Adding external calendar events

ClientSpace allows you to review an external calendar (such as an Outlook or Gmail calendar) when reviewing attendee availability for a calendar event. This means non-system events scheduled in your external work calendar show as busy in your system calendar.

This topic describes how to configure this for the two most popular email calendar options: Gmail and Microsoft Outlook. While theoretically, this functionality could work with any calendaring system that provides ICS accessibility, it has been designed and tested to work with these two systems.

Gmail configuration

For a Gmail calendar, you must copy the link for the Secret address URL.

To add visibility into a Gmail calendar:

  1. Open your Google Calendar.
  2. Click Settings menu > Settings.
  3. In Settings for my calendars, select the targeted calendar.
    The Calendar settings display.
  4. In Integrate calendar, locate Secret address in iCal format.
  5. Right-click the URL and select Copy.

In ClientSpace:

  1. On the module bar, click username > My Profile.
    The User Details form opens.
  2. In External Calendar URL, paste the URL that you just copied.

  3. Click the Sync button (located on the right side of the External Calendar URL field) to test the URL.

    • If a message displays that indicates that the test was unsuccessful, repeat the Google Calendar procedure again to ensure that the complete URL copied successfully, then repeat this ClientSpace procedure.

    • If a message displays that indicates a successful test, continue to Step 4.

  4. Click Save.

When you select attendee availability on a ClientSpace calendar event, the system now checks to see the last time you refreshed your Gmail calendar. If it has been more than 30 minutes, the system retrieves all active calendar events for the next three months and displays them in the Free / Busy area.

Outlook configuration

For an Outlook calendar, you must export the iCalendar ICS URL.

To add visibility into an Outlook calendar:

Note: The location of some settings may vary depending on your version of Outlook. In this procedure, we list the steps for the web access version of Outlook.

In Outlook Web Access:

  1. Open your Outlook calendar.

  2. Click Settings menu > View All Outlook Settings.

    The Shared calendars window displays.

  3. Select Shared Calendars.

  4. In the "Publish a calendar" section, click the down arrow in the Select a calendar field and pick the calendar you want to share.

  5. Then, click the down arrow in the Select permissions field and select the desired option:

    • Can view when I'm busy

    • Can view all details

  6. Click the Publish button.

    The ICS URL is generated and displays on the screen.

  7. Right-click the ICS URL entry and select Copy Shortcut.

In ClientSpace:

  1. On the module bar, click username > My Profile.
    The User Details form opens.
  2. In External Calendar URL, paste the URL that you just copied.

  3. Click the Sync button (located on the right side of the External Calendar URL field) to test the URL.

    • If a message displays that indicates that the test was unsuccessful, repeat the Outlook Calendar procedure again to ensure that the complete URL copied successfully, then repeat this ClientSpace procedure.

    • If a message displays that indicates a successful test, continue to Step 4.

  4. Click Save.

When you select attendee availability on a ClientSpace calendar event, the system checks to see the last time you refreshed your Gmail calendar. If it has been more than 30 minutes, the system retrieves all active calendar events for the next three months and displays them in the Free / Busy area.

Note:  External Events are visible in the system calendar and Free/Busy management, but cannot be opened or edited.

To watch a video about syncing your external calendar, see Learning how: External availability calendar sync.