Featured Tips + Tricks

This is article number two of three exploring issues and their resolution with Microsoft Outlook’s Plug-in. This piece covers the Outlook Plug-in, not the Outlook Add-in. The Plug-in connects your desktop Outlook calendar to Calendly to check for conflicts and add events. If you installed an .exe to set up the integration, you have the Plug-in. The Outlook Add-in, on the other hand, is available through Microsoft AppSource. For more about the Add-in, visit This Page. This article is intended for users who have already confirmed the following:The plug-in is showing as active in Calendly The Version is up to date  Your computer has no pending updates If you have checked those, and your plugin is still not syncing, you are in the right place. If you have not, please check out our previous article. Outlook Plugin Hub#1 What this article coversHow to check that the plugin is running correctly on your machine How to check that Outlook Plug-in settings are setup correctly Let’s get started! C

Happy New Year Community! 👋This article is a deep dive on issues you may be experiencing with your Outlook Plug-in. If you're having trouble with your Outlook plug-in, this article breaks down the most common issues you might face. Whether it’s syncing errors or problems with the initial setup, we’ll walk you through various potential causes and solutions.  Who is this for?Any user that's utilizing the Calendly Outlook plug-in tool, and noticing issues with syncing, not picking up events from outlook, or a specific error. This article covers the Outlook Plug-in, not the Outlook Add-in. The Plug-in connects your desktop Outlook calendar to Calendly to check for conflicts and add events. If you installed an .exe to set up the integration, you have the Plug-in. The Outlook Add-in, on the other hand, is available through Microsoft AppSource. For more about the Add-in, visit This Page. ❗Calendly's Outlook desktop plug-in is for PC users with Outlook 2007 or later and Windows XP or newer.❗ 

This is article number three of three exploring common issues with the Outlook Plug-in. This piece covers the Outlook Plug-in, not the Outlook Add-in. The Plug-in connects your desktop Outlook calendar to Calendly in order to check for conflicts and add events. If you installed an .exe to set up the integration, you have the Plug-in. The Outlook Add-in, on the other hand, is available through Microsoft AppSource. For more about the Add-in, visit This Page. A few details about this article:This is for users who are getting a specific error appearing when attempting to sync the plug-in with Calendly Its important to note these are not normal troubleshooting steps, and should not be done when facing syncing issues. If you have not already, please refer to: Article #1: Basic plug-in troubleshooting Article #3: Local plug-in settings If the error you’re seeing is not listed, first check that your plug-in and computer are both up to date.  If you are seeing errors not listed here, please l

A common concern we hear from new users is that simply sharing a scheduling link could come across as impersonal or even rude. It might feel like you are shifting the burden of scheduling onto your invitee but, when approached with care, the practice can be a considerate way to respect the time and preferences of all parties. Here’s how to share your Calendly link in a way that even Emily Post would be proud of. Contextualize and PositionDropping a link without explanation can feel abrupt and even like task shifting. Instead, provide context before sharing. Most people appreciate efficiency, especially when their schedules are packed. By framing your Calendly link as a way to avoid an unnecessary back-and-forth you highlight its convenience and time savings. “I'd love to connect! Here’s a link to my availability so you can pick a time that works best for you.” Or “To make scheduling easier, feel free to use my Calendly link to find a time that suits your schedule.” Match your Invitee's

Hi CalPals! 👋 Long time no see (or read, hah!) Maybe you’re new to Calendly, or a long time user - but a first time subscriber and you’re looking for the steps to get rid of the Powered By Calendly banner on your booking pages. Today, I wanted to go through this, and dig into some common issues we see when disabling it for the first time. What is this banner?The Powered By Calendly banner appears on your booking pages and routing forms, it will appear in the upper right corner if it’s enabled. It also includes the ‘Sign up for free’ email field on the confirmation page, as well as the email that’s sent to the Invitee.Who is this for?Any users on a paid plan. If you’re on a free plan, you will not be able to remove the Calendly branding. To learn about the features in each plan, feel free to check out our pricing page!The process for doing this will be slightly different if you are a single user, part of an organization or if you have your pages embedded on your site! (To check if you’

We’re entering the holiday season which (much to my excitement) means it’s time to start shopping the best buys for the important people in your life.As a partner marketer, I spend a lot of time thinking about Calendly’s integration partners, and I know that the marketing, email, and CRM automation tools small teams use are so important for growth. So, if you’re a solopreneur, small business, or even a larger business looking to continue growing and a new marketing automation tool is on your wish list this year, I’m here to add some sparkle to your holiday tech stack. Here are a few reasons why ActiveCampaign might be a helpful tool for you:You need to do more with less – ActiveCampain is a one-stop shop for marketing automation and CRM, so you can consolidate multiple tools into one You need to save time – customers save an average of 20 hours per month by automating their marketing workflows with ActiveCampaign You want to email your prospects and customers at scale – send targeted e

