# Google Calendar > Connect Google Calendar so Groupthink can see your meetings. Source: https://groupthink.com/docs/google_calendar/ Last updated: 2026-09-28 Connecting your Google Calendar lets Groupthink see your meetings, attach pre-meeting context, and join calls automatically based on the attendance setting you choose. Without a calendar connection, Groupthink cannot auto-join scheduled meetings or build agendas from your events. This is the place where you also decide how Groupthink shows up in your meetings, so it is the setting that the rest of the integration docs point back to. > **Heads up:** Having Groupthink join a meeting requires an active trial or paid plan. Once your trial ends, the notetaker will not join until you upgrade. ## Connecting Your Calendar 1. Go to [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar) in Groupthink. 2. On the **Connect to Google Calendar** card, click **Connect**. 3. Google will ask your permission to allow Groupthink to access your Google Calendar. Approve the request to finish connecting. You can revoke this permission at any time, either from Groupthink or from your Google account settings. ## Your Past Meetings Connecting a calendar also brings in meetings you have already had, so Groupthink knows who you have been meeting with from the start, not only from today on. Once a calendar's first sync finishes, Groupthink imports its past events in the background: | Plan | How far back | | ------------ | ------------------ | | Free | The last 12 months | | Trial or Pro | Up to 3 years | Past events fill in your people: who you met with, and when. They do not create an agenda for every old meeting. The import runs once, when a calendar first syncs, and how far back it reaches is set by your plan at that moment. If you connect during onboarding, the **Here's what Groupthink already knows** step shows the import as it runs, for example _Importing your calendar history: 250 events so far._ On the Free plan, when your calendar goes back further than 12 months, the same step can tell you what is back there, such as _There are 2 more years back there. 40 people you haven't logged._ When the count stopped before reaching the end, the number of people starts with _At least_. ## Connecting More Than One Account You can connect several Google accounts to the same workspace — for example your work account and your personal account — so Groupthink sees everyone you meet with across all of them. 1. After connecting your first account, go to [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar). 2. Click **Connect another Google account**. 3. Sign in to the additional account and approve access. The new account's calendars appear under their own heading in the **Your Calendars** list, so each account's calendars stay grouped together. Once you have two calendars connected, you can pair them so a commitment on one holds the time on the other. See [Keep your calendars in sync](/docs/calendar_sync). A connected calendar also feeds your booking links: open times are computed across every calendar you have connected, so a second account starts protecting your bookable time the moment it is connected. See [Share your availability](/docs/availability). ## Choosing Which Calendars Feed Groupthink The **Your Calendars** section lists the calendars from every account you have connected, grouped by the account each one belongs to. Each calendar has a checkbox. - Leave a calendar checked to let Groupthink watch its events. - Deselect any calendar you do not want Groupthink to watch, such as birthdays, holidays, or other non-essential calendars. This keeps Groupthink focused on the meetings that matter and skips placeholder events. ### Telling Your Calendars Apart with Colors When you connect calendars from more than one account, Groupthink shows each calendar's color — the same color you have set in Google Calendar — as a small dot. You will see it next to the calendar in the **Your Calendars** list, and next to events on your Upcoming list and dashboard, so you can tell at a glance which account an event came from. There is nothing to set up: the colors are inherited automatically from Google Calendar. A calendar with no color set — or one whose connection needs [reconnecting](/docs/reconnect_google_calendar) — simply shows no dot. ### When a Calendar Is No Longer Shared If someone shared a calendar with you and then stops sharing it, or deletes it, Groupthink can no longer read it. Its row in the **Your Calendars** list says so where it would normally say **Google Calendar**: "No longer shared with" your account and the date it stopped, for example "No longer shared with alex@example.com since Sep 18, 2026". - Your other calendars keep syncing as usual. - You do not need to reconnect. Your Google account is still connected, and reconnecting would not bring the calendar back. - If it is the calendar Groupthink joins meetings from, a notice at the top of the Calendar settings explains what happened, and the sync status on **Today** and **Meetings** shows the same message. Both have a **Sync now** button. If the calendar has been shared with you again, click **Sync now** and Groupthink picks it back up. - For any other calendar there is no button to check it again yet. If it has been shared with you again and its row still says it is no longer shared, email [support@groupthink.com](mailto:support@groupthink.com). ### Turning Auto-join On or Off per Calendar Each calendar in the list has its own **Auto-join** toggle. This lets you keep the notetaker on for one calendar while turning it off for another — for example, on for work and off for a personal calendar — without changing the overall attendance setting below. Turning a calendar's toggle off stops Groupthink from automatically joining that calendar's meetings. ## Choosing How Groupthink Attends Meetings After connecting your calendar, Groupthink will not join anything until you pick an attendance setting. Go to [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar) and find the heading **How should Groupthink attend your meetings?