For almost a decade many booking-related platforms in the coworking and flexible office industry chose to integrate with Google Calendar as a mechanism for providing a rudimental version of ‘live inventory’.
Over the last couple of weeks, several flex space operators reached out to us to help find the source of rogue/incorrect events blocking up their Google Calendars.
These incorrect bookings were not only confusing to the operating and community teams but also made it impossible for current and prospective clients to book those desks, day offices, or meeting rooms.
So how do you figure out what is adding events into your Google Calendar?
Firstly you’ll need the following:
- Admin permissions on your Google Workspace account.
- A list of the rogue/incorrect events.
- A coffee or other beverage.
- About 8 minutes.
Ready? Ok, let’s do this.
Step 1: Access your Google Calendar Log
Google offers a whole suite of admin tools. One of them is a full log of every single thing that has happened to your organization’s Google Calendar(s).
To access this, log into your Google Admin Console and then head to:
Menu ➡ Reporting ➡ Audit and investigation ➡ Calendar log events
Note: It’s security best practice never to click on any public links that take you to a login page. The link above instead takes you to the Google Workspace Help page. But you can also search for “Google Admin Console”, or use the menu under your profile picture when logged into your Google account to get there.
Step 2: Find the rogue events.
When viewing the log screen, you’ll have the ability to add filters.
Let’s say the events you were looking for were all called “Booking from Z”, then you could set your filters to: “Event title Is: Booking from Z” and “Event Is: Event created“
That would look something like this:
Hitting “Search” will refresh the log, and show you details for every time an event with that name was created.
Step 3: Find the source.
Now this is where it gets a little bit geeky, but stick with us.
On the search results, you’ll be able to scroll to the right to find the columns called “API kind”, “User agent” and “IP address”
- API kind - tells us how the integration is connected.
- User agent - should tell us how the integration identifies itself to Google.
- IP address - tells us the (often) unique identifier of the machine or platform.
Using these three values you can deduce or quickly confirm which app/platform is causing chaos in your calendar setups.
Need a little help with making sense of these logs? Let’s chat.
Your first 1-on-1 problem-solving call is on us.
Next steps
If the source is easily verifiable, send them a screenshot and/or the export log and ask them to resolve the issue immediately.
If it’s not, you may need to do a little more investigation, and then ping any of the platforms involved with the data you’ve collected.
A popular option to immediately stop the addition of new erroneous events is to revoke Google Calendar access to the problem platform until a fix is confirmed.
You can find and edit integration access to your Google Calendar via:
Security ➡ Access and data control ➡ API controls in the Google Admin Console.
Revoked access can be reinstated via the same process.
A note about Syncaroo integrations and Google Calendar
Syncaroo helps flex workspace businesses unblock their best people through managed integrations, task automation, and data-related guidance.
Syncaroo never syncs bookings directly via Google Calendars.
We do not do this for a few reasons including making sure your business gets as much user and booking data as possible synced into your management system(s).
This puts data where you need it today, at the end of the month, and for any AI-powered tools you’d like to use. This richer data also allows you to better automate previously-tedious tasks in connected systems like your CRM, door access, WiFi/IT systems, and others.
There are also several unnecessary security risks with exposing your internal calendars (and their data) externally – but that’s for another post on another day. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter below to catch that advisory when it’s published.
Instead, Syncaroo passes all your bookings and data into your chosen inventory or member management system(s). From there, many of these systems can securely push events and details into your Google Calendars, avoiding the whole process above.
What should platforms stuck using Google Calendar integrations do?
We do offer platforms a powerful and robust booking API that includes double-booking avoidance alongside human monitoring of synced data and bookings. We’re here to help.
Questions? Corrections? Concerns?
We’re always eager to chat about tech/data/integrations and improve the resources, advice, and guidance we provide industry-leading flex space businesses.
You can contact us here, or book a free 1-on-1 for us to geek out together here.
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