Handshake partners with Cronofy to provide two-way calendar sync. The connection coordinates your availability and appointments between Handshake and your institution calendar.
When two-way calendar sync is enabled:
- Events marked as busy, maybe, or tentative on your institution calendar create unavailable times in Handshake.
- Events marked as free do not affect your availability in Handshake.
- Handshake appointments are added to your institution calendar.
- Updates made to appointments in Handshake are reflected on your institution calendar.
Note: Your availability only prevents students from requesting appointments during unavailable times. Another staff member may still schedule an appointment on behalf of a student.
For help resolving connection or availability issues, refer to Two Way Sync FAQ & Troubleshooting Guide.
Set up or relink two-way calendar sync
Set up two-way calendar sync
1. Click your name in the upper-right corner of Handshake, then select User settings.
2. Select Calendar Sync from the menu on the left.
3. Click Authorize Calendar Sync.
4. On the Cronofy page, select your institution’s calendar provider:
- iCloud
- Office365
- Exchange
- Outlook.com
Note: If you use Outlook or Exchange through Microsoft 365, select Office365.
5. Review the permissions Cronofy requests:
- Create calendar events
- Delete events created through the connection
- Read events in your calendars
6. Review and agree to Cronofy’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
7. Complete the prompts for your calendar provider:
- Google, Office365, or Outlook.com: Review the information, agree to the terms, then click Link X Account.
- iCloud: Enter your Apple ID and an app-specific password.
- Exchange: Enter your email address and password. You may also enter your Exchange Server URL and username.
8. If your calendar provider displays an additional security prompt, review it and allow the connection.
9. Return to Handshake. From the External Calendar Sync dropdown, select the calendar you want to connect.
- If the calendar is not listed, click Refresh List.
- Select the primary calendar you use. Events from other calendars associated with your account will not sync through this connection.
10. After selecting a calendar, Handshake displays a confirmation that existing appointments and events will sync for six months into the future, along with new appointments going forward.
Relink your calendar
Cronofy may send you a notification asking you to relink your calendar when it can no longer access your account. This may happen if:
- You changed your calendar account password.
- Access to your calendar was revoked.
- Your institution changed its email server.
- An outage interrupted the connection.
To relink your calendar directly through Handshake:
1. Click your name in the upper-right corner of Handshake, then select User settings.
2. Select Calendar Sync from the menu on the left.
3. Click Re-Authorize.
If reauthorizing is unsuccessful, click Revoke Access, then follow the setup instructions above to configure the connection again.
Cancel two-way calendar sync
To disconnect your institution calendar from Handshake:
1. Click your name in the upper-right corner of Handshake, then select User settings.
2. Select Calendar Sync from the menu on the left.
3. Click Revoke Access.
4. Handshake displays the following prompt:
“Would you like to remove all events synced to your personal calendar that were created by Handshake and all appointment blocks created from events on your personal calendar?”
5. Click Yes to remove the synced events and unavailable blocks
Understand how two-way calendar sync works
Availability blocks
Availability blocks created in Handshake are not added to your institution calendar.
If you want other staff members to know which times you reserve for student appointments, create repeating events directly on your institution calendar and mark them as free. Events marked as free do not make you unavailable to students in Handshake.
Events marked as busy, maybe, or tentative on your institution calendar create unavailable blocks in Handshake.
Recurring meetings also create unavailable blocks. If you delete an individual meeting or change its status to free, the corresponding unavailable block is removed from Handshake.
Learn more about the Cronofy calendar integration process.
Calendar sync actions
| Action in Handshake or your university calendar | Update in Handshake or your institution calendar |
| Requested appointment in Handshake | Busy event on institution calendar |
| Approved appointment in Handshake | Busy event on institution calendar |
| Declined appointment in Handshake | Deletes the event on institution calendar |
| Canceled appointment in Handshake | Deletes the event on institution calendar |
| Started appointment in Handshake | Update event name on institution calendar to include “Started:” |
| Completed appointment in Handshake | Update event name on institution calendar to include “Completed:” |
| No show appointment in Handshake | Update event name on institution calendar to include “No show:” |
| Edit/Delete appointment in Handshake | Update/Delete the event on institution calendar |
| Edit/Delete Handshake appointment on university calendar | No change to appointment in Handshake ** |
| Added event on university calendar | Creates a one-time unavailable block in Handshake |
| Edit/Delete event on university calendar | Changes/Deletes one time unavailable block in Handshake |
Make changes to Handshake appointments directly in Handshake. The updates will then sync to your institution calendar.
FAQ's
Why do I receive an error when I authorize calendar sync?
Your institution’s IT department may have blocked the application. Ask your IT department to authorize Cronofy and provide them with Cronofy’s security documentation.
How long do calendar changes take to sync?
Changes usually take between 20 seconds and one minute. If updates are delayed, check whether your institution calendar is configured to refresh on a timed schedule.
Why am I still unavailable after declining a Google Calendar event?
If a declined event remains on your calendar and is marked as unavailable, it will continue to affect your availability.
For events created through Cronofy, manually delete the event after declining it. The Show declined events setting must be enabled in Google Calendar before you can delete the event.
My IT department will not grant Cronofy permission to read Microsoft 365 calendars. What can I do?
Your institution can restrict Cronofy access to selected users or groups. Work with your IT department to complete the following steps:
1. Complete the Individual Connect authorization flow to install the Cronofy application in Microsoft Entra ID.
2. In the Azure portal, navigate to Microsoft Entra ID > Enterprise applications.
3. Select Cronofy for Office 365. The application ID is f573e3d3-ea9c-4d8d-9d8f-20107b8cedbd.
4. Navigate to Manage > Properties, then set Assignment required? to Yes.
Note: After this setting is enabled, users cannot complete the authorization flow until they are assigned to the application.
5. Assign the approved users or groups to the application.
Once assigned, only those users can complete the authorization flow and grant the required permissions. Changes may take up to 30 minutes to apply.
For more information on permissions, including restricting permissions, refer to Microsoft's article Manage users and groups assignment to an application.
Why were changes I made to a synced event overwritten?
Cronofy periodically performs a full resync to maintain accuracy. Changes made directly to an event created from a Handshake appointment may be overwritten during this process.
Changes to events on your institution calendar may also trigger a resync from the updated event forward.