** It is a single choice that applies to all of your future meetings. | Option | What it does | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Privately Take Notes** | Groupthink records, transcribes, and takes notes privately through the desktop app. No bot joins the call and other participants do not see Groupthink. Notes and transcripts stay private to you. | | **Automatically Join All Meetings** | The Groupthink notetaker joins your meetings as a visible participant, takes notes, and shares recaps with all attendees. | | **Let Me Choose Each Time** | Nothing joins automatically. You add Groupthink to specific calls yourself when you want notes. | Each mode controls when and how Groupthink shows up across all of your calendar events, so you do not need to manage meetings one by one unless you choose **Let Me Choose Each Time**. > **Privately Take Notes needs the desktop app.** Private recording happens locally, so it is only available in Groupthink for Desktop. If you are on the web, Groupthink will prompt you to download the desktop app when you pick this option. > **Note for invited users:** If you signed up through a shared meeting link, auto-join is turned off by default. Your calendar is connected, but the notetaker will not join anything until you pick a default. You can change this any time in [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar). ### Changing Your Attendance Setting 1. Go to [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar). 2. Find the **How should Groupthink attend your meetings?** section. 3. Select the option you want. 4. Your choice saves automatically and applies to all future meetings. ## Syncing Your Calendar Groupthink syncs as your calendar updates, so you should rarely need to do this by hand. If you want to pull in new events right away, open [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar), find the **Sync Events Now** section, and click **Sync Now**. ## Disconnecting Your Calendar You can disconnect a calendar account at any time. Disconnecting stops Groupthink from accessing that account's calendars and, if it is the one Groupthink joins meetings from, from joining future meetings. It does not delete any past meetings, notes, or agendas. Calendars are removed one account at a time, so if you have several connected you only ever remove the one you choose. 1. Go to [User Settings > Connections](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#connections). (The Calendar tab links here under **Manage connected accounts**.) 2. Find the Google account you want to disconnect and click **Remove** on its card. 3. The **Remove ?** dialog names the account and tells you what removing it changes: whether Groupthink will stop joining your meetings, and how many busy-block sync pairs will be removed with it. Your events, notes, and recaps are not deleted. 4. Click **Remove account** to confirm, or **Cancel** to back out. If you want to delete all of your data from Groupthink, email [support@groupthink.com](mailto:support@groupthink.com). ## Reconnecting Your Calendar If your calendar shows as disconnected, or Groupthink stops syncing or joining your meetings, you can reconnect in about 30 seconds. See [Reconnect your Google Calendar](/docs/reconnect_google_calendar) for step-by-step instructions on both web and desktop. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do I need a calendar connection to use Groupthink? You need one for Groupthink to auto-join scheduled meetings and build agendas from your events. You can still add the notetaker to a specific call by pasting its link, and **Privately Take Notes** records through the desktop app, but the automatic calendar-based features depend on a connection. ### Why did Groupthink not join my meeting? A few things have to line up: your calendar needs to be connected, your attendance setting has to allow Groupthink to join, the event needs a video link, and your workspace needs an active trial or paid plan. ### Can I pick which calendars Groupthink watches? Yes. In the **Your Calendars** section, deselect any calendar you do not want Groupthink to watch. ### Can I connect more than one Google account? Yes. Click **Connect another Google account** in [User Settings > Calendar](https://app.groupthink.com/settings#calendar) and sign in to the additional account. Its calendars appear grouped under that account, and each calendar gets a color dot — inherited from Google Calendar — so you can tell at a glance which account an event came from. ### Will disconnecting delete my notes? No. Disconnecting only stops future access. Your past meetings, notes, and agendas stay in Groupthink. ## Getting Help Questions about the Google Calendar integration? Email [support@groupthink.com](mailto:support@groupthink.com).