Teamwork makes the dream work! With its many native integrations, Calendly teams up with tons of other softwares and seamlessly integrates into your flow. Three of my favorite integrations for enhancing automation are our Zapier, Stripe, and PayPal integrations. Who can use these features? Our integrations with Zapier, Stripe, and PayPal are available to users on our Standard, Teams, and Enterprise plans, as well as the legacy Professional plan. FYI: The Teams plan is available for both multi-user organizations as well as for individual use. To learn about the features in each plan, feel free to check out our pricing page!  ZapierZapier is a productivity tool that lets end users - like you! - integrate thousands of other applications and create automations. There are SO many ways to use Zapier, so I’ll start with a layman's overview of Zapier’s logic and what can be done with it. How it works:When someone schedules or cancels a Calendly event with you, Zapier will trigger an action in

Hey there CalPals!  Your resident Routing Form cheerleader is back with another routing form workaround to help you create multi-step or “tiered” routing forms in Calendly. Problem: At this time, a Calendly routing form acts as a single-step form when used stand-alone. Solution: By “daisy-chaining” multiple routing forms together, you can achieve multi-step routing. Who Can Use This?Calendly’s Routing Forms are available to users on our Teams and Enterprise plans, as well as the legacy Professional plan. FYI: The Teams plan is available for both multi-user organizations as well as for individual use. To learn about the features in each plan, feel free to check out our pricing page! When would I want a multi-step routing form?Generally speaking, multi-step routing forms can be used in any scenario where you want to offer conditional routing form questions. Think: “I want to offer different sets of routing form questions/answers to different groups of people”. What might this look like? 

Calendly is a powerful tool that seems to get more features by the month, but even a basic single Meeting can take you far. In this article we will explore how to get the most out of your free plan. If you are reading this, you might be an unaffiliated individual that has Calendly for personal use, a small business with a single type of service, someone at a larger organization that uses your plan for internal meetings, or anyone else that only needs a single meeting type. While we think our billable plans pay for themselves and then some, we still want everyone to get the most out of whatever plan they are on.  The MeetingMaybe you are just getting started. If you generally offer 30 minutes for a meeting, you can keep the description of your event vague and send this link to anyone who would like to meet with you. But you might want to consider customizing your event name to better reflect you or your services. Open your available hours so people can find time between your other meeti

🤔 Think about this— As a consumer, have you ever been so confused or off-put by a business’s interface that you throw in the towel and switch to a competitor? I can say with certainty that I have done this. Many times. On the other hand, think of a time when you were so impressed with the ease and simplicity of a business’s user interface that you found yourself filled with a feeling of fierce loyalty. Personally, these are usually the businesses that I recommend to anyone who will listen, unprompted.  Routing Forms are the solution for so many things, providing qualified invitees with more on-demand options and a better user interface. Who can use this feature? Routing solutions are available to users on our Teams and Enterprise plans, as well as the legacy Professional plan. FYI: The Teams plan is available for both multi-user organizations as well as for individual use. To learn about the features in each plan, feel free to check out our pricing page! Here are some of my favorite w

As an admin, you know that in order for meetings to be productive and for your team to deliver the best customer experience, teammates need to send communications around their meetings. At a baseline, we recommend you set up reminders for your team’s meeting so everyone shows up (and on time!) and you prepare a follow-up email to help your team pass along resources and kick off next steps.  Not an admin? Check out: How to turn a Reminder Basic Notification into a Reminder Workflow (and why you should!) To standardize your team’s meetings, you’re likely using Managed Events, which are admin-created and controlled meeting types.  Calendly offers two features that automate pre- and post- meeting communications for Managed Events: Managed Workflows and Basic Notifications. Check out this great article that compares these two tools, but to cut right to it: we recommend Managed Workflows over Basic Notifications! Here’s why: ✅ Managed Workflows can be applied to MULTIPLE event types, making

It’s not enough to get a meeting scheduled — you need to send reminders beforehand so everyone shows up (and on time!) and you need to follow up afterwards to pass along resources and kick off next steps.  Are you an Admin? Check out: Admin: How to turn a Reminder Basic Notification into a Reminder Managed Workflow (and why you should!) Calendly offers two features that automate pre- and post- meeting communications: Workflows and Basic Notifications. Check out this great article that compares these two tools, but to cut right to it: we recommend Workflows over Basic Notifications! Here’s why: ✅ Workflows can be applied to MULTIPLE event types, making them much easier to update and manage. ✅ Workflows can be sent based on more triggers, like if a meeting is booked, before it starts, once it starts, once it ends, or if it’s canceled. ✅ Workflows can be sent via email or SMS text message. Texts help make sure someone gets your message if they’re not in their email inbox.   ✅ Workflows ca

