Google appointment scheduling: How to schedule meetings and appointments with Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a highly versatile tool that businesses and individuals use to plan and organize their schedules more effectively. However, it only recently joined the race on the appointment scheduling track.

Google retired its appointment slots, a basic scheduling system that was part of its Workspace bundle, and launched a new appointment scheduling system that's now available to anyone with a Google Calendar account, offering additional functionalities within the Google Workspace bundle.

A crucial difference between Google appointment slots and appointment schedules

Google appointment slots used to only allow users who had a Google account to book appointments, which was a big roadblock for businesses that wanted to use it with customers or clients not in the Google ecosystem.

The latest appointment scheduling system has fixed that gap, allowing users to book appointments from any email domain. Other booking customization options (like buffer times, scheduling windows, and more) are also offered to help businesses manage their schedules better.

Even with all these updates, Google Calendar appointment scheduling has to play catch-up with Zoho Bookings and the other seasoned appointment scheduling apps on the market.

What is Google Calendar appointment scheduling?

If you're using Google Calendar, you can share an external booking page to schedule appointments via the appointment schedule feature. The booking page displays your available time slots, and a new, detailed calendar event is created when clients or customers schedule an appointment.

How to use Google Calendar appointment scheduling

Google Calendar's appointment scheduling functionality is available in multiple Google subscription plans.

You can use the appointment schedule option under:

• The free version of Google Calendar (with limited features)
• Google One Premium (with limited features)
• Workspace Individual (with limited features)
• Business Standard and Plus (with all the features)
• Enterprise Standard and Plus (with all the features)
• Education (with all the features)
• Nonprofits (with all the features)

How to create Google Calendar appointment scheduling

1. Open Google Calendar. Click Create then Appointment schedule. A dedicated Google Calendar appointment scheduling interface will open.

2. Give your schedule a title and pick the duration of each slot—whether 15, 30, or 60 minutes or a custom duration.

3. Under general availability, decide which days and times you want to accept appointments. Customize availability for each day of the week, and make it repeat weekly if needed.

4. Add buffer times, daily limits, calendar checks, and cohosts to manage your appointments further.

5. Choose your appointment location: in-person, on the phone, or through Google Meet. Personalize the booking form with extra fields, and set up to five email reminders so no one forgets their slot.

6. When you're done, click Save. Google Calendar will create a shareable booking page link that you can send to customers.

Related read: How to create Google Calendar events and share them with others

Creating an appointment schedule with Zoho Bookings

With software like Zoho Bookings, creating an appointment schedule is far easier. Powered with AI, Zoho Bookings automatically generates your booking dashboard end to end. It auto-generates dashboard labels and creates an appointment type for your business to get started with.

Your booking pages will also be auto-generated based on your website. It'll gather your logos, images, colors, and contact information and populate them into your booking pages.

If you're using Google Calendar or Google Meet for your businesses, you can easily integrate it with Zoho Bookings to strengthen your appointment booking process.

When creating your appointment schedule with Zoho Bookings, you can also:

• Create different meeting types, like one-on-one, group, collective, and resource bookings.
• Configure your booking availability.
• Assign multiple staff members to streamline team scheduling.
• Set up buffer times and cancellation or rescheduling windows.
• Create customized appointment notifications and reminders.
• Collect relevant information from customers by adding different booking form fields.

How to share your Google Calendar appointment schedule

Once you create your booking page, it'll be accessible below your calendar view on the left side. You can then share your booking pages in four different ways.

1. Share a specific booking page

This is the simplest way to share your availability for a single type of meeting. Hover over the schedule you want to share and click the Copy link button.

2. Share all your booking pages

If you have multiple types of appointments, you can share a single link that lets people choose which one they want to book.

Under the link section of the appointment schedule, select All booking pages.

Click Copy link to get a link that displays all your available booking pages and share it with your customers.

3. Embed on your website

Let clients book appointments directly from your website. You can either embed a button or a widget.

Go to the website embed section.

Choose whether you want to embed a widget or a button on your site.

Copy the code and paste it into the HTML of your website.

4. Share directly from Gmail

You can quickly add your booking page to an email you're composing in Gmail. In the email compose window, click the Set up a time to meet button at the bottom to choose the booking page you want to insert.

Sharing Zoho Bookings' booking pages

Zoho Bookings offers more customization to your booking pages. You can switch between different themes, add different colors, and insert images that resonate with your brand. Zoho Bookings offers multiple booking page types:

• Every type booking pages: For booking a specific meeting
• Workspace booking page: For sharing the different meeting types under a particular workspace for customers to pick from
• Staff booking page: For booking with a specific staff member
• Business booking page: For sharing all the different workspaces and their associated meeting types in a single link

These booking pages can be shared in multiple ways with Zoho Bookings:

• Share permanent booking URLs.
• Share a one-time booking URL.
• Share a QR code of your booking page.
• Embed booking pages directly to your website as a widget, a button, or a link.
• Share booking URLs from the browser extension.
• Share specific time slotsdirectly to customers via email.
• Share booking URLs from Gmail or Outlook directly.
• Share booking URLs from your LinkedIn messaging window.

Additionally, Zoho Bookings also allows you to host booking pages on your domain. Once you connect and authenticate your domain, you can share custom booking page URLs with customers.

Google Calendar Appointment Scheduling vs. Zoho Bookings

If you're already subscribed to Google Workspace, using its appointment scheduling feature makes sense for scheduling meetings. However, if you're looking for an appointment booking system that goes beyond appointment collection, then Zoho Bookings would be an ideal pick.

Advanced appointment customization, team management, a unified appointment dashboard, integration with other apps, custom workflows, and extensive APIs are key functionalities that give Zoho Bookings a competitive edge when compared to Google's appointment scheduling.

Navigating different pricing plans for Google appointment scheduling

Different Google subscriptions offer different Google Calendar appointment scheduling features.

It can be confusing if you don't understand your options before making your choice; you also have to manage your business operations based on the plan you select.

Zoho Bookings offers two simple paid plans, making it easier for businesses to compare and select their preferred plan without confusion.

Using the right appointment scheduler

Choosing the right scheduling tool is a decision that should be made based on your business needs and preferences. If a basic appointment scheduler helps, then creating a Google Calendar appointment schedule will be fine.

However, if you are looking for advanced functionalities and a better way to manage your team schedules, then you can simply combine your Google apps with Zoho Bookings.

With Google Calendar sync, a Google Meet integration, and Chrome and Gmail extensions, you can build a flexible booking system that caters to all your requirements while still using the Google ecosystem as your base.