Frequently Asked Question
known quirks between Google and Microsoft
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Google and Microsoft use different technology for their calendar and there are some known quirks that are beyond any 3rd party.
When a user accepts a calendar invite, will the other party receive a response or see the update on their calendar?
Who Accepts | Organizer | Email Notification Sent? | Calendar Reflects RSVP? |
Gmail | Gmail | Yes | Yes |
Gmail | Microsoft | Yes | No |
Microsoft | Microsoft | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft | Gmail | Yes | No |
- Cross-platform (Google ↔ Microsoft): RSVP emails are (usually) sent, but calendar status does not update automatically on the organizer's side.
Will the organizer's calendar still be marked as busy even if no one accepts or all attendees decline?
- Google Calendar:
- The event shows as "Busy" for the organizer once it's created.
- The busy status is independent of attendee responses.
- The organizer must manually delete or update the event to free up the time.
- Microsoft Outlook / Graph API:
- The `showAs` property is set to "busy" by default.
- Attendee responses do not affect the organizer's availability.
- To free the time, the organizer must cancel or change `showAs` to "free".
Both organization probably has to design it that way, as a guest might not proactively mark yes to going or might just be late to accepting it.
If a guest declines a meeting, does that release the time on the organizer’s calendar?
Guest Platform | Organizer Platform | Time Released? | Notes |
No | Organizer stays busy until they act | ||
Microsoft | Microsoft | No | Same behavior — decline is isolated |
Microsoft | No | Microsoft gets RSVP email, but calendar not auto-updated | |
Microsoft | No | Google receives email, but doesn't auto-parse into event |
- Organizer calendars remain busy unless they explicitly delete, cancel, or change the availability (`showAs` or `transparency`).
- Decline responses only update the attendee list; they do not free the organizer's time block.
When using MeetWithMe.AI, even if someone reaches out to you, you are the one that gave them the link and it is your assistant that sends out the invite. As such you are always seen as the organizer.
Additionally, Microsoft and Apple may create a shadow Outlook alias behind the scenes when you register for a Microsoft email (Hotmail/outlook.com) with a Gmail and for Apple, anytime the user choose to do so. So, when you try to email a guest via the email shown as the attendee, they may or may not receive the email. So, ensure that the guest has given you his actual email. Or that he has set to receive email routed from the alias. Please note these are calendar quirks based on the calendar used and MeetWithMe.ai is not the one introducing them.
For other calendar’s quirks, please see “I do not use a Google or Microsoft calendar”.