Note: This article applies to a new version of the calendar sync (learn more about this change on our changelog). If there is a "+" button in the top right corner of your calendar settings, your account uses the legacy sync. Please see the sync instructions for the legacy sync.
Syncing instructions for different use cases
How do I sync my Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendars to FlowSavvy?
In the FlowSavvy menu, click Settings > Calendars
Click "Add account"
Choose your Google, Outlook, or iCloud account and allow permissions.
Select the calendars you want to be shown in FlowSavvy. FlowSavvy will auto-schedule your tasks around events in these calendars and will ignore hidden calendars.
How Do I Sync FlowSavvy Tasks to Google, Outlook, or iCloud?
Syncing FlowSavvy tasks to external calendars is a Pro feature. See pricing.
To sync FlowSavvy Tasks to Google, Outlook, or iCloud, connect your external calendar account first, then select the calendar you want tasks to be synced to under the "Sync Tasks" section.
Tasks synced to external calendars will show as Private in Google and Outlook so colleagues cannot see task details. Reminder: This applies to only the new version. See the note at the top of this page.
How do I make my synced calendar the default calendar for new events?
You can change the default calendar for new Events in Settings > Events and Tasks. This is a perfect option for people who want all of their events to sync back and forth between FlowSavvy and Google, iCloud, or Outlook.
How do I sync the "FlowSavvy Calendar" to Google, Outlook, or iCloud?
The first calendar created by FlowSavvy, which is called "FlowSavvy Calendar", cannot be synced to Google, Outlook, or iCloud. If you would like events created in FlowSavvy to be synced to your other calendars, you will need to select your Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendar when creating or editing the event.
Is the sync a 2-way sync?
Yes, FlowSavvy supports 2-way sync with Google, Outlook, and iCloud on calendars that you have edit permission on. If you have read-only permission on a calendar in Google, Outlook, or iCloud, those calendars will be a 1-way sync from the external calendar to FlowSavvy.
When you make changes to Events and Tasks in FlowSavvy, those changes will be synced to your other calendars.
When you make changes to Events and Fixed Tasks in your other calendars, those changes will be synced to FlowSavvy.
The only exception is Auto-Scheduled tasks (FlowSavvy tasks with "Auto-schedule" turned on). Auto-scheduled tasks can only be edited in FlowSavvy. Changes made to auto-scheduled tasks in Google, Outlook, or iCloud will not be synced to FlowSavvy and will be overwritten the next time the task is changed in FlowSavvy. The reason for this is that auto-scheduled tasks can be split, and managing the individual parts separately would require additional UI complexity that we have decided to avoid in order to keep the app simple.
Can I change whether Google/Outlook/iCloud Events default to Free/Busy in FlowSavvy?
FlowSavvy always uses the free/busy value from the source calendar, so if the event is busy in Google/iCloud/Outlook, it will be busy in FlowSavvy. If you want all events from an external calendar to be free or busy, your external calendar service may offer the ability to change that default.
Note for iCloud users: Unfortunately, there is a known Apple Calendar issue where the Free/Busy setting does not show up when an event is being added to certain iCloud calendars in Apple Calendar (source and source). This affects all services that connect with iCloud and is not unique to FlowSavvy. The best option until Apple fixes the bug is to mark the events as free when they come into FlowSavvy, which will also edit the Free/Busy status in the iCloud calendar.
Why do Completed Tasks get removed from 3rd party calendars?
The main reason we chose to not keep completed tasks on 3rd party calendars is because when a user toggles the "Show completed task" setting on/off, that would be potentially thousands of completed tasks needing to be deleted or added to 3rd party calendars, which isn't feasible because of rate limits. Since allowing the user to toggle that option for 3rd party calendars isn't feasible, we decided it made more sense to never show them in external calendars than to always show them even when the user turned off "Show completed tasks".
Does FlowSavvy sync with Google Tasks, iCloud Reminders, or Microsoft To Do?
No, FlowSavvy does not currently sync tasks from these task apps. FlowSavvy can sync scheduled tasks to and from calendar apps as events, but FlowSavvy does not pull tasks from these task apps. If you'd like FlowSavvy to sync with a task app, please submit a feature request using the in-app help center.
Can I sync my Outlook / Exchange calendar?
TL;DR: If you can view your calendar at outlook.com, you can sync it with FlowSavvy.
Microsoft calendars are known by many names. Whether you call your calendar "Microsoft 365 calendar", "Office 365 calendar", "Outlook calendar", "Exchange Online calendar", etc., if it is available online in your Microsoft 365 account, FlowSavvy can sync with it.
Sometimes, people refer to calendars hosted in on-premises Microsoft Exchange servers as "Outlook calendars" because they view their calendar in the Outlook app. However, FlowSavvy does not support syncing with on-premises Exchange servers.
Can I sync with FlowSavvy if my organization doesn't allow it?
If your organization or IT department doesn't allow syncing calendars with external tools, FlowSavvy will not be able to connect to your calendar service.
You may be able to sync your calendar to another well-known calendar service that we integrate with like Google or iCloud, and then sync that to FlowSavvy. If your organization does not allow that either, FlowSavvy cannot sync with your calendar.
Some organizations allow local syncing, meaning calendar data is synced between apps on your device instead of the servers communicating with each other. FlowSavvy does not support local syncing. Please submit a feature request in the in-app help center if you'd like FlowSavvy to support local syncing.
Can I sync a calendar from a public iCalendar (.ics) URL?
Yes, you can sync a public iCalendar feed to FlowSavvy by first adding it to Google, iCloud, or Outlook and then syncing the calendar to FlowSavvy through that service.
Troubleshooting Sync Issues
When the sync fails repeatedly with an error message:
If the sync fails repeatedly with an error message, this usually indicates some calendar data is in an unexpected format/state, and Support will need to resolve it. Please reach out and we'll be happy to look into it!
When there are no error messages in FlowSavvy, but something didn't sync correctly:
Sync issues like duplicate tasks and old versions of tasks getting stranded in Google/iCloud/Outlook are rare, but when they do occur, doing a full re-sync will fix most issues. Please follow these steps:
First, ensure FlowSavvy is done syncing. It should say "Last synced at [date/time]" in your calendar settings. If it still says "Syncing...", a sync is in progress. Wait for the sync to finish before continuing with the steps below.
Refresh the page in Google, Outlook, or iCloud to make sure you are seeing the most up-to-date schedule.
Trigger a full re-sync by disconnecting your calendar account and then reconnecting it. None of your tasks will be lost when you disconnect your calendar account since they are stored in FlowSavvy. When you reconnect your calendar account, FlowSavvy will run a full sync, cleaning up any stranded events/tasks in the external calendar.
If you are still experiencing issues after doing a full re-sync, please reach out to our team and we will be happy to help!
👋Have questions about your calendar sync? We're happy to help, just send us a message!