Managing a Pair
Each pair shows both calendar names, how many busy blocks it has written, and when it last synced. A pair that has not run yet reads Last synced never.
- On / Off toggle. Switching a pair off deletes the placeholders Groupthink wrote for it. They do not linger as unexplained blocks. Switch it back on and Groupthink rewrites them.
- Sync now. Queues the pair to run right away instead of waiting for the next cycle. There is no confirmation message, and the Last synced line does not update the moment you click it. The sync runs in the background, and the timestamp catches up next time the page reloads.
- Remove. Deletes the pair entirely. Groupthink asks first: The placeholders Groupthink wrote will be removed from both calendars. Real events are untouched.
Keeping Up With Changes
Groupthink treats the source calendar as the truth and brings the other one back in line with it.
- Move an event and its placeholder moves with it.
- Delete an event and its placeholder disappears.
- Disconnect a calendar and Groupthink removes its placeholders before the connection goes.
Groupthink also runs a sweep on a schedule, so if an update is ever missed, it corrects itself rather than leaving a block on your calendar for a meeting that already moved.
Known Limitations
- All-day events. An all-day event on the source calendar currently mirrors as a timed block rather than an all-day one. If you have all-day events you would rather not mirror, mark them Free and Groupthink skips them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pair more than two calendars?
You pair calendars two at a time. Create as many pairs as you need.
Will people see what my other meetings are?
No. The placeholder is a block of time with a masked title. Titles, descriptions, attendees, locations, and meeting links are never copied.
What happens to the placeholders if I stop using this?
Turning a pair off, removing it, or disconnecting one of its calendars all delete the placeholders Groupthink wrote. Your real events are never touched.
Do the Busy blocks count as meetings in Groupthink?
No. Groupthink recognizes its own placeholders and skips them, so they never appear as meetings or create contacts.
Does this work with Outlook?
Yes. Pairs work across any calendars you have connected, including a Google calendar paired with an Outlook one.
Getting Help
Questions about calendar sync? Email support@groupthink.com.