Zoho Bookings allows appointments to be synced with Zoho CRM calendar and Zoho CRM calendar events to be synced into Zoho Bookings calendar. This integration makes sure that appointments are booked based on the availability of the Zoho CRM calendar. It also makes sure existing events in the Zoho CRM calendar do not collide with appointments providing seamless scheduling for businesses. This facilitates availability of appointment information in more than one place.

Tip: This works well if you want Zoho Bookings appointments to be available in Zoho CRM calendar and Zoho CRM calendar events to be considered while providing booking slots to customers.

Integrating with Zoho CRM calendar follows the steps below:

I. Enable the integration

Note: Only admins and super admins can enable calendars. Once the calendars are enabled, all staff can manage their own calendars.

1. Click Integration on the top right corner and choose Calendars on the left panel. Zoho CRM Calendar shows up under the Calendars Available section.
   
   
   
   
2. Hover over Zoho CRM Calendar. Click Enable that appears over the card.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A pop-up appears asking for acceptance. Click Accept.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click Configure Now on the pop up that shows up.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Click Authorize against Zoho CRM Calendar in the Manage Calendars section. You will be redirected to the Manage Calendars page.
   
   
   
   
   
6. A pop-up will be displayed asking for preferences.
   
   
   
   
   
7. When customers book appointments with you, invites will be automatically sent to their calendars. You can set this calendar as a default calendar to send invites.
   
   
   
   
8. If you already have other calendars sending invites, marking this as default will send duplicate invites to your customer.

   Note: It's advisable to keep calendar invites to a minimum. But you can still set multiple calendars to send out email invites.

   
   

II. Choose calendar(s) and staff

1. You can sync your calendars in the following ways:
   

   Two-way sync
   

   
   

   
   

   The above selection would mean that Zoho Bookings would check the staff's availability in the selected Zoho CRM calendar (left top in the image) while providing booking slots to customers. Also, appointments for the staff would be pushed to the selected Zoho CRM calendar (bottom right in the image).
   

   One-way sync
   

   
   

   The above selection would mean that Zoho Bookings would check the staff's availability in the selected Zoho CRM calendar (left top in the image) while providing booking slots to customers. Appointments won't be synced to the Zoho CRM calendar.
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   The above selection would mean that appointments for the staff would be pushed to the selected Zoho CRM calendar (right bottom in the image). But Zoho CRM calendar events won't block the Zoho Bookings calendar.
   
   
2. Once the required selections are made, click Proceed. The sync is now configured.
   
   
   
   Note 1: Events are synced at a delay of 1 hour. Once the integration is turned on, all Zoho CRM calendar events (6 months from the day the integration is enabled. The sync time may vary between 2-15 minutes based on the number of events) are synced and they block the corresponding slots in the Zoho Bookings calendar. For instant sync, install the plugin or the use the Sync Now option.
   

   Note 2: You can add more than one staff or resource to be synced. You can also disable or remove or edit the integration from the Manage Calendars section under the My Profile tab.
   

III. View booked appointments in Zoho CRM calendar

Customer appointments can be viewed from the integrated Zoho CRM calendar.

Note: This is effected only in the case, when a Zoho CRM calendar is chosen to sync its events with the Zoho Bookings calendar.

1. Once an appointment is booked, it blocks the Zoho CRM calendar for that duration. Below is the booked appointment.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   The appointment gets added in Zoho CRM Calendar as an event for both the staff and the customer. The event takes the name of the guest and the service offered as default - Richard and Financial Advice, in this case.
   
   

IV. Block Zoho Bookings calendar with Zoho CRM calendar events

Note: Only Zoho CRM calendar events are synced to Zoho Bookings calendar. Calls and tasks will not be synced to Zoho Bookings.

1. When an event is created in Zoho CRM calendar, it blocks the Zoho Bookings calendar for that duration.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The below image shows the Zoho CRM calendar event blocking the Zoho Bookings calendar.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Once the Zoho CRM calendar event blocks the Zoho Bookings calendar, the corresponding staff (John in this case) is not available for booking during this period (2:00 PM to 3:00 PM).
   
   
   
   
   

Disable the integration

1. Hover over Zoho CRM Calendar. Click Disable on the options that appear.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. The Zoho CRM calendar integration is revoked and is listed under the Calendars Available section.