When someone schedules a meeting with you, Calendly sends the details to both you and your invitee. There are two types of notifications:
- Calendar invitation (most common)
- Email confirmation
Use the tables below to compare them and choose what works best for you.
Note: Looking for reminders, follow-ups, text alerts, or Workflows? Learn more here.
Compare notification types
How each one works
| Calendar invitation | Email confirmation | |
| What happens | Your calendar creates the event and adds your invitee as a guest. | Calendly sends an .ics file to you. |
| What your invitee gets | A calendar invite from your calendar. | An email with an event file they can add to their calendar. |
Email addresses used
| Calendar invitation | Email confirmation | |
| Who sends the notification | Comes from your connected calendar account. | Sent from notifications@calendly.com. |
| Who replies go to | Replies go to your calendar email. | Replies go to your Calendly login email, unless you set a no-reply address. |
How updates are handled
If you need to change details like time or location, only calendar invitations send updates to your invitee.
| Calendar invitation | Email confirmation | |
| Will invitees see updates? | Yes. They’re added as event guests. | No. They only receive a static file. |
How titles are customized
| Calendar invitation | Email confirmation | |
| Can I customize my calendar event title? | Yes. Title can be customized for the host and invitee's calendar event. | A non-editable event is added to the host’s calendar. We send the invitee an .ics file with the custom title. |
Which notification type should you use?
Use calendar invitations when:
- You use Google, Office 365, Outlook.com, or Exchange calendars.
- You need to make event changes and want invitees to get updates.
- You want the invite to come from your calendar, not Calendly.
Note: For Collective meetings, the calendar event is added to one team member’s calendar, and other members are added as guests.
Use email confirmations when:
- You use the Outlook plug-in, iCloud, or no calendar.
- You want to use a no-reply address to hide your email.
- You’re hosting a group event (these use email confirmations by default).
Change your notification type
Calendly automatically picks the notification type based on your calendar or event type. Most of the time, there’s no need to change it. But if you want to switch, follow the steps below.
Switch to calendar invitations
- Go to your Event types page.
- Choose the event you want to update.
- Select More options at the bottom.
- Open the Notifications and workflows section.
- Next to Email confirmation, select the
three dots, then Edit.
- If it says Calendar invitation, you’re already set.
- If not, select Switch to calendar invitation at the top.
- Select Save and close.
Note
You can’t switch to calendar invitations if you:
- Use group events
- Are using iCloud or the Outlook plug-in
- Don’t have a calendar connected
Switch to email confirmations
- Go to your Event types page.
- Choose the event you want to update.
- Select More options at the bottom.
- Open the Notifications and workflows section.
- Next to Calendar invitation, select the
- If it says Email confirmation, you’re already set.
- If not, select Switch to email confirmation at the top.
- Select Save and close.