Handshake partners with Cronofy to provide a two-way calendar sync that helps manage appointment scheduling, so you can spend more high-value time with students!
Once two-way syncing is setup, Cronofy recognizes events on your edu calendar that are marked as unavailable/busy and pulls those blocks into Handshake, so students may not request appointments during that time. If an event on your calendar is marked as available/free, it'll be bypassed and not impact your availability in Handshake.
Note: if a fellow staff member schedules the appointment on behalf of a student, the appointment may still be added. Only students will be impacted by your availability.
When new appointments with you are approved in Handshake, the new appointment is automatically added to your edu calendar.
If you're having issues with your two-way calendar sync, refer to Two Way Sync FAQ & Troubleshooting Guide.
How to set up Two-way syncing
1. Navigate to your User Settings by clicking your name in the upper-right corner of Handshake, then clicking on User Settings.
2. Click Calendar Sync from the menu on the left of the page.
3. Click Authorize Calendar Sync.
4. You'll be directed to Cronofy, the third-party calendar syncing tool that we use, where you'll choose your edu calendar provider:
- iCloud
- Office365
- Exchange
- Outlook.com
5. Click the edu calendar provider you'd like to sync with Handshake, and the screen will update for you to review Cronofy permissions:
- create calendar events
- delete events that this app creates
- read events in your calendars
Note: If you use Outlook or Exchange as part of the Office 365 suite you should choose Office 365.
You'll also need to review and agree to Cronofy's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
- Google, Office 365, and Outlook.com each provide a basic prompt to review the above, check the box to indicate agreement, and click Link "X" Account.
- iCloud includes the same basic prompts, as well as prompts for your Apple ID, and an app-specific password for security.
- Exchange includes the same basic prompts, as well as prompts for the following:
- Email address (required)
- Password (required)
- Exchange Server URL (optional)
- Username (optional)
After linking the account, you may be prompted for an additional security review from your calendar provider, such as the example below from Google — if so, click Allow to proceed.
7. From the External Calendar Sync dropdown, choose which specific calendar you'd like to sync with Handshake.
If the desired calendar isn't listed, you can click the Refresh List link above the dropdown to reload options.
Note: double-check that the calendar chosen is the primary calendar you use — if you have another calendar that events show up on, they won't be synced as part of this process!
8. When you have selected a calendar from the list, a confirmation will load that states, "Successfully Saved. We will sync existing appointments and events for 6 months into the future, and all new appointments going forward."
Cancel two-way syncing
If you accidentally selected the wrong calendar, or at any point you'd like to cancel the sync between your Handshake calendar and personal calendar via Cronofy, click Revoke Access.
At that time, you'll be able to remove all unavailable blocks created in Handshake and all appointments added to your university calendar via the prompt Remove Events From Calendar: "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?"
Click Yes to proceed.
Availability Blocks in Handshake
Handshake does not sync availability blocks into your institution's calendar because we want to continue to mark events in your university calendar as unavailable in Handshake.
If you would like your staff to view your availability for appointments in your edu calendar, then you should create repeating blocks of time directly on your edu calendar and mark them as open/available.
Also, any calendar events that you respond to as Maybe or Tentative will show up in Handshake as busy and unavailable times in Handshake. You can read more about the Cronofy calendar integration process on their website.
How does two-way calendar sync work in Handshake?
|
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 |
Edu calendar refers to your institution's calendar provided: iCloud, Google, Outlook, Office 365 or Exchange.
If you would like to make an update to the Handshake appointment, they must be done in Handshake. Changes will be reflected on your edu calendar.
FAQ's
I am getting an error message when I click Authorize Calendar Sync, what should I do?
- This application may be blocked by your IT department. Please reach out to your IT department with the security documentation and ask that they authorize Cronofy at your institution.
Are recurring meetings in my edu calendar synced into Handshake?
- All recurring meetings will be synced into Handshake as unavailable blocks. If you remove them individually, or change the status to available/free, they'll be removed individually from Handshake.
How long do changes in Handshake take to add to my edu calendar?
- Usually about 20 seconds to a minute. If you're noticing delayed updates, check your edu calendar settings for a setting that updates your calendars on a timed schedule, such as daily/hourly, etc.
I declined the meeting because I can no longer attend it; why am I still showing as unavailable during that time slot on my Google Calendar?
- If the event is still listed on your calendar after declining, it will show your calendar availability status as unavailable during that time.
- For meetings set up through Cronofy, you must manually remove the event after declining the event in order for the event to no longer appear on your calendar.
- You must have the setting "Show declined events" enabled in your Google calendar settings in order to delete the event.
Microsoft announced that they will be retiring Exchange Web Services as of October 1, 2026. What do I do if I'm already connected to Cronofy through Exchange?
- Moving forward, Microsoft Graph will be the default web service that Microsoft utilizes. If you'd like to connect to Microsoft Graph, please use the Office365 synchronization option.
- If you're already connected to Cronofy through Exchange, you can select Re-Authorize to automatically connect to Microsoft Graph through Cronofy.
I changed information that synced into my calendar, but now it's reverted my changes. What happened?
- Sometimes, Cronofy will periodically do a full resync of events to ensure accuracy. If you've changed any of the details on an event synced in from Handshake, those changes will be overwritten at that time.
- Also, when an event on your institution's calendar changes, Cronofy recognizes that change, and performs a resync from the changed event forward.