Scheduling appointments is an essential part of most businesses' day-to-day operations. The Ontraport Calendar allows you to manage your schedule from one location. And you can automate your event communication with internal and external attendees — also from one location.
Ontraport's two-way-sync with Google Calendar shows you all your events at once. It doesn’t matter if you scheduled your event with Google or Ontraport; all of your calendars will be kept up-to-date.
Check out the Advanced Calendar feature if you:
- Require unique configurations for your one-on-one meeting flows
- Want to create stages
- Want to automatically move your clients to their next step as they progress
Check out this Ontraport University lesson on the Ontraport Calendar here.
And learn more about automating events created in Google Calendar here.
Table of contents
View your calendar
• Schedule view
• Personal profile calendar
• Contact calendars
Create a new event template
Scheduling events in Ontraport
Event Actions
• Event actions from schedule view
• Event actions from contact records
Integrate with Google Calendar
• Manage your synced calendar
• Privacy settings
Integrate with Zoom
• Manage your integration
Templates for synced events
View your calendar
There are several different calendar views available in your account. Each calendar gives you a different way to manage your schedule. Take a look at your whole team's calendar using the Schedule View. Keep tabs on your own schedule using your Personal Profile Calendar, and view upcoming appointments and events from your contacts’ records.
Here’s how to find each calendar view and use each one:
Schedule View
This calendar shows you events booked with any user in your account. This is great when you want to see all of your appointments in one place.
- To access this calendar, click Calendar from your main navigation bar.
Personal Profile Calendar
To see your own events, your Personal Profile Calendar displays the important information about your personal events at-a-glance.
- To view this calendar go to → Personal Profile, then click on the Calendar tab.
Contact calendars
Contacts records have their own calendar section. This section contains all the events you have scheduled with each of your contacts.
View your contacts’ calendars from Detail View or use a Quick View widget.
Detail View calendar
- To access your contact's calendar from Detail View, click on the Calendar tab on the left side of the record.
Calendar Quick View Widget
If you prefer to use Quick View to look at your contact records, you can add the Calendar Quick View Widget so your calendar is easily accessible. If your Calendar Widget is not already visible, here’s how to add it:
- Click Settings from the bottom of your Quick View Widgets section.
- Make sure the icon next to “Calendar” is set to visible — .
- Click Save.
Create a new event template
Event templates allow you to create events quickly and easily. To create a new event, select from any of your saved event templates. Create new events and edit existing ones from your Event Template collection.
- Hover over Calendar and click Event Templates.
- Click New event template.
- Name your event template and add your event’s details.
Title - Add the name of your event. This is the name your calendar will display if you create a booking page using an event template. Use merge fields to pull details into your calendar event title when someone books an appointment, such as “Annual Checkup with [Pet Name]” or “Marketing Consultation Session with [First Name][Last Name].”
This title will not be displayed on your booking page; you will choose a public-facing title in the booking page settings.
Location - Add where your event will take place.
Owner - Pick the user in your account who owns this event.
Event type - Add the type of event for your template, such as “Onboarding,” “Team Meeting” or “Forecast Call.”
- Your event type is an internal labeling system to automatically segment your events and run automation using your event’s type.
Add video conferencing to your event when scheduling it or to the booking page you’ve connected your event template to.
Add event notifications
You can also add event notifications to your event templates. This allows you to set up automated notifications for each event directly from your event template.
This makes it easy to set up all of the automated communication you need for each recurring event, and ensure all of your event’s information is saved in one place.
Event notifications come in two types:
- Event based
- Send notifications when something happens. For example, send an email notification to your guests when they are added.
- Time based
- Send notifications at specific times. For example, send an email notification to all your guests two hours before your event.
Add as many notifications as you’d like to your event, and select from a variety of triggers and actions to create notifications that fit your needs. The merge fields available in your email and SMS notifications depend on the type of trigger you’ve selected.
Add event based notifications
- Click Add in the “Notifications” section.
- Select “When this happens” from the first dropdown.
- In the dropdown below that, choose from these options:
- Event is updated - This allows you to pick which event field you want to trigger this notification.
- Event is canceled
- Guest is added
- Guest is removed
- Select who you want to send your notification to. Select from:
- This guest: Pick a specific contact to notify.
- All guest
- Guests (Contacts)
- Guests (Users)
- Attending Guests only
- Unconfirmed Guests only
- Owner
- Select the notification you want to send. Choose from:
- Email - Decide which email you want to send.
- SMS - Select the SMS message you want to send.
- Automation - Specify the automation map you want to add contacts to. This option adds your contact to an automation map using the default added to automation trigger.
- When you’re happy with you settings, click Save in the top right corner.
Add time based notifications
- Click Add in the "Notifications" section.
- Select “When the time is” from the first dropdown.
- Add the amount of time before or after your event’s start or end time.
- Select who you want to send your notification to. Select from:
- This guest: Pick a specific contact to notify.
- All guest
- Guests (Contacts)
- Guests (Users)
- Attending Guests only
- Unconfirmed Guests only
- Owner
- Specific email - Add a specific email address to send a notification.
