Calendar Synchronization

Owned by Spartan Connect, created
Last updated: Nov 02, 2023
8 min read

Last Modified: Nov 2, 2023

 

What is Calendar Sync?

Calendar Synchronization allows Spartan Connect to recognize when you’re busy, based on your specified Google Calendar(s), and prevent appointments from being scheduled during those times. It also allows Spartan Connect to add your scheduled appointments to your Google Calendar so you can see all your calendar events in one place.

Setting up the calendar sync only needs to be done once and it’s strongly recommended to do so before setting up any appointment availability. After the initial setup, Spartan Connect constantly synchronizes your calendars to keep busy times and scheduled appointments up to date.

Getting Started

Start at your Spartan Connect Student Home page
You can also go to One.SJSU.edu and search for "Spartan Connect."

If you are stuck or need assistance with syncing, reach out to the Spartan Connect Administration Team.

Creating a Separate Appointments Calendar

It is strongly recommended that you dedicate a specific calendar for Spartan Connect appointments. This allows you to sync the Spartan Connect appointments to that separate calendar rather than your primary calendar. This isn't required, but it makes keeping track of appointments easier.

If you've already created a an appointments calendar or would like to use a different calendar, proceed to the next section.

Open your Google Calendar and log into your SJSU account with One.SJSU.edu single sign-on, if necessary.

It's strongly discouraged to use your personal Gmail account instead of your SJSU account. Syncing a personal account to a FERPA protected system exposes protected student information and may be a violation of federal law.

Create a new calendar from the Other Calendars section of the left sidebar by clicking on the + button.

Select Create new calendar.

Fill out the name of the calendar and an optional description. Click on the Create calendar button and wait for the confirmation message to appear at the bottom of the screen.

Return back to the main Calendar page.

See your new calendar created in the list of My Calendars on the left sidebar.

Initial Calendar Authorization

Spartan Connect needs to be granted the authority to connect to your calendar and manage the synchronization of appointments and blocked time.

1. From the left sidebar, click on the Calendar page.

2. On the right, under the Spartan Connect logo, click on the Settings and Sync button.

3. If you've never set up the sync before, click on the Setup Sync... button.

4. You are prompted to choose your calendar application. Select Google Calendar from the options.

While the system supports connecting to other calendar applications, only your SJSU Google Calendar Account is supported by this guide and the Spartan Connect team at SJSU.

5. Now you are prompted to choose a Google account with which to authenticate. Choose your SJSU.edu google account.

6. Google with need you to confirm that you Allow EAB Navigate access to your calendar. You must allow this.

Once the authorization is complete, the page Calendar Settings page will reload and display dropdowns for selecting the desired calendars.

Choose Calendars to Sync

Understanding Sync Types

There are two types of calendar synchronizations:

Two-Way Sync

Free/Busy Sync

 

 

Key Features:

  • Copies appointments from Spartan Connect to Google

  • Copies blocked time from Google to Spartan Connect

  • One calendar only

Key Features:

  • Copies blocked time from Google to Spartan Connect

  • Multiple calendars allowed

Recommended for: A special appointments calendar

Recommended for: Your personal calendar, shared office calendars

Example of selecting a single two-way synced calendar:

Example of selecting multiple Free/Busy synced calendar:

 

 

Choosing Calendars

7. Use the table above and the sections below to determine which calendars you'll choose for each sync type. You do not have to select calendars for both Two-way and Free/Busy.

Don't use the same calendar in both sync types. It's not necessary and can lead to confusion.

Appointments Calendar

For your single two-way sync calendar, it's recommended to select the dedicated Spartan Connect Appointments calendar that you just created. It's possible to use your primary SJSU calendar (shown as your SJSU email address) but you have to consider that all the appointments that are created in Spartan Connect will be shown in the way as all your other personal calendar events. Without a separate calendar for appointments, you'll be unable to separate (and separately hide or show) appointments that come from Spartan Connect and your other calendar events.

Holiday Calendar

Never sync the "Holidays in the United States" calendar, or other holiday calendars provided by Google. Not only are the listed holidays not the same as SJSU official campus closed days but the sync between that kind of calendar does not work correctly.

Spartan Connect is pre-programmed with official university holidays (i.e. days when campus is closed). No action is required to manually sync a holiday calendar.

