Invite people to your Calendar event

You can add anyone with an email address to your event, even if they don't have Google Calendar.

Add people to your event

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. Click an event Edit event .
3. On the right, under "Guests," start typing the name of the person and choose someone from your contacts. You can also type an email address to invite people who aren't in your contacts list.
   • To mark a guest as optional, next to the guest’s name, click Mark optional .
     • If the icon doesn’t show, hover over the guest's name.
4. When you're done editing your event, click Save.

You can't add people to events that are automatically created from Gmail as well as birthdays, holidays, and events on sports calendars.

 

Invite people who don't use Google Calendar

You can invite people who don't use Google Calendar to your event. Just follow the steps above and invite the person using their email address.

Your guests will receive an email invitation. They can let you know if they are going by clicking the Yes, No, or Maybe links in the email.

Tip: For the most reliable experience, use Google Calendar with your Google Account. If you use Google Calendar with a non-Google email address, you may encounter issues when you send invitations and receive RSVPs.

Give your guests updates on an event

Send event invitations and updates

When you create or update an event with guests on Google Calendar, you have the option to email them invitations.

To make guests aware of the event and updates, we recommend you send these emails. Guests won’t get an email if:

• They opt out of email notifications for changes to their calendar.
• The event is in the past.

You can also choose not to send email notifications. Guests’ calendars are still updated, unless:

• Google Calendar users have the setting “Only if the sender is known” and they haven’t interacted with you, don’t have your email in their contacts, and aren't in the same domain.
• They've chosen to not automatically add events to their calendar.

Tip: Guests’ calendars always update after they click “Yes” or “Maybe” in the invitation email.

Non-Google Calendar users and Google Calendar users with a non-Gmail email provider get an email, which updates their calendar per the settings of their calendar service. 

Use event notifications

You can set notifications to remind yourself of the event beforehand. Events you create use the default notification from your settings. You can add up to 5 notifications for each event. These notifications:

• Aren’t shared with Google Calendar guests. Your Google Calendar guests receive reminders for your event based on their own settings.

• Are shared with non-Google Calendar guests. Based on the calendar service your guests use, they get the notifications you set up or the notifications they select in their calendar.

Learn more about setting event-level notifications.

Help your guests not miss the event

If you’re not in the same organization or guests haven’t interacted with you in the past, it’s possible your guest may need to RSVP through the email invitation before the event gets added to their calendar.

We recommend you remind them through your preferred communication channel to RSVP to the event in the email by clicking “Yes” or “Maybe”.

Email or chat with invited guests

Calendar only creates a group chat with guests invited to an event when there are no more than 50 guests (including the organizer). External guests aren't added to group chats.

Important: The chat feature is only available if you use Google Calendar through a work or school account.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. Click an event.
3. Next to the number of guests, select an option:
   • Chat with guests : A new or existing chat opens. Only Chat-enabled guests in your work or school organization are included in the chat.
   • Email guests : A new email opens. All invited guests are included in the email.

For more email format options:

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. On the right side bar, click Calendar .
3. Click an event.
4. Next to the number of guests, select Email guests : 

A new email opens. All invited guests are included in the email.

Find a meeting time

If someone has shared their calendar with you, or is part of your work, school, or other organization, you can check if they're free or busy when adding them to an event.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, click Search for people.
3. Start typing someone’s name and choose the person you want to meet with.
4. At the top left, click Create .
5. Click Suggested times. If the guest you invited has shared their calendar with you, you'll see when they can attend.

Guests in other time zones

If a guest is in another time zone and has shared their calendar with you, you’ll see when their meeting starts under their name at the top. Their meeting time is based on their current time zone. Learn more about sharing calendars.

Forward a calendar invitation email

Important: If you forward an invitation, the recipient might be able to see updated meeting details and could change your RSVP response at any time.

If you have permission to add guests to an event, you can forward the invite to new guests by email. When new guests respond to the invite, they’ll be added to the guest list. They’ll also be able to invite others.

If you don’t want guests to be able to invite others, edit your event and under “Guests can:” uncheck the box next to “invite others."

Track responses to your event

When guests receive your invitation email, they can respond using the Yes, No, or Maybe links in the email. When a guest RSVPs to your event, you receive an email notification and your event updates.

To see who responded to your event, just click the event on your calendar. You’ll see who’s attending, RSVP status, and details.

Tip: In your settings, you can opt out of email notifications for RSVPs.

Troubleshoot problems

Guest limit for invitations

Important: Guest lists are hidden for events with more than 50 guests.

• You can invite up to 200 people to an event.

• To invite more people, use Google Groups. You can invite groups that have up to 100,000 people. Learn how to invite groups to calendar events.

Invitation not received

If a guest didn't receive an invitation to your event, you can ask them to:

• Check their email inbox and RSVP to the email.
• Check the spam folder in their email.
• Check that they didn’t turn off email notifications for new events. 
  • If the guest uses Google Calendar, ask them to check their email notifications on a computer.

You can also remove the guest from the event and add them again.

Suggested times are wrong

Times are suggested based on a guest’s availability and working hours.

If someone’s working hours are set incorrectly, you won’t get the best suggested times.