> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect an external calendar

> Bring commitments from Google, Outlook, Apple or a therapy network into ClinikEHR so your availability accounts for them.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="All plans" roles="Owner, Manager to add a subscription; any staff member for their own account" />

If a provider's real commitments live in Google, Outlook or a therapy network, ClinikEHR needs to know about them — otherwise your booking page happily offers a slot that is already gone. Connecting a calendar brings those events **into** ClinikEHR so availability is calculated against them.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Settings', 'Calendar Integrations']} />

<TaskHeader before="The calendar you want to bring in, and the ability to get a link or sign in to it" time="5 minutes per calendar" after="External commitments visible on your clinic calendar, and slots protected from double booking" />

## Two ways in, and they are not the same

The tab has two sections, and picking the right one saves a lot of confusion.

|                 | **Connected Accounts**                           | **Calendar Subscriptions (read-only)**                                      |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| How you connect | Sign in to Google or Outlook                     | Paste a secret `.ics` link                                                  |
| Direction       | Two-way                                          | One-way, into ClinikEHR only                                                |
| Who sets it up  | Each staff member connects **their own** account | An owner or manager, for any calendar                                       |
| Good for        | A provider's own working calendar                | Apple calendars, and platforms like **Headway, Alma, Rula or Grow Therapy** |

A subscription is read-only in the strictest sense: ClinikEHR reads those calendars and **never writes back to them**. Nothing you do in ClinikEHR appears on the subscribed calendar.

## Subscribe to a calendar

<Steps>
  <Step title="Get the secret .ics link from your calendar">
    The tab's **How to connect a calendar** panel gives the path for each provider. In short: Google — Settings → your calendar → "Integrate calendar" → the *Secret address in iCal format*. Outlook / Microsoft 365 — Settings → Calendar → Shared calendars → *Publish a calendar* → the *ICS* link. Apple iCloud — make the calendar public and copy the shared link. Headway, Alma, Rula and Grow Therapy — enable calendar export in your account settings and copy the personal iCal feed URL.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Add calendar">
    A sheet opens with a **Calendar URL** field.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Paste the link and select Test connection">
    You get a preview before you commit anything: the calendar's name, how many upcoming events it holds, a sample of them, how many are recurring series, and how many all-day events will be skipped. If the preview is empty or wrong, you have the wrong link.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it and assign it">
    Give it a **Display name** you will recognise in a list. **Assign to staff** is optional but is what ties the calendar to a person's availability. Set the **Default venue** to **In person** or **Online**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a Sync frequency">
    From **Every 15 minutes** through **Hourly** to **Daily**. Pick against how often that calendar actually changes — see the honest note below.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Connect & import">
    The first sync runs immediately and reports what it found: so many new, so many updated, so many cancelled.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Connect a Google or Outlook account

Under **Connected Accounts**, select **Google** or **Outlook** and sign in. Each staff member links their own account — you cannot connect a colleague's calendar for them, and trying produces "That calendar can only be connected by its own staff member."

Once connected, choose which of that account's calendars to sync. The row shows **Connected** with a count of calendars syncing, and gives you **Sync now** and a way to disconnect. If the badge turns to **Reconnect**, the permission has lapsed at the provider's end — sign in again from that row.

An owner or manager can also set a clinic-wide policy for **how much patient identity appears on synced calendars**, on the same tab. Set that before you connect anyone.

## What a synced event actually does

This is the part people expect to work differently than it does.

* **A synced event blocks a slot. It does not become a ClinikEHR appointment.** There is no patient, no service and no invoice behind it. It is a hole in the diary.
* **Whether it blocks at all is a per-calendar switch.** Each row toggles between **Blocks booking** and **Info only**. On **Blocks booking**, events prevent that provider being booked. On **Info only** they are visible but do not protect anything. Get this wrong and you either double-book or block a day for no reason.
* **All-day events are skipped**, and the preview tells you how many will be. An all-day "Conference" does not close the day; block the day in [Booking Settings](/platform/settings/overview) instead.

## Sync is on a schedule, not instant

Set expectations with your team here. A calendar is fetched on the frequency you chose — as often as every 15 minutes, as rarely as daily — so an event added elsewhere five minutes ago is very likely not in ClinikEHR yet. Each row shows when it last synced and how often it runs, and **Sync now** pulls immediately when you need certainty before booking someone in.

If a feed fails repeatedly it is paused automatically, and the tab shows an amber banner saying so. Check the URL, then re-enable it.

<Note>
  Treat a secret `.ics` link like a password. Anyone holding it can read that calendar. Only owners can reveal a stored URL on this tab, and it is masked for everyone else.
</Note>

## Check it worked

* The feed row shows a **Synced** time and its interval.
* An event you know about appears on the clinic calendar at the right time.
* That provider's slots for that period are no longer offered on your [booking page](/practice/daily/booking-page) — check it signed out, as a patient would.
* The row shows **Blocks booking**, not **Info only**, if you meant it to protect the diary.

## If something goes wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Test connection fails or the preview is empty">
    You almost certainly copied the calendar's public web link rather than its secret `.ics` address. Go back to the provider and take the iCal / ICS link specifically. If it starts `webcal://`, change that to `https://`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Events arrived but slots are still being offered">
    The feed is set to **Info only**. Select the badge on the row to switch it to **Blocks booking**. Also check the feed is assigned to the right staff member — an unassigned feed has no one's diary to protect.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A new event has not come through">
    Sync runs on the interval you chose. Select **Sync now** on that row for an immediate pull, and shorten the interval if it matters routinely.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The feed auto-paused">
    Repeated sync errors pause a feed rather than retrying forever. The usual cause is a link that was regenerated or revoked at the provider. Get a fresh link, edit the feed, then re-enable it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="An all-day event did not block anything">
    All-day events are skipped on purpose — they are usually labels, not commitments. Block the day in your booking availability instead.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I cannot connect a colleague's Google account">
    Each staff member connects their own. Ask them to open the tab and connect it themselves.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="An appointment I made in ClinikEHR is not on my Google calendar">
    A **subscription** is one-way — ClinikEHR reads it and never writes to it. If you want your ClinikEHR appointments to appear in Google or Outlook, use **Connected Accounts** instead, which syncs both ways.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Appointments" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM/images/icons/calendar-check.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM&q=85&s=f7936bc2c8a316b7d8714be95275b32a" href="/clinic/front-desk/appointments" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/calendar-check.svg">
    Booking, rescheduling and the clinic calendar.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your booking page" icon="https://mintcdn.com/clinikehr/gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM/images/icons/globe.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=gjlpJWWKqjyYNRzM&q=85&s=80fb437fa57114503e6e15ce57caea44" href="/clinic/front-desk/booking-page" width="24" height="24" data-path="images/icons/globe.svg">
    The public page whose availability these calendars protect.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<StillStuck topic="a calendar that will not sync" />