Share room and resource calendars

In Google Calendar, when you create a calendar resource, such as a meeting room or company car, you create a calendar for that resource. Your users can then schedule the resource by adding it to their calendar events. When users book the resource, it creates a corresponding event on the resource's calendar.

Before you begin

To share resources, you must first add them to your My calendars list. To add resources to your My Calendars list, you need an administrator account with Calendar management privileges.

1. If the resource you want to manage doesn't exist yet in Calendar, create the resource.
2. Sign in with your administrator account and open Google Calendar.
3. On the left, next to Other Calendars, click Add Browse resources.
4. Click the building or location for the resource.
5. Next to the resource, check the box to add it to your My calendars list.

Share a resource

If you share a resource, users can add it to their Other calendars list to check availability, book it for events, and get notifications. However, they can’t edit the resource.

1. Sign in with your administrator account and open Google Calendar.
2. From the My calendars list, point to the resource and click More Settings and sharing.
3. Choose how you want to share the resource. 

   • In your shared calendar’s settings, you can set general Access permissions for events and Share with specific people permissions. Between both, the broader permission is applied to specific people.

     For example, if you choose Make available to public and select See all event details, and you also share the calendar with a specific person and select See only free/busy, that person can still view all your event details.

   • If you want to share the calendar with everyone in your organization, under Access permissions for events:
     1. Check the Make available for your organization box.
     2. On the right, click the Down arrow and choose an option. Learn about resource permissions below on this page.
   • If you don't set the internal sharing option for a new resource, it inherits the default sharing option for secondary calendars in your organization. If you want to share the calendar with specific people or a group in Google Groups, for Share with specific people:
     1. Click Add People.
     2. Add the email addresses of the people or groups to share with.
     3. For Permissions, click the Down arrow and choose an option. Learn about resource permissions below on this page.
     4. Click Send.
4. Make sure users can schedule the resource. For details, go to Test scheduling resources.
5. Let your users know they can now add the resource to events.
6. (Optional) Complete the steps to Control how resources respond to invitations.

Learn about resource permissions

When you share a resource, you control how users see events scheduled for that resource and whether they can add or edit events.

• See only free/busy (hide details)—Users can book the resource when they create or modify events in their personal calendars. They can’t see names or details of the events on the resource's calendar. If you don't allow free/busy resource booking in your organization, share the resource with at least See all event details permission. Otherwise, users will try to schedule the resource and it won’t be available.
• See all event details—Users can book the resource and see event details when they create or modify events in their personal calendars. The event organizer can modify an event in their personal calendar. However, they can’t modify events directly in the resource's calendar or modify other users’ events. 
• Make changes to events—Users can see event details, including details for private events. They can modify any event. This option is available only when the resource is shared with specific people, not your entire organization.
• Make changes and manage sharing—Users can see event details, including details for private events. They can modify any event. They can also change sharing settings. This option is available only when the resource is shared with specific people.
• Auto-accept invitations—You can choose to let users book resources that do not conflict with availability. This setting also prevents unauthorized users from booking resources. Or, you can let users book resources regardless of availability or permissions.

Control how resources respond to invitations

1. Sign in with your administrator account and open Google Calendar.
2. From the My calendars list, point to the resource and click More Settings and sharing.
   Requires having the Calendar privilege.
3. For Auto-accept invitations, choose an option:
   • Auto-accept invitations that do not conflict—The resource accepts invitations to any new event if it doesn’t have another event scheduled at the same time. If a resource is available for most, but not all of the series, the resource accepts the entire series and declines the dates when it's unavailable. One email is sent to the event organizer for each declined occurrence. If the resource has too many conflicts, it declines the entire series and sends one email. The resource also rejects bookings from users who don’t have the necessary permissions to access the resource.
     Note: The resource accepts invitations for a recurring event only if the number of instances with conflicts is not more than five, and not more than one-third of the total number of events.
   • Automatically add all invitations to this calendar—All invitations show up on the resource's calendar even if some of them are for events that take place at the same time. To ensure the resource is available when you need it, check its availability beforehand. A strikethrough on the calendar indicates that the resource is already booked. If you turn on this setting, users who don’t have the necessary permissions may be able to schedule and utilize the resources. However, they still won’t be able to subscribe to them or view details.

Related topics

• Set Calendar sharing options
• Share your calendar with someone