- Specific SMS - Add a specific SMS number to send a notification.
- Select the notification you want to send. Choose from:
- Email - Decide which email you want to send.
- SMS - Select the SMS message you want to send.
- Automation - Specify the automation map you want to add contacts to. This option adds your contact to an automation map using the default added to automation trigger.
- When you’re happy with your settings, click Save in the top right corner.
Add a booking page
Self-scheduling creates a great customer experience. You’ll book more appointments when your clients can request a date and time that works for them without asking you to schedule it.
Check out this article to learn how to create a booking page.
Event messages
When you create SMS or email messages for your events, they’ll be added to your Calendar’s Messages collection. You can also create new messages there. Go to Calendar → Messages, then select the type of message you want to create.
Attach ICS File
When you create event emails, you have the choice to add an ICS (iCalendar) file. An ICS file allows your guests to add your event information to different calendars, such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and more.
Merge fields
To keep guest information secure and avoid exposing any sensitive data, Ontraport does not allow you to add the following merge fields when adding or removing guests in bulk:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Name
- Attending
- Contact
When customizing a notification that goes to multiple guests, you can use merge fields for “First Guest.” Ontraport will add a line to your message that tells you how many guests you added or removed.
You can also add the “Modify Event” merge field to add a link that allows your guests to cancel or reschedule an appointment that was scheduled through a booking page.
Scheduling events in Ontraport
You can schedule new events from any of the calendar views above. When you schedule a new event, select a saved template or create a Quick Event on the fly.
Here’s how to schedule a Quick Event
Use Quick Events when your meeting won't repeat, such as a team brainstorming session.
- Go to Calendar → New → Quick Event.
- Add your event details, such as title, start and end times and location.
- Accounts integrated with Zoom or Google Meet can generate a unique meeting link for events. Select either Zoom or Google Meet in the Video conferencing setting.
- Events saved with video conferencing enabled will have their automatically generated links saved in the Video conferencing link field, and conference data will be added to the event's details.
- Accounts integrated with Zoom or Google Meet can generate a unique meeting link for events. Select either Zoom or Google Meet in the Video conferencing setting.
Before adding the event |
After adding the event |
- Guests section: Click Add to select the contacts you want to invite to this event.
- Notifications: Click Add to set up automatic notifications for your event.
- Check out the notifications section to learn more about setting them up.
- When you’re happy with your settings, click Add Event.
Here’s how to schedule a saved event:
Saved events are templates for events you frequently schedule, such as client onboarding calls or software demos.
- Go to Calendar → New → Choose an Event.
- From the “Template” dropdown, select the saved template you want to use.
- Check out the create event templates section to learn more.
- Once you select the template you want, edit the template’s details to fit your needs, then click Add Event.
- Accounts integrated with Zoom or Google Meet can generate a unique meeting link for events. Select either Zoom or Google Meet in the Video conferencing setting.
- Events saved with video conferencing enabled will have their automatically generated links saved in the Video conferencing link field, and conference data will be added to the event's details.
- Accounts integrated with Zoom or Google Meet can generate a unique meeting link for events. Select either Zoom or Google Meet in the Video conferencing setting.
Before adding the event |
After adding the event |
Event Actions
Once your scheduled events are saved in your calendar, you’ve got the tools you need to manage the event and your communications. If you need to send your guests an updated agenda or change your appointment’s start time, you can do it without leaving your calendar. You’ll be able to take different actions depending on which calendar view you’re using.
Event actions from Schedule View
When you select an event from your Schedule View, you have three options – send email, send SMS and send delete:
1.Send email
- When you click this action, specify if you want to send a Quick Email or a saved email.
- Select who you want to send your email to from the “Send email to” dropdown. Select from:
- All Guests
- Guests (Contacts)
- Guests (Users)
- Attending Guests only
- Unconfirmed Guests only
- Owner
2. Send SMS
- When you click this action, choose to send a Quick SMS or a saved SMS message.
- Select who you want to send your email to from the “Send SMS to” dropdown. Choose from:
- All Guests
- Guests (Contacts)
- Guests (Users)
- Attending Guests only
- Unconfirmed Guests only
- Owner
3.Delete
- When you delete an event, check the “Also notify event guests” option to send a system-generated email notification.
- This system-generated email will let your guest know that your event has been canceled. The email will use your event’s details, such as event name, date and your business name, so your guests will know which event was canceled.
Event actions from contact records
When you select an event from your contact’s record, you have two actions to select from – change status and remove from event:
Change status
This allows you to change your contact’s status to:
- None
- Maybe
- Yes
- No
Remove from event
This will remove your contact from your scheduled event.
Integrate with Google Calendar
Integrating with Google Calendar creates a two-way sync between Ontraport and Google Calendar. So, creating a new event in Google will also create the event on your Ontraport Calendar….and vice versa.
This integration also makes it possible to generate Google Meet links when someone books with you or add video conferencing to the appointments you manually schedule.
