Set up meeting types, locations, guests and invitees
A meeting type describes what a customer books, such as a consultation or a home visit. A calendar represents who or what is available, such as a staff member or a room. One type can be offered on several calendars, and one calendar can offer several types.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”An individual appointment reserves a time for one booking. A group class has scheduled sessions with a limited number of places. Creating a group meeting type does not create its sessions. See creating and managing group classes.
Start with connecting Google Calendar and setting calendar availability. Business-wide restrictions and communication defaults belong in booking rules and reminders, not in the meeting type’s name or instructions.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”Open Meetings → Service above the calendar. With Meetings view permission, View appointment type opens a saved type read-only when you cannot edit it; paused types remain readable.
Open Meetings → Appointment messages for business-wide message defaults, reminder wording and the effective settings table. Meetings → ⋮ → Booking health checks which resources can offer an individual type. Meetings → ⋮ → Archived appointment types lists archived types, newest first, with their archive dates and Restore. This entry appears only when there are archived types and you have permission to restore them.
If your role cannot open Meetings, the same saved details are under Settings → Integrations → Google Calendar → Technical setup → Appointment types: integration viewers read them, and managers can edit them under their existing permissions. Its Archived list contains archived types. Your existing integration permissions still decide whether you can edit or restore them. Ask your workspace owner if neither page is available.
Set it up
Section titled “Set it up”- Open the Service selector at the location above.
- Choose New service to add a type, or the pencil marked Edit meeting type beside an existing type.
- Fill in the fields below.
- For a new type, choose Apply at the top of the panel.
- Reopen the saved type if you want to customize its reminder wording.
If no types exist, Add meeting type opens the same creation panel. Existing types save automatically; check the save indicator at the top before leaving.
In the alternative editor, choose Add service for a new type, or click an existing type. Show advanced options reveals instructions, invitees, guests and communication overrides. The main meeting-type panel already includes these fields.
Editing requires permission to manage Meetings or integrations. If the controls are missing or read-only, ask the owner to check your permissions.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Basic settings and starting values
Section titled “Basic settings and starting values”These are the values in a new meeting-type form. Review existing types separately: the initial type created when Google Calendar is first connected may already use the business address.
| Setting | What it does | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required name that identifies the appointment or class, for example “Initial consultation”. | Blank. |
| Meeting kind | Choose Individual appointment or Group class. | Individual appointment when adding normally; adding from class setup starts with Group class. |
| Duration (minutes) | Length of an individual appointment, excluding the time reserved afterwards. Enter a positive whole number. | 30. |
| Appointment location | Determines the address or online meeting arrangement. Options are explained below. | Not specified. |
| Post-appointment buffer (minutes) | Time kept free immediately after an individual appointment. Enter zero or a positive whole number. | 0. |
| Start-time interval | Spacing between possible start times, measured from each opening window’s start. | Auto — duration + post-appointment buffer. |
| Active | Whether the type can be offered for new bookings. Turning it off pauses the type; existing appointments stay on the calendar. | On. |
| Can be offered on | Select the calendars that may offer this type. | Unrestricted calendars are selected; the calendar you opened creation from is also selected. Check the actual list. |
| Default number of places | For Group class only: starting capacity for a newly created class. Enter a positive whole number. | 10. Each class can override it; existing classes keep their previous capacity. |
For a group type, the individual duration, location, buffer and start-time interval fields are hidden. They do not schedule group-class sessions. Set session dates, times and other session details in the class editor. The type’s individual-appointment instructions and guest controls are hidden too.
Duration, buffer and start times are different
Section titled “Duration, buffer and start times are different”For a 30-minute appointment starting at 09:00 with a 15-minute buffer:
- The appointment itself ends at 09:30.
- The next appointment needs the protected time afterwards to remain free, through 09:45.
- With Auto — duration + post-appointment buffer, the start-time spacing is 45 minutes.
Fixed Start-time interval options are 10, 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes. With a 15-minute interval and opening time 09:00, possible starts lie at 09:00, 09:15, 09:30 and so on. This does not shorten the appointment or permit overlapping bookings. Calendar events, opening hours, buffers and booking restrictions still decide which starts are actually available.
