Automatically add events to calendars

Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, and Frontline Plus; Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus; Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus; Nonprofits. Compare your edition

You can set the default for which events automatically appear on users' primary calendars. By setting their own value, users can override the organization's default setting. You can also set the least restrictive level that a user can choose. This prevents users from automatically adding events beyond what your organization allows.

Configure Calendar event settings

Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.

  1. In the Google Admin console, go to Menu and then Apps and then Google Workspace and then Calendar.

    Requires having the Calendar administrator privilege.

  2. Click Advanced settings.
  3. (Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced).

    Group settings override organizational units. Learn more

  4. Select an option for the least restrictive level available to your organization. This is the least restrictive value that a user can choose.
    • Invitations from everyone—All events appear on user calendars.
    • Invitations from known senders—These are invitations from someone that is in the user's domain or contact list or that they've interacted with. Users get invitations from unknown senders only through email.
    • Invitations users have responded to via email—Users get their invitations by email. Events go on the user's calendar after they respond to invitations.

  5. Set the default value for which events get automatically added. Users can change this value up to the least restrictive level set in step 4.

    • Invitations from everyone
    • Invitations from known senders
    • Invitations users have responded to via email
  6. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

    To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

The default that you set applies only to future invitations. Changes don't affect events that are already on the user's calendar. Users might see a pop-up every time you change this setting.

How your changes affect users' calendars

Any changes you make to Advanced Settings and then Add invitations to Calendar in the Admin console apply to new calendars and to existing calendars if the user hasn't customized their own calendar settings.

When new and existing users change their own settings to another value, the setting they choose takes effect for future events.

Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more