Here’s how:
- Go to → Personal Profile → Integration.
- Click Connect with Google → Sign in with Google.
- Select the Google account you want to integrate and click Next.
- Add your password and click Next.
- Give Ontraport access to your Google account, then click Continue.
- Disabling these preselected permissions will disrupt your sync.
Select your synced calendars
Once you sign in with Google, you’ll be brought to your Google Calendar Integration page where you can select the calendars you want to sync. Here’s how:
- Click Add in your synced calendars section and select the calendar you’d like to sync.
Customize your settings
Adding at least one calendar will provide you with three customization options — default calendar, create new contacts for unknown guests, and update new events with template data:
Default calendar - if you add more than one calendar, you’ll want to determine which calendar will be your default.
Create new contacts for unknown guests (optional) - This setting creates new contacts in your database when a guest’s email address is not already saved.
- If you toggle this on, you’ll need to accept the usage agreement and click Agree.
Update new events with template data (optional) - These templates make it easy to manage recurring events, like your company team meetings. Your templates let you send automatic notifications to your guests and users.
- Customize your Google Integration settings.
- Select your synced calendar, whether you’d like to create new contacts, and which templates you’d like to use for synced events.
- Click Save in the upper right corner.
- When you save, a pop-up will appear to determine if you want to import past events from your integrated calendar.
- Select the timeframe you want then click Start Sync.
Privacy settings
Control your Google calendar privacy settings so other Ontraport users can’t see the details of your appointments. You can import your calendar(s) to block availability while keeping event details private. Whether you have personal or work-related commitments, only your available appointment slots will be visible to your clients.
To update your privacy settings:
Go to → Personal Profile → Integration.
Click Edit under Google Calendar Integration.
Click Add in the "Sync these calendars’ events with Ontraport, and block availability" setting. Select the calendar(s) you want to make visible to your other team members using Ontraport.
This imports your calendar event details and blocks your availability during those events. For example, you might add your team meetings calendar here.
Click Add in the "Block availability using these calendar events but don’t sync to Ontraport" setting. Select the calendar(s) you want to keep private.
This blocks your availability but does not import your calendar event details. For example, you might add your personal family schedule calendar here.
Click Save.
To remove any calendar, click the “x” next to it and then click Save.
Manage your synced calendar
Once you’ve integrated a Google Calendar with your account, go to → Personal Profile → Integration, and you’ll notice that you won’t see a Connect with Google button anymore. Instead you’ll see an option to edit or disconnect your calendar.
Per Google’s security requirements, you’ll need to reauthorize Ontraport to access your calendar every six months. You’ll be notified in the app and via email when that's required.
Edit your integration
You can edit your integration settings at any time.
- Go to your integrated calendar and click Edit.
- That will reopen the settings you configured when you first integrated your calendar.
- Click Save to update your settings.
Disconnect your calendar
If you no longer want your Google Calendar synced with your Ontraport account, disconnect your integration. Here’s how:
- Go to your integrated calendar and click Disconnect.
- Type “DISCONNECT” and click Continue.
- Decide if you want to delete disconnected events.
- If you click KEEP, all of the events from your synced calendar will remain in your account.
- If you click DELETE, you will remove all of the events from your synced calendar from your account.
Integrate with Zoom
This feature is coming soon! |
Integrating with Zoom will generate a unique Zoom meeting link when someone books an appointment with you or add video conferencing to the appointments you manually schedule.
Each appointment will have its own secure private meeting room.
Here’s how:
- Go to → Personal Profile → Integration.
- In the Zoom section, click Connect to Zoom.
- Log in with your Zoom credentials.
- Check the “Allow this app to use my shared access permissions” setting and click Allow.
Manage your integration
If your integration experiences any issues, a warning will pop up in your account so you can quickly fix the problem.- Go to → Personal Profile → Integration.
- In the Zoom section, click Fix integration.
Disconnect your integration
You can disconnect your integration at any time if you no longer want to use Zoom for video conferencing.
- Go to → Personal Profile → Integration.
- In the Zoom section, click Disconnect.
- Click Disconnect on the pop up to confirm.
Templates for synced events
You can also use event templates for events that are synced in Ontraport from your Google Calendar.
That means that you won’t need to set up notifications and details every time a new event is created using Google Calendar. Here’s how:
- Go to → Personal Profile → Integration → Edit.
- In the “Templates for synced events” section click Add and you’ll see this pop-up:
- In the “Conditions” section click Add Condition.
- Conditions let you use different templates for specific types of events. For example, use one template for your company team meeting, like this:
- And use a different template for your onboarding calls with clients, like this:
- Note, this condition is technically optional. However, if you don’t add one, all of your events synced from Google will use the same template.
- Click Save.
- Select your template. Pick the template you want to use from the “Update event with data from this template” dropdown.
- Check your run order. Once rules have been added to your integration settings, they’ll appear in a numbered list. This is the order your rules will run until the system finds a match.
- To reorder this list, click on a rule and drag it to the order you want.
- Click Save.