Booking will not sync

Question

My Microsoft Bookings calendar will not sync with my Microsoft outlook calendar. Bookings is showing that I am available at times that I already have a meetings scheduled on my outlook calendar. How do I integrate Bookings into my outlook calendar so that they both sync together?

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Moved from: Microsoft 365 Insider | Outlook | Windows

Answer 1

Hi @A

Thank you for posting your question in the Q&A Forum.

I understand how frustrating it can be when your Bookings page doesn't accurately reflect your Outlook availability, leading to potential double-bookings. 

This behavior usually occurs because Bookings needs specific permission to "read" your Outlook status. Please try the following steps to resolve the issue: 

1. Enable Calendar Sync in Staff Settings  

Bookings does not automatically block time unless specifically told to. 

• Log in to Microsoft Bookings. 
• Go to the Staff tab on the left menu and select your name. 
• Click Edit Staff. 
• In the Availability section, ensure the checkbox "Events on Office calendar affect availability" is checked. 
• Click Save changes. 

2. Check Meeting Status in Outlook 

Bookings only respects time slots marked as "Busy". 

• Open your Outlook calendar and check the meetings that are not syncing. Make sure the Show As status is set to Busy. 
• Meetings marked as Free, Tentative, or Working Elsewhere will still show as available in Bookings. 

3. Primary Calendar Only 

Please note that Bookings currently only tracks availability from your Primary Outlook Calendar. If your meetings are stored on a shared or secondary calendar, they will not be reflected in your Bookings availability. 

4. All-Day Events 

If you have an all-day event (like a holiday or "Out of Office"), please ensure the status of that event is manually set to Busy, as Outlook often defaults all-day events to "Free". 

Note: Microsoft Bookings does not provide a full two-way mirror sync with Outlook. Instead, it "reads" your availability rules to prevent double-booking. 

If these settings are already correct and the issue persists, please let me know so we can explore further solutions. 

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Answer 2

To ensure that your Microsoft Bookings calendar syncs properly with your Outlook calendar, follow these steps:

1. Check Synchronization Settings: Make sure that your bookings are set to synchronize with your Outlook calendar. Bookings synchronize one week in the past and up to two weeks in the future. If synchronization is disabled, records won’t sync.
2. Confirm Mailbox Setup: Ensure that your mailbox is set up correctly for synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Online. You need to have the appropriate roles (Dynamics 365 System Admin and Exchange admin) to set this up.
3. Integration Steps: If you haven't done so already, set up the Exchange integration by signing into the Power Platform admin center, verifying the Microsoft Exchange Online server profile, and ensuring that appointments, contacts, and tasks are set to Server-Side Synchronization.
4. Update Bookings: If you have bookings scheduled more than two weeks in advance, they won't sync automatically. You may need to update any field in the booking record within the two-week window to trigger synchronization.
5. Check for Duplicate Bookings: If you have duplicate bookings appearing, it could be due to a custom synchronization solution. You might want to disable that and use the built-in Field Service solution instead.

If you follow these steps and still experience issues, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance.