Google Calendar

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 Today > Calendar & booking 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 when a calendar first syncs, and how far back it reaches is set by your plan at that moment. If you upgrade later, Groupthink imports the older stretch your plan now covers. If the import is interrupted, it picks up where it stopped rather than starting over.

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, up to March 14, 2026. The date is how far it has reached. The import works forward from your oldest meetings, so the date climbs toward today. 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.

When the import finishes, the same step says what came in, for example Imported 1,200 events from your calendar since October 2023. A very large calendar can have more history than one import fetches. Then the step says where it stopped instead, for example Imported 1,200 events from your calendar, from October 2023 up to March 14, 2026. Meetings from March 14, 2026 onward may be missing. New meetings still sync from here on.

Checking on the Import Later, and Trying Again

After onboarding, the import shows under each calendar in the Your Calendars list on Today > Calendar & booking:

• While it runs: Bringing in your past meetings… 250 events so far, up to March 14, 2026. The count climbs on its own.
• When it finished: how far back it went and what it found, for example We went back to October 2023 and found 1,200 events.
• When it stopped before reaching today: We went back to October 2023 and found 1,200 events, but stopped at March 14, 2026. Meetings after that may be missing. New meetings still come in from here on.
• When it failed: We couldn't finish bringing in your past meetings. New meetings still come in from here on.

A calendar with no line under it never had an import to run.

If the import failed or stopped short, click Try again next to that line. The row changes to the running line and counts up without a reload. An import that failed starts over; one that stopped short carries on from where it stopped. The same button appears on the onboarding step.

Two things to know about Try again:

• You can start it once an hour per calendar. In between, the row says when, for example You can try again at 3:40 PM.
• It brings in what your plan covers (the table above). It does not reach further back than that.

Only the person who connected the calendar can run its import again.

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 Today > Calendar & booking.
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.

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. The exception is a calendar whose account has needed reconnecting for more than 7 days. Its events stop blocking your bookable time until you reconnect it. See Share your 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 Today page, 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 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.

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.

The toggle does nothing while Privately Take Notes is selected. No bot joins that calendar's meetings on its own, whichever way the toggle is set, unless you add the notetaker to a meeting yourself. A line under the toggle says so: "Privately Take Notes is on for this calendar, so no bot joins its meetings whether this switch is on or off."

Choosing How Groupthink Attends Meetings

After connecting your calendar, Groupthink will not join anything until you pick an attendance setting. Go to Today > Calendar & booking 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 emails the recap to the agenda's Hosts and the people invited to the agenda. See Who gets the recap email?
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.

Two exceptions: Groupthink waits on an invite you have not answered when nobody else on it is a coworker or a contact. See Unanswered invites from people you do not know. And the notetaker does not join a task block, a block only you are on that you made, even when it has a video link, unless you add the notetaker to it yourself. See Task blocks on your calendar.

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.

Auto-join starts off. However you signed up, the first calendar you connect has auto-join turned off. Your calendar is connected, but the notetaker will not join anything until you pick a default. A calendar you connect after that copies the setting of your first one. You can change this any time in Today > Calendar & booking.

Groupthink asks you once. In the first 30 days after you connect a calendar, if you have not chosen yet, a banner at the top of the app asks whether the Groupthink notetaker should join your meetings. Saying yes turns auto-join on for that calendar. Saying no leaves it off, and Groupthink stops asking. Choosing not now changes nothing, and the question comes back the next day. If you answered during sign-up, you will not see it.

Changing Your Attendance Setting

1. Go to Today > Calendar & booking.
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 Today > Calendar & booking, 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. (The Calendars section of Today > Calendar & booking links here under Manage connected accounts.)
2. Find the Google account you want to disconnect and click Remove on its card.
3. The Remove <account>? 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.

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 for step-by-step instructions on both web and desktop.

There is one exception. If a calendar says it is no longer shared with you, your account is still connected and reconnecting will not bring the calendar back. See When a Calendar Is No Longer Shared.

Once an account has needed reconnecting for more than 7 days, its events stop blocking time on your booking links, so someone can book over a meeting on that calendar. See Share your availability.

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. The notetaker also waits on an invite you have not answered when nobody else on it is a coworker or a contact. See Unanswered invites from people you do not know.

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 Today > Calendar & booking and sign in to the additional account. Its calendars appear grouped under that account, and each calendar gets a color dot, taken 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.

Groupthink said it couldn't confirm the event was created

When Groupthink adds an event to your calendar for you and the calendar doesn't answer in time, the event may have been created anyway. Groupthink looks at your calendar before it answers. If it still can't tell, it says We couldn't confirm the event was created. Check your calendar before trying again.

Look at your calendar before you try again. If the event is there, you're done. Trying again when it is already there gives you two.

Getting Help

Questions about the Google Calendar integration? Email support@groupthink.com.