Respond to event invitations

To let people know if you can attend an event, you can respond to calendar invitations. You can also add a note or suggest a different time for an event. When your email account receives the invite, Google Calendar adds the event to your primary calendar.

Important: Based on your settings, events may not show in the calendar until you respond to the event or confirm you know certain senders. These senders include:

• People outside your organization
• People not in your contacts
• People you haven’t interacted with before

To update your event settings, learn how to manage your incoming invitations and notifications.

RSVP to an invite

1. Open the invitation email or the event on your calendar.
2. Click Yes, No, or Maybe.
3. If you click "Yes,” you can:
   • Automatically update how you join the meeting. If you set your working location, your RSVP defaults to:
     • Yes, in a meeting room, when you join from an office.
     • Yes, joining virtually, when you join from another location.
   • Manually update how you join the meeting. Click the Down arrow , then select your join method.

Manage your incoming invitations and notifications

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. At the top right, click Settings    Settings.
3. On the left, under “General,” click Event settings Add invitations to my calendar.
4. Choose an option:
   • From everyone: All invitations are automatically added to your calendar.
   • Only if the sender is known: Events are added to your calendar if the sender is in your contacts, part of your organization, or someone you previously interacted with. This helps prevent spam on your calendar.
     • If an event isn’t added to your calendar, you get the invitation as an email, even if the organizer doesn't send one. 
     • After you mark a sender as known, or you interact with them, future invitations from them are automatically added to your calendar. 
     • This option might reveal to senders that they aren’t in your contacts 
   • When I respond to the invitation in email: An event is added to your calendar only after you respond to the email notification. When an event isn't added to your calendar, you get an invitation by email, even if the event organizer chooses not to send one.

Tip: The setting only applies to new invitations.

Limit visibility for pending Calendar invitations

Important: If someone only has permission to view your availability, they can’t view event details. Learn about sharing permissions.

To prevent others from viewing pending event details for your invitations:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. At the top right, click Settings   Settings.
3. On the left, under “General,” click Event settings. 
4. Turn off Let others see all invitations if they have permission to view or edit my events.
   • This option is only available if under "Add invitations to my calendar," you select When I respond to the invitation in email or Only if the sender is known.

Tip: The setting only applies to new invitations.

Fix issues with known senders

If you mark a sender as known or interact with them, and invitations are still marked as "Unknown sender invitation," make sure your Google Account allows Google products to save contact info when you interact with people. 

To automatically add future invitations from a sender to your calendar, you can also manually add senders to your contacts.

If you still find spam events in your calendar on your Android device after you turn on “Only if the sender is known,” you may also need to review which apps have access to your calendar.

Unmark a sender as known

If you accidentally click "I know the sender," but don’t trust the contact:

1. Go to contacts.google.com.
2. At the top left, click Main menu   Other contacts. 
3. To the right of the person’s contact info, click More actions   Delete   Delete.

Change your response

1. Click the event on your calendar.
2. Next to "Going?," click an option:
   • Yes
   • No
   • Maybe
   • Yes, in a meeting room
   • Yes, joining virtually

Propose a new time

As an attendee:

1. On your calendar, click the event.
2. Next to "Maybe," click the Up arrow  Propose a new time.
3. Select a different time or day.
   Tip: You can also add a message to your proposed time.
4. Click Send Proposal.

Tip: To propose a new time from an email invitation, at the top of the email, click More options  Propose a new time.

As an organizer:

1. On your calendar, click an event with a clock icon.
2. Under "Guests," find suggested times.
3. Under the time proposal you want to review, click Review proposed time.
4. To change the event to the proposed time, click Save.

Details about proposing a new time

• Proposals are turned off for large events with more than 200 guests and all-day events. Learn more about large events.
• All guests can propose a new time. Organizers can’t propose a new time.
• On a computer, in Google Calendar settings, if organizers turn on “Event responses,” they receive email notifications for proposals.

Add a note to your RSVP

Important: Your RSVP note is visible to all invitees.

1. Click the event on your calendar.
2. Next to "Maybe," click the Up arrow Add note.
3. Enter your note.
   Tip: Next to “Going,” you can also choose your RSVP.
4. Click Save.

Tip: To add a note to your RSVP from an email invitation, at the top of the email, click More options  Add note. 

Forward calendar invites

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."

Respond to invitations sent to another email address

Important: If you connected your Gmail account to an alternate email address, and would like to respond to a Calendar invitation email using the linked “Yes” “Maybe” “No” options at the bottom, you’ll be asked to sign in to your Google Account. Learn about alternate email addresses.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, point to the name of your calendar, then click Options Settings and sharing.
3. In the menu on the left under “Settings for my calendars,” click Other notifications.
4. Check the box next to “Allow responding to invitations forwarded through alternative email addresses.”