How to Sync Google Calendar with Your Booking System

Opencals connects to Google Calendar so bookings show up on the right person's calendar automatically, and the events already on that calendar block out availability in Opencals. This guide walks through the whole flow: creating the integration, authorizing with Google, choosing which calendar to sync, and confirming who the sync is assigned to.

Before you start

You'll need access to the Opencals dashboard and the Google account whose calendar you want to sync. Each person who wants their bookings on their own calendar connects their own Google account — the integration is assigned to whoever completes the authorization. If you want two-way availability, use the calendar that already holds that person's real commitments (usually their primary calendar).

Step 1 — Create the Google Calendar integration

Open Integrations from the dashboard. Under Available you'll see every provider you can turn on. Find Google Calendar and click Create. This adds a pending Google Calendar integration to your Connected list — it exists but isn't authorized yet.

Creating the integration doesn't touch your Google account yet. It just sets up the record that the next step authorizes.

Step 2 — Connect and authorize with Google

Your new integration now appears under Connected with a Not connected status and a Disabled badge. Click Connect to start the authorization.

Connecting opens Google's own authorization page in a new tab. Sign in to the Google account you want to sync and grant calendar access. Opencals shows a waiting dialog while it polls for the result — it refreshes automatically every few seconds, so you can finish in the Google tab and come back.

Once you approve access, the status flips from Not connected to Connected on its own. No need to reload the page.

Step 3 — Choose the calendar to sync and enable it

With the integration connected, open it to configure the sync. This is where you decide which calendar the bookings write to and whether the sync is live.

Each field does something specific:

• Status — the enabled toggle. Turn it on to make the sync active; leave it off to pause syncing without disconnecting.
• Internal name — a label for your own reference, so you can tell integrations apart in the list (e.g. "Front desk — Google Calendar").
• Assigned to — the user this integration syncs for. It's set automatically to whoever connected the account.
• Calendar ID — which Google Calendar to sync with. Use primary for the account's main calendar, or paste a specific calendar ID like abcd1234@group.calendar.google.com to target a shared or secondary calendar.

Click Save to apply. From now on, new bookings for that person write to the chosen calendar, and events already on that calendar make those slots unavailable in Opencals.

Step 4 — Confirm who the sync is assigned to

How appointments flow depends on the assigned user's role in the store. This is shown on the integration and mirrored on the staff member's profile for reference.

• Owners and managers — receive every appointment in the store on their connected calendar.
• Staff members — receive only the appointments assigned to them.

Calendar assignments are managed per user under Integrations and assigned automatically to whoever connects them. The staff member screen shows existing assignments for reference only — you don't set them up there.

Frequently asked questions

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