Personal → Work, shown as Busy

When this is for you

Colleagues book over your personal commitments because your work calendar looks empty — but you don't want them reading what those commitments are.

Before you turn it on

How it works

A copy appears on your work calendar at the same time and for the same length as the original, titled Busy. Change the original and the copy is updated to match; delete it and the copy goes with it. A repeating commitment crosses as one repeating event rather than dozens of separate blocks. When you no longer want it, stopping the sync can clear the blocks it made in one step, so you are never deleting them by hand.

What you'll pick

Setting it up

1. 1Pick your personal calendar as the source. Nothing is written to it.
2. 2Pick your work calendar. The Busy blocks appear here.
3. 3Leave the title option on Title says "Busy", and leave descriptions, locations and guests switched off.

Variations

Two filters you can add to this sync at any point, without rebuilding it.

• Sync everything except all-day events

  Add an "All-day events" exclude rule and holidays, birthdays and travel banners stay out of the calendar you sync into. It also catches birthdays from a subscribed calendar, which "Special dates from contacts" cannot — those arrive as ordinary events, so only the all-day rule sees them.

• Only invitations you've accepted

  Set "Which events to sync (RSVP)" to "Only-yes" and meeting requests you haven't answered stay out of the calendar you sync into until you accept them.