By default, Google shows the appointment’s true duration. Availability keeps at least the larger of the two buffers between neighbouring appointments, not their sum. For example, if a previous appointment ends at 09:30 with no buffer, a proposed type with a 15-minute buffer cannot start before 09:45. There is no separate before-buffer setting, but the proposed type’s buffer can therefore require free time before it too. For a manually added event whose buffer is unknown, the proposed type’s buffer is used.
A separate business-wide option shows preparation time as its own calendar block immediately after the appointment. In that mode, those blocks reserve the time instead of the hidden larger-gap rule; manual events do not get automatic preparation blocks. The buffer is a fixed number of minutes, not travel time calculated from an address. See visible preparation time and booking rules. Do not increase the appointment duration merely to make its buffer visible.
Appointment location: all four choices
Section titled “Appointment location: all four choices”| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Not specified | No address or Google Meet link is added by this location setting. It does not mean “use the business address”. |
| At the business address | The event uses the address of the calendar’s linked location. If that address is missing, it falls back to the primary location’s address. Keep those addresses current. |
| At the customer address | A customer-provided address is required before booking. It is saved as the event location and included in the booking confirmation. The buffer field is labelled Post-appointment / travel buffer (minutes). It uses the fixed-minute buffer rules above; it does not calculate travel time. |
| Virtual — Google Meet | Booking requests a new Google Meet video link. If the event is created but the link remains pending or fails, the appointment is still booked and its time is held. It is not yet a ready-to-join video meeting; a customer invitation can say that the video link will follow. |
Google creates video-meeting details asynchronously, so a link may not be ready immediately. If a virtual appointment has no usable link, check the connection and calendar in Google Calendar settings and contact support if it remains unresolved. Avoid creating repeated bookings just to try to get a link.
Changing a type’s location choice does not rewrite the location of appointments already booked.
Which calendars offer this type?
Section titled “Which calendars offer this type?”Can be offered on and the calendar’s own meeting-type selection edit the same offering. They are not two independent restrictions.
- A calendar with no specific restriction offers every active, non-archived meeting type.
- Clearing one type from such a calendar creates a specific list for that calendar. Other calendars are left alone.
- Clearing selections is not a reliable way to stop bookings. If no saved type restriction remains, the calendar offers all active types again. If links to archived types remain, clearing the last visible type can instead leave it offering no active types.
- To stop all new bookings on a calendar, pause that calendar instead. To stop a type everywhere, turn that type’s Active switch off.
- Offering a type on a calendar does not make a paused calendar, a busy time or a closed period available.
Review calendar hours and linked calendars after changing the offering.
Instructions for an individual appointment type
Section titled “Instructions for an individual appointment type”Instructions for this appointment type starts blank and allows up to 4,000 characters. Use it for requirements specific to this type, such as questions to collect before a consultation or preparation to explain to the customer.
A calendar can also have Instructions for this calendar. The type’s instructions and the selected calendar’s instructions are both supplied for that booking; one does not replace the other. Keep them consistent. For example, put consultation questions on the type and room accessibility details on the calendar.
Instructions are not a substitute for the actual duration, address, hours or booking-rule settings. Set those in their own fields.
Standing invitees: colleagues, not customer guests
Section titled “Standing invitees: colleagues, not customer guests”Standing invitees is an email list for colleagues who should be invited to bookings of this type. A calendar has its own list too. Both start empty.
- Each list accepts up to 10 addresses.
- The two lists are combined. A repeated address receives one invitation, not two; neither list overrides the other.
- These invitations are independent of the customer-invitation switch.
- Treat everyone listed as trusted staff. On staff-only appointment events, they can see internal details such as the customer’s name, phone number when included, a conversation link and staff notes. When a customer or guest is invited to the same event, shared event details are made customer-safe rather than exposing internal notes.
- An address that is not an active workspace member prompts a warning. Review it carefully before choosing Add anyway. There is an extra warning if the address also belongs to a customer.
- Standing invitees count as staff on group classes, not as occupied customer places. Do not use this list to register class attendees.
To add a colleague, enter their email, press Enter or leave the field, and review any warning. Remove an address with the remove control beside it. For individual appointments, list changes apply to bookings made from then on; they are not a way to edit the attendee list of every earlier appointment.
Use class attendance controls for class participants, not standing invitees.
