When someone schedules a meeting with you, Calendly automatically sends a notification to both you and your invitee with the scheduling details. Calendly offers two types of notifications:
- Calendar invitation (most common)
- Email confirmation
The following tables outline some of the nuances between calendar invitations and email confirmations. Review the information below and choose the notification option that works best for you.
Note: If you're looking for information about email reminders, follow-ups, text notifications or Workflows, check out: Automatically send notifications before or after a meeting.
How notifications work
| Calendar Invitations | Email Confirmations | |
| What happens | Your calendar creates an event, and your invitee is added as an attendee. | Calendly creates an ics file that is automatically sent to you. |
| What your invitee receives | Your invitee receives a calendar invitation from your calendar. | Your invitee receives an email confirmation with an event file that is added to their calendar. |
What email address is used to send the notification?
The send-from and reply-to email depends on your notification type.
| Calendar Invitations | Email Confirmations | |
| Email address used for sending | Calendar invitations will come from the email address associated with the calendar you've connected. | Email confirmations will come from notifications@calendly.com |
| Email address invitees can reply to | Replies will go to the email address associated with your calendar. | Replies will go to the email you use to log in to Calendly, unless you select a no-reply option. |
Notifying invitees about changes to scheduled meetings
If you need to change anything on your calendar event, like location, you'll need to use calendar invitations for your invitee to see the change.
| Calendar Invitations | Email Confirmations | |
| Will my invitee receive changes to their calendar event? | YES, since your invitee is listed as an attendee on the calendar event. | NO, since your invitee has added a separate event (ics) file to their calendar. |
Which notification works best for you?
Calendar invitations are usually the easiest way to notify invitees about your upcoming meetings. However, review the lists below for edge-cases where you may want to choose one over the other.
- You use the following calendars: Google, Office 365, Outlook.com, or Exchange
- You need to make changes to the event on your calendar, and you want those changes to send to your invitee.
- You want calendar invitations to send from your calendar account, rather than from notifications@calendly.com.
- You're using an iCloud calendar, the Outlook plug-in, or no calendar.
- You want to use a no-reply address to hide your email address.
- You're hosting a group event, which will default to an email confirmation.
How do I change my notification type?
Calendly automatically chooses a notification type based on your connected calendar or event type. Most of the time, you won't need to adjust this setting and can leave it as-is. If you'd like to change your notification type, follow the instructions in one of the lists below.
To change the notification type from email confirmations to calendar invitations:
- From the Event types page, select the event you wish to update.
- Select More options at the bottom of the screen.
- Expand the Notifications and workflows section.
- Under Basic notifications, select the three vertical dots
next to Email confirmation and then Edit.
- If it says Calendar invitation instead of Email confirmation, you are already using Calendar invitations and can stop here.
- At the top of the screen, select Switch to calendar invitation.
- Select Save and close.
Note: You will be unable to switch to calendar invitations if you're using a group event type, using an iCloud calendar connection, the Outlook plug-in, or have no calendar connection.
To change the notification type from calendar invitations to email confirmations:
- From the Event types page, select the event you wish to update.
- Select More options at the bottom of the screen.
- Expand the Notifications and workflows section.
- Under Basic notifications, select the three vertical dots
- If it says Email confirmation instead of Calendar invitation, you are already using Email confirmations and can stop here.
- At the top of the screen, select Switch to email confirmation.
- Select Save and close.