Free/ busy sharing

The Free/Busy sharing feature in your Calendar helps you figure out the best schedule to host an event. You can enable Free/Busy sharing for every calendar separately. If you have enabled Free/Busy sharing for a specific calendar, only the events from that particular calendar will be considered for Free/Busy status. You can also check for the Free/Busy status of the attendees while hosting an event.

In the Create Event, Duplicate Event and Edit Event tabs, there is an option to check the free/busy status of all the attendees of the event by just entering the email address of all the attendees. After checking the free/busy status, you can alter and fix the best time, add the attendees and create the event.

Free/ Busy Consideration

You can enable the Free/ Busy consideration in your calendar Event settings to show yourself busy during non-working hours. This will be reflected when a host checks your free/ busy status while adding you to an event.

Steps to enable or disable free/ busy consideration

1. Log in to https://mail.gov.in/ and navigate to Calendar from the left pane.
2. Go to Settings > Calendar > Event Settings > Free/ Busy consideration.
3. Click on the check box - Show me as busy during non-working hours to show yourself busy during non-working hours.
    
4. You will be shown busy during non-working hours while a host checks your availability for an event.
    

The busy time will be denoted by a red band and the free time will be blank.

Calendar-specific free/ busy sharing

In your Calendar, you can add the calendars in the My Calendars section to your free/ busy schedule. This will show you busy during the times when an event is created to a particular calendar.

You can add the calendar to your free/ busy schedule while creating the calendar or editing the calendar.

Steps to include a calendar to your free/ busy schedule

1. Log in to https://mail.gov.in/ and navigate to Calendar from the left pane.
2. Click the Add Calendar icon next to My Calendars in the left pane.
    
3. Provide the Calendar Name, Description and Calendar color.
4. Check the Include in my Free/ Busy sharing checkbox.
    

You can also edit a calendar under the My Calendar section to include it in your free/ busy sharing.

Steps to edit a calendar to include in free/ busy sharing

1. Hover over the calendars in the My Calendars section and click on the More Options icon in the calendar you want to include in your free/ busy schedule.
    
2. Click Edit
    
3. Check the Include in my free/ busy sharing checkbox.
    

Event-specific free/ busy sharing

In your Calendar, you can choose to add/ remove a specific event in your free/ busy schedule.

Steps to enable or disable free/ busy sharing for an event

1. Log in to https://mail.gov.in/ and navigate to Calendar from the left pane.
2. Create a new event, edit an event or duplicate an event.
3. Provide/ Edit the details of the event.
4. Check or uncheck the Add to free/ busy schedule check box under the Calendar field.
    
5. Click Save.
6. Select an option from the Send event invitation pop-up and click Confirm
    

Manage and View Free/ Busy

When you create an event using Calendar, you can view the free/ busy schedule of the attendees from within your organization. You can choose a time which will suit all the attendees and create an event accordingly.

Steps to Manage and View Free/ Busy schedule of attendees

1. Log in to https://mail.gov.in/ and navigate to Calendar from the left pane.
2. Create a new event, edit an event or duplicate an event. Provide/ Edit the details of the event.
3. Type the email addresses of the attendees in the Attendees field. Click Manage & View free busy below the Attendees field.
    
4. A Manage Participant & Check Availability pop-up window will appear. You can view the free/ busy schedule of the attendees from within your organization.
5. You can also add attendees by providing the attendees' email addresses/ group names in the Enter Email address/ Group name text box.
6. A "*" will be present to the left of attendees who are not part of your organization and their free/ busy schedule will not be available.
    
7. Check the Show based on my working hours check-box to view the free/ busy schedule based on your work hours.
    
8. Select the date and time for the event to check the free/ busy status of the attendees. Click the Next free time button on top of the pop-up window to see the available free time for all the attendees from within your organization.
    
9. Click Done.
10. Provide other details of the event and click Save.
11. Select an option in the Send event invitation pop-up and click Confirm.
12. You can also find the next best possible time slot where a majority of the participants are available using the participants' availability option.

Participants' availability

When you create an event and add participants to it, you can check whether all the attendees are available for the time you choose. The participants' availability section will suggest the next 5 best possible timeslots where the majority of the participants are available. Follow the steps given below to check the participants' availability while creating the event.

Steps to check the participants' availability

1. Log in to https://mail.gov.in/ and navigate to Calendar from the left pane.
2. Click the New Event button on the left pane of your calendar.
3. In the Create Event tab, provide the Event title, Date and Time of the event.
4. Provide the email address of the attendees in the Attendees field.
5. Once the attendees are chosen, the participants' availability section will show the next 5 best possible time slots where a majority of the participants are available.
    
6. You can also filter the choices with the 3 options available.
   • Earliest- This will show the 5 earliest timeslots available.
   • This week - This will show the possible timeslots in that particular week. (Week is shown based on the week start set up in your calendar settings).
   • Next week - This will show the possible timeslots in the next week.
      
7. Select the time slot which works for all the participants.
8. You can also check the detailed availability of the participants using the Manage and View free/busy option.
9. Provide other details of the event and click Save.