Calendar Sync Explained
Calendar sync is the engine behind Driive's ability to prevent double-bookings and keep your schedule accurate across platforms. This article explains exactly how sync works, what happens at each stage, and what to expect as changes flow between Driive and your external calendar.
The two directions of sync
Driive calendar sync is bidirectional, meaning data flows both ways between Driive and your external calendar (Google or Outlook). Each direction serves a different purpose.
Inbound sync (external calendar to Driive)
Inbound sync pulls events from your Google or Outlook calendar into Driive. These external events:
Appear on your Driive calendar so you can see your full schedule in one place.
Block availability on your booking pages. If a team member has an Outlook meeting from 2:00 to 3:00 PM, customers won't be offered that time slot when booking online.
Are read-only in Driive. To edit them, you'll use your external calendar app.
Outbound sync (Driive to external calendar)
Outbound sync pushes Driive appointments to your connected calendar. When an appointment is:
Scheduled — An event is created on your primary external calendar.
Rescheduled — The corresponding external event is updated with the new time.
Canceled — The external event is removed.
This means your external calendar always reflects your Driive schedule without any manual entry.
Sync types
Driive uses three sync methods, each suited to a different situation.
Full sync
A full sync imports all events from your selected calendars. This happens:
Once, when you first connect a calendar integration.
Occasionally, if Driive needs to re-establish the baseline (for example, after a connection error is resolved).
Full syncs can take a few minutes for large calendars with years of history. You'll see progress on the integration settings page.
Incremental sync
After the initial full sync, Driive switches to incremental sync. Instead of re-importing everything, incremental sync uses a sync token provided by your calendar provider to fetch only the events that have changed since the last check.
This is fast and efficient — typically completing in seconds, even for busy calendars.
Webhook / push notifications
For the fastest possible updates, Driive uses push notifications (also called webhooks) from your calendar provider. Here's how it works:
When you connect your calendar, Driive registers a webhook subscription with Google or Outlook.
Whenever you create, edit, or delete an event on your external calendar, the provider sends a notification to Driive.
Driive immediately runs an incremental sync to pull in the changes.
The result is near-real-time availability updates — usually within seconds of a change on your external calendar.
Behind the scenes: Google Calendar webhook subscriptions expire after 7 days. Driive automatically renews them before they expire, so you never need to worry about this.
Deduplication
When events are synced, Driive tracks each one using its external unique identifier (UID) from the calendar provider. This prevents duplicates from being created if the same event is synced more than once.
If you ever notice a duplicate event on your Driive calendar, it typically resolves on the next sync cycle. See Troubleshooting Integrations for more details.
Sync logs
Driive keeps a log of every sync operation so you can see what happened and when. Each log entry includes:
Timestamp — When the sync ran.
Sync type — Full, incremental, or webhook-triggered.
Stats — How many events were processed, created, updated, skipped, or failed.
You can view sync logs from the integration settings page for any connected calendar. This is helpful when diagnosing sync issues or confirming that a recent change has been picked up.
When do changes appear?
Scenario | How fast |
|---|---|
You edit an event on Google Calendar | Seconds (webhook push notification triggers incremental sync) |
You edit an event on Outlook | Seconds (push notification triggers incremental sync) |
You schedule an appointment in Driive | The event appears on your external calendar within seconds |
You first connect a calendar | A few minutes for the full initial sync, depending on calendar size |
What about calendar conflicts?
If two events overlap — say a Driive appointment and a Google Calendar meeting at the same time — both will appear on your Driive calendar. Driive doesn't automatically resolve conflicts for existing appointments, but it does prevent future conflicts by blocking overlapping time slots on your booking pages.
If you spot a conflict, you can reschedule the Driive appointment from the appointments view.
Multiple calendars per integration
When you connect Google or Outlook, you can select multiple calendars to sync (for example, Work, Personal, and a shared team calendar). Here's how Driive handles them:
All selected calendars are checked for availability. Events on any of them will block time slots.
One primary calendar is designated for outbound sync. Driive appointments are only created on the primary calendar.
You can change which calendars are selected and which is primary at any time from the integration settings — no need to disconnect.
Next steps
Google Calendar — Step-by-step connection guide for Google.
Outlook Calendar — Step-by-step connection guide for Outlook.
Managing Connections — Monitor sync status and manage your integrations.
Troubleshooting Integrations — Resolve sync issues, duplicates, and connection errors.