If you’re tired of copying meeting links, scrambling to find recordings, or wondering if your notes are in the right place, this is for you. Whether you’re sales, customer success, or just someone who wants fewer “where’s that meeting?” moments, connecting your calendar to Avoma is the move. This guide will walk you through the setup, bust some myths, and help you avoid rookie mistakes that waste time later.
Why bother connecting Avoma to your calendar?
First, the basics: Avoma is an AI-powered meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings. But it only works its magic if it knows when your meetings are coming up. That’s why calendar integration isn’t a “nice-to-have” — it’s step one.
What you get by connecting your calendar:
- Avoma automatically joins scheduled meetings (no “oops, forgot to record”).
- All your meetings (and their notes) are in one place.
- No more digging through email invites for Zoom/Teams/Google Meet links.
- Automated follow-ups and reminders, if you want them.
If you’re using Avoma and you haven’t connected your calendar, you’re basically running it in safe mode. Let’s fix that.
Step 1: Know what calendar you use (and what’s supported)
Avoma supports Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook (including Office 365). That covers most people. If you’re using something else (Apple Calendar, CalDAV, or a random company intranet calendar), you’re out of luck for now — there’s no official support, and workarounds are clunky at best.
Pro tip: If your company uses both Google and Outlook, pick the one where your regular meetings live. Don’t try to connect both; it can get messy.
Step 2: Get your permissions sorted
If you’re on a company account, you might need admin approval before you can connect apps like Avoma to your calendar. Here’s what you need to check:
- Are you using a company-managed Google or Microsoft account? If yes, and you hit a permission wall, ping your IT admin. They might have to approve the Avoma app for everyone or just for you.
- Personal accounts (like @gmail.com or @outlook.com) usually don’t have these roadblocks.
What not to do: Don’t use your personal calendar for work meetings in Avoma. It’s a privacy headache, and you’ll regret it the first time a family event gets recorded.
Step 3: Connect your calendar to Avoma
Here’s the real meat. This process takes less than five minutes if you don’t hit any permission snags.
For Google Calendar
- Log in to Avoma.
- Go to your Avoma dashboard.
- Find the calendar integration settings.
- Usually under “Settings” > “Integrations.”
- Click “Connect” next to Google Calendar.
- A Google sign-in window will pop up.
- Choose the right Google account.
- Make sure it’s the one with your work meetings.
- Grant permissions.
- Avoma will ask to view and manage your calendars. You need to say yes for it to work.
- Wait for confirmation.
- You’ll see a “Connected” status. If not, refresh or try again.
For Microsoft Outlook/Office 365
- Log in to Avoma.
- Go to “Settings” > “Integrations.”
- Click “Connect” next to Outlook/Office 365.
- A Microsoft login window will show up.
- Sign in with your work email.
- Accept the permissions.
- You have to let Avoma read and manage your calendar.
- Check for confirmation.
- If it fails, check if your IT team is blocking third-party apps.
What could go wrong? - Permission errors: Usually company security settings. Ask IT to approve the Avoma app. - Wrong account: Double-check which calendar you actually use. - Multiple calendars: Avoma syncs with your primary calendar. If you use multiple, only events in the main one get picked up.
Step 4: Tweak your settings for smarter meeting capture
Once you’re connected, don’t just walk away. Spend five minutes on these settings so Avoma doesn’t record stuff it shouldn’t (and doesn’t miss meetings you care about).
Things to configure:
- Default meeting recording: Set Avoma to auto-join all meetings, or just those with a video link.
- Exclusion rules: Tell Avoma to skip events with certain keywords (“Lunch,” “1:1,” “Personal”).
- Meeting buffer times: Block off time before/after meetings so you don’t get overlap.
- Which calendars to sync: If your account has sub-calendars (like “Personal” or “Team”), pick only the ones you want Avoma to see.
Pro tip: Don’t turn on “record everything.” You don’t want Avoma joining your dentist appointment.
Step 5: Test it with a dummy meeting
Don’t wait for a real client call to see if it works. Set up a test meeting with yourself or a coworker.
- Create a meeting on your calendar with a video link (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet).
- Wait a minute — Avoma should show the meeting in your dashboard.
- Start the meeting. Avoma should join automatically or prompt you to start recording.
- Check if the recording, transcript, and notes show up in Avoma.
If nothing happens: Double-check your integration settings. Nine times out of ten, it’s a permissions or account mismatch.
Step 6: What to ignore (and what to watch out for)
Ignore:
- Syncing with unsupported calendars: You’ll find hacks online for using Apple Calendar or others with Avoma. They’re unreliable and break easily. Don’t bother.
- Multiple calendar connections: Avoma isn’t designed to handle two accounts at once. Pick your main one and keep it simple.
Watch out for:
- Privacy gotchas: If you have sensitive meetings, add keywords or set those events to private so Avoma doesn’t join them.
- Calendar renames: If you change your calendar’s name or email, reconnect Avoma. It can lose track.
- Leaving the company: If you switch jobs, disconnect your old calendar in Avoma so you don’t keep recording meetings you’re not in.
Step 7: Quick troubleshooting if things break
- Meetings not showing up in Avoma: Make sure the invite is on your primary calendar, and that you’re the organizer or attendee.
- Recordings missing: Check if the meeting invite had a video link. Avoma only auto-joins meetings with these.
- Weird permissions issues: Disconnect and reconnect the integration, or ask your IT team if they’ve changed any app policies.
When in doubt, a quick disconnect/reconnect fixes most problems.
Should you use Avoma’s built-in scheduling links?
Avoma offers its own scheduling pages, sort of like Calendly. If you’re already using another scheduler (Calendly, HubSpot Meetings, etc.), you don’t have to switch. Avoma’s links are fine, but they’re not wildly different.
Honest take: - If you’re happy with your existing scheduler, stick with it. Just make sure that whatever tool you use, the final meeting lands on your connected calendar, or Avoma won’t catch it. - If you want everything in one tool, Avoma’s scheduler works, but don’t expect a ton of advanced features.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, and tweak as you go
Connecting Avoma to your calendar isn’t complicated, but it’s worth doing right. Don’t overthink it. Link your main work calendar, set up a few exclusions, and do a quick test run. You’ll save yourself headaches and never miss a meeting recording again.
If something’s not working, it’s usually a permissions or account issue — not some deep technical bug. Start simple, and tweak your settings as you figure out what works for your workflow. Less fiddling, more focus on actually running your meetings.