Square Appointments Calendar not syncing FROM google TO square

[joshhuskin]

Square Appointments won't let use the calendar that they created in Google Calendar called "Square Appointments" as the imported calendar in Square Appointments.  I'd like it to import that calendar and have Square read it so my employees can block off times on google calendar so our customers can't book that time.   When I try to add that calendar as an imported calendar it just refreshes the page and comes back to the same window and never imports it.  It will let me import another calendar, just not the "square appointments" one that Square created.

Anyone else having this problem?

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @joshhuskin.  Square states in this help document that what you describe is the way Google Calendar Sync was implemented.  You are not supposed to add to or change anything in the “Square Appointments” calendar using Google.  If you do, those changes will be lost.  The Square Appointments calendar is a one-way thing.  Only appointments are synced from Square -> Google, and only personal events are synced from Google -> Square. Merging into one calendar is not possible at this time, at least as far as I understand the screen shot below.

[joshhuskin]

Hi Chip, 

Thanks for the quick response! So I don't actually need Square to read the details, I just wanted to use it to block off time.  If I put "Josh Off, 10-2 pm on Wed Aug 16" on the calendar on google, I want it to block that time from being able to be booked on Square Appointments.  Is that something that you think won't work because of the way they have it setup? 

[TheRealChipA]

@joshhuskin I’ll look at it a little more and confirm my suspicions.  But the way I read the Square Help Document, the data flow is from:

Square Appointments -> Square Google Calendar “Square Appointments”. Changes made in Google to that calendar will not be copied back to Square and will, in fact, be deleted on the next sync.

Google Personal Calendar -> Square Appointments (Personal Calendar).  Again, personal events put into the Square Appointments Calendar won’t be synced back to Google.

Think of this “sync” as more of a merging of two calendars that can only be edited the editing tool that created them.

Also, more to the point of your question, no I do not see anything that would imply to me that if you create time-off in the Google Personal calendar that Square would honor that when allowing clients to book appointments.  It seems to me you will have to handle that manually.

Lastly, if you can figure out a way to  describe what you are trying to accomplish, I think I see a strong case here for submitting a feature request to the Appointments Team.  However, I’m not sure exactly how they would accomplish this.  But, I’m no longer a programmer/analyst as I once was in a former career.  So I have no doubts that I can’t even begin to know what tech the engineers have at their disposal these days.  A feature request can’t hurt.  Just keep it to the point, and very focused.

If you think you’re up for doing this, feel free to draft a request and post it here before submitting it.  I’d be more than happy to look it over and make some suggestions, if needed.

Sorry I can’t be more help.