Connect your calendar

Connect Outlook, and Fynn can offer your customers free times and book appointments into the calendars you pick. Outlook works with Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com accounts, and Google Calendar is coming soon. Deskwoot reads only when you are busy, never what your events say. Appointments are part of the Business and Enterprise plans, and a 7 day trial of either plan includes them.

This article is about the calendars. How Fynn offers times, who confirms and what the customer reads is in Appointments with Fynn. Restaurants that take reservations in aleno connect it as described in Connect aleno.

Connect an account

1. Go to Settings > Integrations and click the Outlook Calendar card. It opens the Appointments page.
2. Under Connected calendars, click Connect Outlook Calendar.
3. Sign in with the Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account whose calendars Fynn should use, and accept the permissions Microsoft asks for. Without them Deskwoot cannot connect and asks you to try again.
4. You come back to the Appointments page, which names the account and the day it was connected.

You need the permission to manage integrations; administrators have it. Sign in from start to finish in the same browser. You can connect more than one account, for example one per person.

Google Calendar shows Coming soon on its card and on the Appointments page for now, and cannot be connected yet.

What Deskwoot may do in your calendar

Microsoft asks you to let Deskwoot sign you in and read your profile, have full access to your calendars, and keep this access until you remove it. Deskwoot uses this only for the list of your calendars, the busy times (when an event starts and ends and whether it shows as busy) and the events it writes for appointments.

Deskwoot never reads the title, description, attendees or location of your events. It only asks when a calendar is busy.

When an administrator has to approve Deskwoot

Some Microsoft 365 organizations let only administrators approve apps. Deskwoot then shows an approval link: click Copy link, send it to your Microsoft 365 administrator, and once they approve Deskwoot for your organization, click Connect Outlook Calendar again. You also find the link on the Appointments page under "Does your Microsoft 365 organization need an administrator to approve apps?".

Pick the calendars Fynn books into

Under Calendars Fynn books into, Deskwoot lists the calendars of your connected accounts that it may write into: the ones the account owns or may edit.

1. Switch on each calendar customers can book, for example one per person or one per room. Up to 20 calendars can be bookable.
2. Under Name customers see, give it the name Fynn uses with customers, for example Anna or Viewings. Every calendar needs its own name of up to 60 characters. Customers can ask for one by that name.
3. Optional: under Also block times from, pick other calendars of the same account. When one of them is busy, this calendar counts as busy too. This is useful for a private calendar or a team calendar whose events should keep a time free.
4. Put the calendars in order with the arrow buttons (Move up, Move down). When several calendars are free at the same time, Fynn books into the first one.
5. Click Save.

A calendar you do not switch on is never booked into. It blocks times only where you add it under Also block times from, and that works for calendars you can only see as well. Events marked as free in your calendar do not block a time.

What lands in your calendar

When an appointment is booked, Deskwoot creates an event in the calendar it was booked into. The title is the appointment type and the customer's name, for example "Haircut: Maria Lopez". The description holds the customer's email address or phone number and a link to the conversation in Deskwoot. The event is private and has no attendees, so nobody gets an invitation.

These events are your business's own record. They stay in your calendar when you disconnect the account or remove Deskwoot's access, and Deskwoot never touches events it did not create.

Deskwoot changes its events only when the appointment changes in Deskwoot: a cancellation deletes the event, a move moves it. So change appointments in the conversation, not in the calendar. If you move or delete an event directly in your calendar, Deskwoot does not notice and the customer is not told. A deleted event only frees the time for new bookings.

Reconnect

When the calendar stops accepting a connection, for example because someone removed Deskwoot's access or the sign in expired, the account shows Needs reconnect. Fynn then offers no times from its calendars. Click Reconnect and sign in with the same account. Another account does not work here: connect it as a new account instead.

Appointments already booked stay booked while a connection waits. To confirm, cancel or move one of them on the card, reconnect first: the card says when the calendar needs a new sign in.

Disconnect

Click Disconnect next to the account and confirm. Fynn no longer books into its calendars, and they leave the list of calendars Fynn books into. Events Deskwoot already created stay in the calendar.

Deskwoot cannot remove its access in a Microsoft account itself. It deletes what it stored for the connection, and Deskwoot stays listed in your Microsoft account until you remove it there.

Remove Deskwoot's access in your Microsoft account

You can end the access from the other side at any time:

• Microsoft personal account (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live): open account.live.com/consent/Manage, choose Deskwoot and remove it.
• Microsoft 365 work or school account: your administrator removes Deskwoot under Enterprise applications in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Deskwoot notices the next time it reads the calendar: the account shows Needs reconnect, and Fynn stops offering times from it. Events already created stay in your calendar. To stop for good, also click Disconnect on the Appointments page.

At Microsoft, an Outlook inbox connected to Deskwoot and the calendar use the same Deskwoot app, so removing Deskwoot there ends both.

Troubleshooting

• A calendar is missing from the list. Deskwoot lists only calendars it may write into: an Outlook calendar the account owns or may edit. Give the Outlook account edit rights, or connect the account that owns the calendar.
• A calendar shows Cannot be read. Deskwoot can no longer read it, usually because it was deleted or is no longer shared. Switch it off, or reconnect the account.
• Fynn offers no times. Open Preview at the bottom of the Appointments page, and check the list in Appointments with Fynn.

Frequently asked questions

Can Deskwoot read my appointments?

No. Deskwoot asks your calendar only when it is busy, never for titles, descriptions, attendees or locations. The only events it reads and writes are the ones it creates for appointments.

Which plan do I need?

Business or Enterprise. A 7 day trial of either plan includes appointments. Connecting a calendar costs nothing extra.

Can I connect Google Calendar?

Not yet. Google Calendar is coming soon, and until then its card and its button on the Appointments page say Coming soon. You can connect Outlook today, with a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account.

Can I connect the calendars of my whole team?

Yes. Connect each person's account, or one account that owns the calendars or may edit them. Switch on one calendar per person and give each the name customers know, and customers can ask for that person.

Does Deskwoot send invitations to my customers?

No. The events have no attendees, so the calendar sends nothing. Customers hear about their appointment from Fynn in the conversation, and in live chat by email as well.

What happens to my calendar when I disconnect?

Nothing is deleted. Events Deskwoot created stay in your calendar, and Fynn stops booking into that account.