Move an Event to Another Day

Some days you do not get to everything. The block you set aside to book train tickets is still sitting on your day at 4pm, untouched. Groupthink can move that event to another day for you, from the card you are already looking at.

Summary

• The move is a real change to your calendar, not a Groupthink-only note. Google or Outlook gets the new time, and so does anyone looking at that event.
• On Today you can mark an item prepped or dismiss it, and a task block can be cleared. None of those fit when the honest answer is "not today, but still yes." Moving it is the option for that.
• On Today, click Reschedule on the card, or Move to later on an overdue task block. On a past day, the options are already open under the event. See Where to Find It.
• A block with only you on it moves as soon as you tap. An event with guests asks first, and Outlook always emails them. See Events with Other People.
• When the move options do not appear, how far you can move something and the FAQ are in Reference.

Where to Find It

The move options appear under an event card in two places:

• Today, on an item whose time has already passed. A block with only you on it gets the option all day, before it starts and while it is under way, because you often know in the morning that you will not get to it.
• A past day, when you look back at an earlier date and find something that never happened.

On Today, the options are folded behind a Reschedule button in the card's row of buttons, right before Dismiss. On a task block the row has Clear instead of Dismiss, and Reschedule sits right before it; once the block is overdue, Move to later takes the place of Reschedule (see below). Click Reschedule to open the options inside the card, and click it again to close them. The button only appears on an item that can actually be moved.

On a past day, the options are already open under the event, with a heading that changes depending on who was on the event:

• A block with only you on it reads Didn't get to this?
• An event with other people reads Move this meeting, because assuming a meeting did not happen is usually wrong.

Move to Later: One Tap to Your Next Free Time

On Today, a task block (a block only you are on, that you made) that is past its end time and not cleared says Overdue and has a Move to later button. One tap moves it, with no options to choose from:

• It goes to the next free stretch today that is as long as the block, starting no earlier than the next quarter hour, inside your working hours.
• If today has no room, it goes to the first free time on the next working day that has room, looking up to a week ahead. Working hours and working days are the ones in your settings; with none set, weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM.
• Time counts as free when nothing is on any calendar you added, except events you declined, cancelled ones, and ones marked Free.

A line above your cards says where it went: Moved to 3:30 PM, or Moved to tomorrow, 9:00 AM, with Undo. Undo puts it back at its old time. The move is quiet: nobody is emailed, because a task block has nobody else on it.

How many times a block has moved

A card on Today that you have moved shows a small Moved 1×, Moved 2×, and from the third move on Moved 3× turns amber, so the block that keeps slipping stands out. On a task block it sits next to Overdue when the block has run past. To talk a block that keeps slipping through instead of picking another time, click Discuss with Advisor on it (see Talk a block through with the Advisor). The line after a Move to later says it too: Moved to 3:30 PM · 3rd move.

• Move to later and the Reschedule options both count, and so does a move the Advisor makes after you confirm it.
• Undo doesn't count. Moving a block and then tapping Undo leaves the number where it was.
• Only moves made in Groupthink count. Dragging the block to a new time in Google Calendar or Outlook isn't seen, so a block with no number may still have moved there.
• Each occurrence of a repeating event would have its own count, but repeating events can't be moved from Groupthink yet.

If there is no free stretch that long in your working hours over the next week, Groupthink says so and opens the options below, so you can pick a time yourself. If your calendar refuses the change, you see why, and the same options open.

The Options

Option	Where it lands
Tomorrow	The next day.
This weekend	The coming Saturday. On a Saturday it means the following Saturday, never today.
Next week	The coming Monday. On a Monday it means the Monday after.
Pick a time…	Opens a date and time field inside the card, seeded with tomorrow at the same time.

When two options land on the same day (This weekend on a Friday, Next week on a Sunday), that day is offered once, as Tomorrow.

Every option keeps the event's time of day and its length. A 9:00 to 9:30 block moved to tomorrow is 9:00 to 9:30 tomorrow. Nothing else about the event changes: same title, same description, same guests, same reminders, same timezone.

Next to each option Groupthink shows the time it works out to, like Tue 9:00 AM, so you are never guessing what "next week" means today.

Free or Conflicts

Each option is checked against the rest of your calendar and labeled either Free or Conflicts with the event that is in the way, named.

A conflict is information, not a wall. Tap the option and the move still goes through. Booking yourself over something on purpose is a normal thing to do, and Groupthink is not going to rule on your own day.

Three kinds of event are deliberately not counted as conflicts: ones you have declined, cancelled ones, and all-day or multi-day blocks like "Out of office", which would otherwise mark every option conflicting and make the label useless.

If an option shows no label at all, Groupthink has not finished reading that stretch of your calendar, or could not read all of it. It would rather say nothing than tell you a slot is free before it knows.

