Buffers

Hey there, @digitalnomad (LOVE your username, by the way)! Great questions! Buffers and how they work can be a little confusing, so here are some helpful facts to start with: 

1. Buffers are not attached to an event themselves, but rather to bookings within that event type.
2. This means that while you set up buffers within an event type, they aren’t implemented until a booking is made, meaning when looking at a booking page you will not see times blocked off due to buffers until after time slots are booked.
3. Once a booking is made, those buffers appear and block off before/after time.
4. Before and after time stacks, meaning 60 min before and 30 min after event buffers will results in 90 minutes blocked off in addition to an event’s duration once a booking is made.
5. Bookings made will keep settings in place at the time of the creation of that booking. If a booking is made without buffers in place, new buffers set will not apply to that booking/time slot. Once a booking is made with buffers in place those buffers are locked, and if you update them in the event type those updates will only apply to new bookings moving forward and not bookings already made.

It sounds to me like you created buffers in an event after a booking had already been made. Is this the case? If so - that will explain the lack of buffer time! Likewise, if you have more than one event type, the buffers will only attach to bookings for that event. If you have a booking from 3 to 4pm on another event type, buffers will not apply to that time slot if the buffers are set up on another event type. I hope this helps!

You can read more here. Let us know if you need further help! 

Thanks for your reply @kelsiellie  

Just to clarify…so is it true that even when you have integrated a calendar (e.g., Google Calendar) into Calendly, and Calendly is aware enough not to allow scheduling events during those specific times that have been imported from your calendar, that Calendly does not automatically account for providing buffers around the existing events it imported.

If this is true, it doesn’t make sense that the technology can be smart enough to import your event from your calendar, but not smart enough to just add time before and after it as it does for all other events scheduled by Calendly…

And to answer your question, I currently have only one event type.

Hey there again, @digitalnomad! 

I completely understand your frustration, here. It is true that Calendly does not place buffers on your Google Calendar (or any connected external calendar) events at this time. This is because of what I explained above, regarding buffers being an event type setting within Calendly that attach to a booking when it’s made on your booking page.

Buffers are not added to non-calendly events, but non-calendly events are taken into consideration when booking a meeting with a buffer. Buffers cannot overlap regular calendar events.

For example, if you have a 30-min event with two 15-min buffers (before and after), the total time needed for this event is 60 minutes. The event duration and calendar event will say 30 mins, but 60 minutes of free time is required in order for a time slot to display on the booking page. So that 60 minute window must exist.

The buffer setting can affect whether or not other Calendly meetings are scheduled back-to-back. However, buffers are not added to your connected calendar; so, if you have manually created that event, then the Calendly buffer won't be added to that manual event.

If you want to add additional time to your connected calendar events, I would suggest adding some additional time to the events that you manually schedule on your Calendar to prevent last-minute meetings on that calendar. You can also add separate “buffers” on your Google Calendar marked “busy” so Calendly picks them up as conflicts, rather than adding time to the events in question (if you’d rather not extend the duration for someone else attending, for example). 

I think it would be super exciting to see buffers able to block off time when you have a Google calendar (per example given) event that is “busy” and marked as a conflict in Calendly! While we aren’t there yet with a feature capable of this, I am going to make sure to mark this feedback for our product team to review for the future! 

Knowing what you’ve shared now, am I correct in assuming the event from 3-4pm that you mentioned is not a Calendly event, but an event made on your Google Calendar? If so, this would be expected behavior. You would expect to see that time marked off in Calendly, but not any buffer time without creating that buffer time in Google Calendar as well. I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear but do hope the information helps, at least somewhat!

Hi Kelsi, yes, the event from 3-4pm is not a Calendly event, and was imported into Calendly.  Understood now, thanks for your prompt reply and providing this feedback for your product team!  Much appreciated!

@digitalnomad you are very welcome – I am so happy to have helped. If you need anything else don’t hesitate to reach back out!