Other Calendars

Since Spartan Connect can sync multiple free/busy (one-way sync) calendars, shared calendars with events like all-staff department meetings or "office closed for lunch" times can be used. If your department has a shared office calendar of events that all staff will attend you could sync the calendar with Spartan Connect in addition to all your other one-way sync calendars.

Saving the Settings

8. After choosing your calendars, make sure to save your settings by clicking on the Save button.

You'll see that your account is now setup and your calendars are saved.

Editing Synced Calendars

After setting up a sync, you can go back and edit the calendars at any time. From the same Settings and Sync page you can edit the Sync Settings to change calendars, Retry Sync to refresh the synced calendar events, or Disconnect Sync to remove your calendar account completely.

Common Issues and Questions

How do I block time when I'm busy?

For synced calendars, all events marked as "Busy" will block out your time in Spartan Connect. Simply create a calendar event on a synced calendar and specify the date and duration. Spartan Connect will automatically find it and block your appointment time.

Does anyone see my blocked event details in Spartan Connect

No, never. All events that are synced into Spartan Connect will just show as "busy" time with no details or description. No one will be able to see the reason for that busy time, just the date and duration.

How fast do calendars sync?

"Pretty fast." The event synchronization takes place continuously and changes are usually seen within a few seconds. If you notice that an event does not show up after several minutes, you can try retrying the calendar sync. From the Settings and Sync calendar page, click the Retry Sync button.

Do I need to choose which days or events to sync?

No, Spartan Connect will automatically sync all busy events on all selected calendars. You don't ever have to manually select events to sync or choose specific days to sync.

What about campus holidays?

Spartan Connect already knows about our campus holidays and will block out your calendar on those days automatically. Read more about this on the School-wide Events page.

Can I make an event that doesn't block my time?

Yes! Any event in your synced calendar that's marked as "Free" rather than "Busy" will be ignored by Spartan Connect. Those "Free" events will not sync and will not show up in Spartan Connect.

Students can't see my appointment times!

A common issue is that staff will add events for their appointment time block into their synced calendar in addition to their Spartan Connect availability. These entries will conflict and the calendar events will end up blocking the available appointment times. If you want to indicate on your Google Calendar when your normal appointment blocks are, make certain that those calendar events are marked as "Free" in the event details.

Can I use calendar events to define my appointment availability?

No, because events (marked as "Busy") created in any synced calendar will always block out appointment times. There is no way to specify when you are available for appointments using the synced calendar. Any appointment availability will need to be defined in Spartan Connect first, through the My Availability tab on your Staff Home.

I'm getting double booked!

Double booking can happen for a few different reasons:

Blocked time put on wrong calendar

If the calendar events you create are not on a calendar that Spartan Connect syncs with, Spartan Connect won't know to block your time. Double check the selected sync calendars in Spartan Connect and make sure they are correct.

Student created appointment before you created blocked time

While rare, it's possible that students could schedule an appointment right before you create the blocked time.

Recurring events have been edited

Recurring events that are created and then edited can become out of sync in some situations. Be careful of creating a recurring event, or an all day event, that's first saved as "Free" but then changed to "Busy." If your blocked time is a recurring event, try recreating it to see if that solves the issue.

Appointment created by a staff user

Appointments can be scheduled on top of blocked time by staff users or front-desk student workers. This is not typical, since these users should see the conflict and avoid scheduling, but it is possible.

How do I know if it's working?

Return back to the main calendar page and look for events listed simply as "Busy" on the calendar. If you see those "Busy" events you will know the calendar is syncing correctly.

I don't see any external calendar events!

Make certain that you saved your choices when setting up the synced calendars. Return to the Settings and Sync page to verify the calendars were saved. Note that the details of synced calendar events are never shown in Spartan Connect.

My All-day event doesn't block my time!

By default, Google Calendar will set all-day events as "Free" rather than "Busy" and it's up to you to change that before saving the event.

How does blocked time affect drop-in hours?

If you offer drop-in time and you happen to have a busy event during that time, Spartan Connect will not show you as available for drop-ins. This mainly applies to locations utilizing the Virtual Check-ins feature.

Can I Start Over with Calendar Sync?

Yes. Go back into the calendar Settings and Sync and choose Disconnect Sync... button. You’ll need to start from the beginning and set up your sync in Spartan Connect again (you can use the same or new Google Calendars).