Set Calendar sharing options

This article is for administrators. To share your own calendar, go to Share your calendar with someone.

As an administrator, you can control how much calendar information people in your organization can share with users external to your organization. You can also set the default level of sharing for users within your organization. 

After you limit external sharing for your organization, users can't exceed these limits when sharing individual events. For example, if you limit your organization's external sharing to Free/Busy and a calendar is shared with others, they will only see events as “busy.”

External mobile users who previously synced events might still see restricted details. Revoke that access by wiping and resyncing their device.

Decide what users may share 

You can share your organization’s calendars with the public, but not with a specific external domain. Users can choose how they share their calendars with other users in the same organization. 

Note: Super administrators and admins with the Meet hardware management permission or with the Manage Calendars permission can see all event details in everyone's calendars, however calendars are shared.

Expand all  |  Collapse all

Allow or restrict external sharing

Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu  Apps > Google Workspace > Calendar.

   Requires having the Calendar > Settings administrator privilege.

3. Click Sharing settings.
4. (Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how

   Group settings override organizational units. Learn more

5. In the External Sharing options section, choose how your users can share their calendars with people outside your organization. 
   If you lower the external sharing level, people outside your organization may lose access to calendars they could previously see.
   • Only free/busy information (hide event details)—Check when your calendar is booked and when it has free time, but not the names or details of your events.
   • Share all information, but outsiders cannot change calendars—Find details for all events except those marked as private.
     • Find the time zone setting for the calendar. 
     • Subscribe to email alerts when events are created, changed, canceled, responded to, or coming up.
   • Share all information, and outsiders can change calendars—Find details for all events, including private ones. 
     • Add and edit events. 
     • Restore or permanently delete events from the calendar's trash. 
     • Find calendar time zone setting. 
     • Subscribe to email alerts when events are created, changed, canceled, responded to, or coming up.
   • Share all information, and allow managing of calendars—Find details for all events, including private ones. 
     • Add and edit events. 
     • Restore or permanently delete events from the calendar's trash. 
     • Find the time zone setting for the calendar. 
     • Change sharing settings. 
     • Subscribe to email alerts when events are created, changed, canceled, responded to, or coming up. 
     • Permanently delete the calendar.
6. (Optional) To set external calendar sharing options for secondary calendars that users create, go to Google WorkspaceCalendarGeneral.

   You see the same options as for primary calendars. You just can't set them for individual organizational units.

7. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

   To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more

Set a default for internal sharing

The internal sharing options you set for your organization automatically apply if a user doesn't customize their own calendar settings.

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu  Apps > Google Workspace > Calendar.

   Requires having the Calendar > Settings administrator privilege.

3. Click Sharing settings.
4. In the Internal sharing options for primary calendars section, choose how your users' calendars are shared by default with other people in your organization.
   If you change the internal sharing level, the change applies to new calendars and to existing calendars if the user hasn't customized their own calendar settings.
   • No sharing—Calendars aren't shared unless users share their own calendars. Mobile app users can't use the Find a time feature.
   • Only free/busy information (hide event details)—Only free/busy information displays.
   • Share all information—All information is public unless users change their own settings. Users can also make individual events private.
5. Click Save.

Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more

(Advanced) Use the API to update internal sharing for calendars

You can change internal sharing options using APIs to modify the default level. To update existing calendars:

1. Retrieve and parse the list of all your users. For steps, go to the Directory API.
2. Update the Access Control Lists for the calendars. For steps, go to the Google Calendar API.

Help your users

If your users are wondering why they can’t share with everyone or want to learn more about making a calendar public, send them to:

• Share your calendar with someone
• Create & manage a public Google calendar

Related Topics

• How Google handles user information in the app 
• Allow external invitations in Google Calendar events
• Set your working hours & availability