If you’re a Calendly Admin, you need organization management to be as easy as possible. Two top Calendly features help you do that: Groups and Teams.  Groups and Teams have some similar benefits, like an Admin can view a user’s meetings, Workflows, Analytics, and more, so you may be asking what’s the difference between these features? And when should you use one vs. the other?  ⭐ Groups: Perfect for Admins who want control, visibility, and standardizationGroups are available on the Teams and Enterprise plans, and allow you to: Manage day-to-day user operations: Groups are led by Group Admins, like a department head, who can invite users, assign permissions, and see a user’s profile details like their availability, integrations, meeting types, and more. Account Admins and Owners appreciate that Group Admins can onboard and manage daily tasks for their Groups, taking tasks off of the Account Admins and Owner’s plates. Create Managed Events (and Managed Workflows!): Group Admins can creat

➡️ Q: Who is this article for? ➡️ A: All Calendly users on all plans. 🔎 Picture this: you are an avid Calendly user and a massive Hubspot fan. You’ve set up routing forms via Hubspot that you are now implementing into your Calendly flow, and you want to be able to pass information between the Hubspot form and your Calendly booking page without others being able to see this information. Is that possible? If so, how do you achieve it? The answer is “yes” – it’s possible! The “how” is by using hidden fields (paired with UTM parameters) to pass information between the two. Hidden fields are an invisible-yet-powerful tool that can be used to send information which you don’t want others seeing from one form to another, or from your Calendly booking page to your website -- and more.  What are hidden fields? We’ve all typed something into Google only to populate overwhelming results that are unclear. “Hidden fields” might very well have been one of those subjects for you, until now (I hope!)

You’ve set up a slew of event types and you’re eager to get booking, but you see the “Communications” section in each of your event type’s settings and aren’t sure where to begin.  For some background, when setting up your Calendly event types, you have the option to notify your invitees of new bookings using either calendar invitations or email confirmations. There are pros and cons to each option depending on your specific use case, so here’s a guide to help you better understand how each of these work.  Who Can Use This?Both our calendar invite and email confirmation notification options are available to users on all plans, from Free to Enterprise. Users on our paid plans have the ability to personalize these booking notifications as well as to configure different booking reminder options. You can read more about our pricing, plans and features associated with each on our Pricing Page! FYI: The Teams plan is available for both multi-user organizations as well as for individual use. 

Alright, scheduling friends. I know we’re usually talking about all things meetings around here, but we’re going to swap it up a bit today and talk about something else that makes you super efficient. They’re small but mighty and usually casually live in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Any guesses?Browser extensions!Browser extensions make your life easier by adding custom features to your web browser, whether you use Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. They’re kind of like mini-apps. Each adds more functionality to your browser of choice so you can do the things you want faster, easier, and more efficiently. Why would you want to use one?The whole idea behind browser extensions is pretty simple. Like browser bookmarks, browser extensions are easy to access (one click!), but more powerful — they bring additional features to the forefront of the tab you're already working in. Instead of opening software in a new browser tab or app, you can access the app from your current tab.This m

Gone are the days of manually sending reminders, reconfirming bookings, and following up post-meeting! Be your own best friend and do yourself a fun favor— take advantage of Calendly Workflows. Who can use this feature? Calendly’s Workflows are available to users on our Standard, Teams, and Enterprise plans, as well as the legacy Professional plan. FYI: The Teams plan is available for both multi-user organizations as well as for individual use. To learn about the features in each plan, feel free to check out our pricing page! Here are three of my favorite ways to use Workflows: 🧠️ RemindersReminder texts and emails can be programmed for both you as the host and for your invitees. Reminder workflows help to reduce no-shows and allows you to send additional meeting prep materials, if applicable for the event type. You can opt to include the reschedule/cancellation links in your reminders if you would like to provide invitees easy access.👍️ ReconfirmationsReconfirmation workflows can be

I freaking love this blog article from Jeff (Head of Product Marketing here at Calendly) on Calendly etiquette and totally recommend it as a getting start point when you’re thinking about how to share that little link of yours.https://calendly.com/blog/is-calendly-rudeThe tl;dr (but you should read!):Open the door for others first. Let someone give their availability the old fashioned way and offer up your Calendly. That’s like opening all the doors at once. How polite! Ask for their Calendly link. Either they’ll have one and you’ll be like “Hey! ME TOO! Are we best friends?” or they’ll be like “What is this magical Calendly?”… or it’ll be a good opening for you to share yours. It just inherently is a good thing. Saving someone time and effort is an incredibly kind and thoughtful thing to do. Maybe channel all the good vibes and good intentions and assume the recipient sees it that way too?What would you add?