What each scheduling method needs before you start
What to have ready for each of the five scheduling methods, and the prerequisites that stop you if you begin without them.
- Help category
- Getting started
Of the five ways to settle a time, Quick schedule is the only one that needs nothing prepared. Each of the other four wants one of three things in place before you start: contact details for the people taking part, a calendar connection, or a "Public handle". This page goes through what that is for each method, and what you run into if you begin without it.
The five options, and where each one starts
The four methods that come with an account are listed under "Scheduling methods" in the sidebar. Poll is created at /app/events/new, the booking link at /app/oneonone, the group booking link at /app/group-booking, and team availability at /app/and. Quick schedule sits outside all of that: it needs no sign-in and is created from /en/quick/new.
| Scheduling method | What to have ready first | If you start without it |
|---|---|---|
| Quick schedule | Nothing | You can create one as it is |
| Poll | The email addresses of the participants | The shared URL still collects answers, but neither the request to respond nor the confirmation reaches anybody |
| Booking link | A public handle, and a calendar connection of your own | There is no URL to share |
| Group booking link | A calendar connection for each host | Appointments already on a host calendar are not worked around |
| Team availability | A calendar connection for each member involved, and Zoom connected by the host | Members who have not connected are treated as free, and with no Zoom connection on the host the confirmation never arrives |
Which method suits which situation is covered in Choosing a scheduling method and The four scheduling methods compared. The four methods other than Quick schedule count towards the number of schedules the Free plan lets you create in a month. How that count works, and the condition on how many members an organisation may hold, are in How pricing works.
The creation screen lists only the conference methods that match the tools you have connected. With nothing connected, the choices are "In person" and "Hybrid" and nothing else. The default is "In person" whether or not anything is connected.
Quick schedule — nothing to prepare
Neither the organiser nor the participants need to register. Enter the times you want to propose and two URLs are issued, one for the participants and one for the organiser. The steps are in Using Quick schedule without an account.
Poll — settle the participants’ contact details first
Creating one has no prerequisite at all. What rests on preparation is the mail: the request to respond goes only to participants who were registered with an email address.
- Collect the email addresses of the participants beforehand. You register them at the "Participants" step of the creation wizard.
- If you would rather not use mail, hand out the shared URL instead — but nobody who answers through it receives a single message (Creating a poll).
- Switching "Send confirmation notification" off stops the request to respond from being sent as well.
A response reminder to those who have not answered works on this method alone. The others have no state of waiting for an answer.
Booking link — a public handle is required
Creating a booking type is not enough to hand anything out. The public URL has two levels, /p/{public handle}/{slug}, so while the handle is unset the screen says "Set a public handle to share your booking URL". How to set it is in Getting a booking link ready.
- Set a "Public handle". Lower-case letters, digits, hyphens and underscores are accepted, between 3 and 64 characters.
- Create a booking type and fill in "Available hours by day of the week". A day left empty counts as "closed".
- Connect a calendar of your own. Without one, the hours you are already busy are offered as free slots.
When the state of the calendar cannot be read, not a single slot is offered. The person booking sees "Availability cannot be checked right now. Please try again shortly."
Group booking link — every host needs a calendar connection
The public URL is /p/group/{slug} and uses no public handle. What it needs instead is a calendar connection for each of the 1 to 20 people named as hosts. Free slots are worked out across all of them, while the calendar entry and the meeting URL that follow a confirmation are created for the one host the booking lands on.
Team availability — members, calendars, and then Zoom
Only members of the same organisation can be included. On your own, the screen says "You are the only member in this tenant. AND scheduling finds slots where multiple members are free, so invite members first." The "tenant" there is the organisation this article talks about.
- Invite the members. Between 1 and 50 people can be named for one session.
- Have each of those members connect a calendar themselves. A connection belongs to the individual, so an administrator connecting one on everybody’s behalf has no effect (Connecting your calendar and meeting tool).
- Have the host connect Zoom before confirming. The conference method is fixed to Zoom, and "Automatically issue meeting URL" cannot be switched off.
If any calendar in the set is marked "Reconnect required", working out the candidates fails outright. The time zone is fixed to Asia/Tokyo, and a session is visible only to the person who created it. The conditions are in What to have in place before using Team availability.
The name changes from screen to screen
On that same filter, the booking links appear as "1on1 booking" and "Group booking".
When you would rather not make the other person register
For people outside the organisation, choose Quick schedule or a booking link. On a booking link the only two fields the other person has to fill in are "Name *" and "Email address *"; the rest are optional.