Calendar scheduler: Syncing your Gmail availability

Overview

When your team uses the calendar scheduler in Found to book viewings, assessments and other events, you can connect your organisation's Google Workspace calendars so that each host's existing Google Calendar is taken into account when working out availability. This stops Found offering slots when a host already has a meeting, viewing or appointment in their calendar — and avoids double bookings.

Unlike a personal "sign in with Google" connection, this is a workspace-level connection set up once by an admin, using domain-wide delegation in your organisation's Google Admin console. It isn't linked to sending or receiving Gmail — email syncing is a separate, personal integration, so connecting the calendar sync does not switch on email sending or receiving for anyone.

How to use it

Connect a Google Workspace calendar

This is done by an admin once per Google Workspace domain. More than one Google Workspace can be connected to your Found workspace.

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Email & calendars → "Connect a Microsoft or Google instance".

   

2. Start the Google Calendar setup. You'll be guided through a short wizard: open your organisation's Google Admin console, confirm the client ID and scopes Found needs, and wait for the changes to finish propagating in Google Admin.

   

3. Enter your organisation's primary domain and a test mailbox address so Found can verify the connection and complete the setup.

4. Once connected, the tenant appears in the list with a status label showing whether it's working correctly.

Check sync status

Each connected Google Workspace tenant shows one of the following statuses:

• Active — the connection is working and availability is being checked normally

• Connection error — something has gone wrong with the connection

• Access revoked — Google access for this connection has been withdrawn (for example, in the Google Admin console)

If you see Connection error or Access revoked, ask your admin to check and reconnect it via the Google Admin console.

Disconnect a Google Workspace calendar

On the same tab, an admin can disconnect a connected Google Workspace. Disconnecting stops calendar availability syncing immediately for every host on that domain. It does not delete events that have already been booked in Found.

Use the sync when scheduling an event

The sync runs automatically whenever someone schedules an event — there's nothing extra for the person booking to switch on.

When you're in the New event step of the schedule event modal:

• Hosts whose calendar has been checked have a small calendar icon next to their name, with the tooltip "Availability synced from connected calendars".

• Above the time slot list, you'll see a short status line:

  • "Checking Google calendar availability…" while Found is fetching the data

  • "Availability synced from Google calendars" when at least one host's calendar was successfully read

  • "No Google calendars synced" if no Google data is being used for this booking

Slots where one or more selected hosts have a Google Calendar event are removed automatically, so you only see times when everyone is genuinely free.

If a host's mailbox isn't part of a connected Google Workspace domain, the scheduler simply falls back to checking that host's events in Found — they can still be picked, they just won't be checked against Google Calendar.

Override mode

If you turn on Override in the new event step — or if you pick a past date, which switches override on automatically — the calendar sync note is hidden and every 30-minute slot is offered. Use override when you need to record an event that's already happened or book outside the normal available hours.

How the sync works

• The sync is triggered on demand each time someone uses the scheduler — there's no fixed polling schedule.

• For working out availability, Found only reads each host's free/busy status — it doesn't read event titles, attendees or notes.

• The sync is per host: each host's calendar is matched by their email address within the connected Google Workspace domain.

• More than one Google Workspace domain can be connected to the same Found workspace.

Rules and things to know

• Connecting a Google Workspace calendar is separate from email — it does not enable Gmail sending or receiving. Email syncing is a distinct, personal integration.

• The availability check itself is read-only — it only reads free/busy status. However, the underlying connection grants Found broader calendar permissions than that. If your workspace also has the separate feature that pushes Found's own events out to Google calendars switched on, Found can create, update or remove the events it has scheduled there. Ask your admin whether that feature is enabled for your workspace.

• If a tenant's status is Connection error or Access revoked, availability for that domain's hosts falls back to Found events only until the connection is restored.

• Disconnecting a Google Workspace stops all availability syncing for that domain immediately. It does not delete events that have already been booked in Found.

Who can do this

• Connecting or disconnecting a Google Workspace calendar — requires the Calendar integration permission. Admins have this by default.

• Viewing the integration settings page — requires the Calendar integration or Email integration permission.

• Setting hosts on event types (so they show up in the scheduler in the first place) — admins and managers, from Settings → Scheduling.

• Using the sync when scheduling an event — anyone scheduling an event automatically benefits from it; no extra permission is needed.