Events with Other People

Moving an event with guests makes Google or Outlook email every one of them, so those do not move on a single tap. You get a confirm step first, and it says who is about to hear about it:

Move to Tue, Sep 2 at 9:00 AM and notify Ines Vargas, Theo and Nora?

Groupthink names people when there are three or fewer, and switches to a count above that ("4 guests"). A guest Groupthink has no name for is shown by email address. The Groupthink notetaker is never counted as a guest, so a solo block that the notetaker happens to sit on still moves in one tap.

On the confirm you can:

• Move and notify - move the event and let the calendar send its usual update to the guests.
• Move without notifying - move the event quietly. Google only, see below.
• Cancel - change nothing.

A block with nobody else on it skips all of this and moves as soon as you tap.

Outlook always emails the guests

Outlook has no quiet option. Its calendar sends an update to every guest whenever an event moves, and there is no setting that turns that off. So on an Outlook event with guests, the confirm asks "Move to [time]?", says that the guests will be emailed about the new time because Outlook has no quiet option, and offers Move and Cancel. There is no Move without notifying.

The move itself still works on Outlook. You just cannot make it silent.

Undo

When the move lands you get a short confirmation naming the new time, with an Undo next to it.

Undo puts the event back at its original time the same way the move happened, so if the first move emailed the guests, the undo emails them too. That second notice is what tells them to ignore the first one.

Undo lasts as long as the confirmation is on screen. It is there for "I tapped the wrong chip", which you know within a second or two. After that the event is on a real calendar at a new time that guests may already have seen, so the honest way to change it again is to move it again or edit it in your calendar.

If the move fails, the card stays where it was and a line under the options says what went wrong and what to do next. Some of those messages ask you to check the event in your calendar before trying again.

Reference

When the Move Options Do Not Appear

This is the most common question about the feature. Groupthink hides the options rather than showing a button that could only fail.

• You do not organize the event. Google and Outlook reject a time change from a guest, so there is nothing to offer. Ask the organizer, or move your own copy in your calendar.
• It is one occurrence of a recurring event. Moving a single occurrence out of a series means choosing between this one and all of them, which is more than a one-tap option can carry. Move it in your calendar instead.
• The event is cancelled. There is nothing left to move.
• Its time has not passed yet. These options are for something you did not get to. For a meeting still ahead of you, move it in your calendar. The exception is a block on Today with only you on it, which has the options all day.
• It is an all-day event. Groupthink cannot move an all-day event yet, and on Today an all-day event has no buttons. Change its date in your calendar.
• On a past day, Groupthink has a record of the meeting running. If the meeting was captured, it happened, so it is not offered for a move.
• Groupthink cannot read the event's organizer or its end time. This can happen briefly right after you connect a calendar, before the event has synced. Re-sync and the options appear.

How Far You Can Move Something

• Not to a time that has already gone. Every option is in the future, and the picker will not take a past time. It says Pick a time that hasn't happened yet.
• Not back to an earlier day. An earlier time today is fine, as long as it has not passed yet. Moving it to last week is not, because past event times are what Groupthink uses to work out when you last spoke to someone, and a backwards move would rewrite that without you noticing.
• No more than a year out. This is a guard against a typo. One wrong digit in the year would otherwise push the event decades away, where you would never see it again, and email every guest about it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this really change my calendar, or only what Groupthink shows?

It changes your calendar. Groupthink writes the new time through Google or Outlook, and everyone with access to that event sees the change.

Does the event keep its agenda and notes?

Yes. The agenda stays attached to the event at its new time. Moving an event does not create a second agenda or orphan the old one.

Will the notetaker still join at the new time?

Yes. Groupthink works out when to join from the event's current time every time it checks, so moving the event moves the join with it.

Why is there no Reschedule button on a meeting later today?

A meeting with other people on it only gets the button once its time has passed. Before that, change it in your calendar. A block with only you on it has the button all day.

Can I move a recurring meeting?

Not from here. Move that one in your calendar and pick whether you mean this occurrence or the whole series.

Can I move a meeting that somebody else organizes?

No. The calendar providers only accept a time change from the organizer.

I moved something by mistake and the Undo is gone. Now what?

Move it again to the right time, or fix it in your calendar. Both reach the same event.

Why does mine say "Move this meeting" instead of "Didn't get to this?"

That heading shows on a past day, and it means the event has other people on it. Suggesting a meeting did not happen when it probably did is not a helpful thing for the product to say, so that wording is kept for blocks that are only yours.

Related

• Why Groupthink Needs Calendar Access - what Groupthink does with the calendar permission you grant
• Connect your calendar - connecting and managing calendar accounts
• Today - your meetings for today and the days ahead

Getting Help

Questions about moving an event? Email support@groupthink.com.