How to add your calendar availability directly to any email

You want to make finding a time to meet super easy for your invitee. 

Maybe they’re a busy potential customer you’re trying to close, or you’re a recruiter or hiring manager wooing your dream candidate, or your recipient is some other kind of VIP, or you know they don’t like to be sent scheduling links for whatever reason.

No problem! With Calendly, you can add handpicked, clickable time slots directly to the body of an email, so your invitee can select whichever meeting time works best for them right from their inbox.

Calendly gives you four ways to offer time slots in an email:

1. Copying and pasting from the web app

2. Using Calendly’s browser extension

3. Using Calendly’s Gmail and Outlook add-ins

4. Sharing available times via email directly from Calendly

Let’s walk through all four.

1. Copy available time slots from the web app

You can offer time slots in your emails in just a few clicks from the Calendly web app. Here's how:

1. Go to the Scheduling page (homepage) in the Calendly web app

2. Hover over the meeting type that you’d like to use 

3. Click Offer time slots

4. Select dates and times to include

5. Click Copy to clipboard

6. Navigate to the website for your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)

7. Start a new email

8. Paste the times in your email message

If none of the times you’ve embedded work for your recipient, they can follow your Calendly link and find another time! Once they book a time, it’ll be added to your calendar, and you’ll receive a notification, just like you usually do when scheduling via Calendly. Your recipient will get a confirmation email, too.

2. Add time slots to your email via Calendly’s browser extension

Calendly’s browser extension — available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari — is the quickest way to share availability from wherever you’re working online.

In addition to allowing you to embed meeting times in an email, you can use the extension to find and share scheduling links, view and manage meetings and contacts, book meetings on the spot, and integrate with tools like Gmail and LinkedIn.

Here’s how it works:

1. After installing the Calendly browser extension, open it from your browser toolbar

2. Locate the Event Type you want to share with your invitee

3. Click Offer time slots in email (envelope icon)

4. Choose the dates and times you want to embed in your email

5. Once you’ve selected your desired dates and times, select Finish and share. The times you chose will be copied to your clipboard.

6. From there, simply paste the times into your email composer!

You can also create one-off meetings from your browser extension. One-off meetings let you control when someone schedules with you by selecting only the specific times you want to offer.

Add a one-off meeting to an email by clicking Create, then select One-off meeting. Choose availability from your calendar, copy it to the clipboard, and embed your selected time slots in your email. (You can also override existing events on your calendar for important meetings you need to schedule as soon as possible.)

If you haven’t downloaded the extension yet, setup takes just a few minutes and it’s completely free.

For step-by-step guides to using the Calendly browser extension, check out the help center.

3. Add time slots to your email from Gmail or Outlook

Want to schedule meetings without leaving your inbox? Calendly for Gmail and the Outlook add-in make it easy. (When you download the Calendly browser extension for Chrome, Calendly is automatically added to your Gmail email composer toolbar. You can get the Outlook add-in here.)

Select the Calendly icon from the toolbar in your Gmail or Outlook email composer, then find the meeting type you want to use. Click Offer time slots (envelope icon in the Outlook add-in) and follow the prompts to choose the dates and times to add to your message. No need to copy-paste or switch tools or tabs.

Beyond adding times to your email, you can use Calendly for Gmail or Outlook to schedule and manage meetings right from your email composer, including inserting booking links, creating one-off meetings, and setting up meeting polls.

For more info, check out these help center articles:

• How to install and access the Outlook add-in

• How to use the Gmail extension

4. Share available times directly from Calendly

If you’re on a paid Calendly plan, you can share your availability via email directly from Calendly. In the email composer, you can include a specific scheduling link or add clickable hand-picked times by clicking Suggest times and choosing a range or specific dates. You can also edit the message and subject line and add styling – all without leaving Calendly. You’ll connect your email address so the message will come directly from you, rather than a generic or no-reply email.

You can even choose to automate a reminder nudge if your recipient hasn’t scheduled within a set timeframe after your initial email (one day, three days, or one week). If they book before the reminder is triggered, Calendly won’t send it.

If you often jump between your inbox and Calendly or find yourself manually following up with those who haven’t scheduled yet, we recommend trying this time-saver! 

Learn more about sharing your availability via Calendly’s email composer.

Make scheduling meetings easier for everyone

When you ask an important prospect or customer to meet or agree to send someone your available times, your goal is to make scheduling easy for both of you and make sure the meeting happens.

Say goodbye to back-and-forth emails, double booking, and all the other hassles associated with trying to schedule time together — and say hello to new ways to share your availability and book better meetings.

Ready to explore more Calendly features? Sign up for free today.