Customer guests on individual appointments
Section titled “Customer guests on individual appointments”These controls are separate from standing invitees:
| Setting | Meaning | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Allow guests on this meeting type | Allows guest names to be collected for an individual booking. It does not turn the appointment into a group class. | Off. |
| Maximum guests per booking | Limit on additional guests, excluding the customer making the booking. Appears when guests are allowed. | Blank: no type-specific limit configured. Zero also clears that limit. A booking still accepts at most 100 additional guests. Otherwise enter a positive whole number; a lower configured limit applies. |
A guest name is not enough to send a Google invitation. The guest’s email must already be verified for a customer in this workspace, and customer invitations must be enabled for the type. Typing someone else’s email does not verify it. The booking customer’s own invitation also requires their own verified email. See email verification.
Invitations and reminders for this type
Section titled “Invitations and reminders for this type”New types inherit the business-wide policy. In each of these two selectors, Inherit (on) or Inherit (off) shows the current inherited answer. On and Off set a type-specific answer that no longer follows changes to that business default.
| Setting | What the choice controls | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Invite customers to this meeting type’s calendar events | Whether customer calendar invitations are enabled. A verified email is still required. Standing invitees are unaffected. | Inherit. |
| Send reminders for this meeting type | Whether appointment or class reminders are enabled for this type. It is separate from calendar invitations. | Inherit. |
| Reminder lead time (minutes) | How far before the start a reminder becomes due. Enter a positive whole number, or clear it to follow the business default. Inherit (… minutes) also clears the override. | Blank: inherit. The built-in business default is 1,440 minutes, one day; your business may have changed it. |
Whole-day values such as 1,440 or 2,880 minutes preserve the local clock time when the clocks change for summer or winter. Other values mean exact elapsed minutes.
Reminder copy override appears after the type is saved. It has separate English and Hebrew fields. Without an override, the business’s wording for that language is used, then the built-in wording. Only %{service} for the type’s name and %{when} for the date/time are supported as variables. Use Reset to default to remove an override; an empty reminder is not accepted. Changes save automatically.
For delivery channels, missed-reminder behavior and the business defaults, read booking rules and reminders. An invitation sent by Google is not a guarantee that it immediately appears on the recipient’s calendar: their Google invitation settings may require an email response first.
What happens when…
Section titled “What happens when…”You pause, archive, remove or restore a type
Section titled “You pause, archive, remove or restore a type”| Action | Use it when | What is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Turn Active off | You want a temporary pause in new bookings. Turn it on again to resume. | The type stays editable and existing appointments remain. |
| Archive | You no longer want the type in ordinary offering and selection lists. | The type and class history remain. Restore it before editing again. |
| Remove | You want to permanently delete a type that has no class history needing protection. Review the confirmation. | This is not an archive, and there is no Restore action for a removed type. |
| Restore | You want to bring back an archived type. | Previous settings remain, including its Active value. Restoring a paused type does not switch it on. |
To restore a type:
- Open the alternative editor listed under Where to find it.
- Expand Archived.
- Choose Restore beside the type.
Archive is refused while the type has live scheduled classes. Cancel those classes first; do not expect archiving to cancel them. Remove is refused when class participant history must be kept. Even after all classes are cancelled or completed, participant records or unresolved class problems can prevent removal. Fully empty, readable, finished class history can be removed with the type; otherwise archive it instead.
You change a group type to an individual type
Section titled “You change a group type to an individual type”Changing Group class to Individual appointment can also be refused while retained classes still pin the type. Create a separate individual type rather than trying to repurpose one with class history.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”- Not offered on the selected calendar: check Can be offered on, both Active switches, and whether the type is archived.
- No available times: check the duration, after-buffer, start interval, opening hours and booking rules. A smaller interval does not create free time.
- Fields disappeared after choosing Group class: this is expected. Use class-session settings for the schedule.
- No customer invitation: check the type’s invitation choice and that customer’s verified email, not the standing-invitee list.
- Archive or Remove refused: review the class history and use the appropriate action above. Do not delete participant history just to clear the message.
- A value will not save: check the field’s error. Duration, capacity, reminder lead time and a nonzero guest limit need positive whole numbers; a buffer may be zero. For persistent save or connection errors, contact support with the meeting-type name and the action you attempted. Do not send passwords or connection secrets.