Connecting to Google Calendar

Sync your Zanda appointments with Google Calendar for easy access on all devices. Manage appointments in Zanda to keep Google Calendar updated.

Your Zanda appointments can sync to your Google Calendar. This allows you to quickly see all Zanda business appointments and your personal events, all in one place. You can then use your Google account to sync with the calendar on an iPhone or other smartphone to make it even more accessible and convenient. Plus in the unlikely event of Zanda being unavailable or you not having Internet access, it can provide you with a backup of your schedule.

As detailed below, it is important to note that this feature allows you to replicate your Zanda account in your Google calendar. If you need to make changes to your appointments these changes should be made in Zanda, which will then automatically update your Google calendar. Only limited changes made in your Google calendar can be synced back to Zanda  (See "Getting changes from Google back into Zanda" below for more on this).

In this article:

Prerequisites

All you'll need is an active Google account. Any Google account will work fine - either a personal account (Gmail account) or a business Google apps account. If you have multiple practitioners that you would like to sync to Google, we recommend that the Zanda administrator sync them to one main Google account first and then share them with their respective users. This can be done easily within Google.  Please note that each diary in Zanda can only be synced to one Google Calendar, however you can easily share it with multiple people from within Google.

Setup

Important

Before you continue any further with connecting your Zanda account to Google Calendar  you must log out of the Google account. You can click here to log out.

  1. In Zanda, click the account business name at the top-right.
  2. Select 'Practitioner Profile' from your user menu.
  3. Alternatively, if you do not see the option to select the Practitioner Profile on your user menu, you can navigate to Settings > Team > Practitioner and select your practitioner profile. 
    *If none of these options are available to you, please reach out to your account administrator or practice manager for assistance. 
  4. Click on 'Calendar Sync' from the left side menu and select 'Google Calendar'. 
  5. Then click 'Connect To Google'.
  6. You will be redirected and asked to log in to your Google account
  7. When asked, allow Zanda access to manage your calendars. 
  8. In your practitioner profile > Calendar Sync > Google Calendar, you will be able to test the connection to Google, at any time you are unsure if the sync is still functional.

Sharing a Google Calendar with other users

In Google, hover over the calendar name and click on the small arrow that appears. Select Share This Calendar. Enter the email address of the person you would like to access the calendar and select the level of access that you would like them to have. Click Save. They will then see the calendar in their Google account. You can revoke the sharing at a later stage if needed.

Getting changes from Google back into Zanda

Clicking on " Get Changes from Google Calendar" will import any new appointments created in the linked Google Calendar, plus it will bring in any changes made to the appointment notes. All other changes are ignored. If you delete or move an appointment in Google, these changes can not be imported back into Zanda.

Important

Please note that as Google Calendar does not store a client database, there is no way to identify which client attended the appointment aside from the text in the appointment title. This means that the appointments are synced into Zanda as personal type appointments where there is no direct link to a client in the system. You will see the name of the event as the appointment title in the calendar.

Deleting Zanda Calendar in Google

You can permanently delete a Zanda calendar in your Google Account. It will not delete anything in Zanda. To do this, 

  1. Click the business name in the top-right corner and select 'Practitioner Profile';
  2. In the practitioner profile, select Calendar Sync > Google Calendar;
  3. Click 'Delete Calendar in Google'. 

Revoking Calendar Credentials

You can revoke calendar credentials. This will remove the Google Calendar Api authentication details we use to background sync to Google. It will not delete the Calendar in Google and you will be able to reconnect. To do this, 

  1. Click the business name in the top-right corner and select 'Practitioner Profile';
  2. In the practitioner profile, select Calendar Sync > Google Calendar;
  3. Click 'Revoke Calendar Credentials'. 

Syncing the Google Calendar to my iPhone

These instructions are written for syncing to an iPhone and assume that you have already set up Zanda to sync with a Google Calendar. 

  1. Make sure that you have a Gmail sync setup on your iPhone Calendar.  Some people may use the older style "Exchange" sync for their iPhone Calendar however this is no longer supported by Google for new Calendars. (On your iPhone go to Settings → Mail, Contacts, Calendars and make sure you have a "Gmail" account setup.  If not, then click Add Account to add one in. Save and go back to the home screen.
  2. Go to this page and select the calendars you wish to sync to your iPhone.
  3. Go into your iPhone calendar and click on the Calendars button. You should now see your Zanda calendar, along with your Google Calendar (it may take a few seconds to appear). Select the Zanda calendar and then click Done. Appointments from Zanda will now appear in your iPhone calendar, alongside your other appointments.

Syncing the Google Calendar to my Android Device

Frequently Asked Questions

How long will it take for changes made in Zanda to appear in Google?

Allow a few minutes.

What information about the appointment will show in the Google Calendar event? 

 When a client appointment is exported from your Zanda account to your Google Calendar, the created Google Calendar event will include client name, client mobile phone number (if available), appointment status, appointment start and end times, and appointment notes, as you can see on this screenshot: 

How will a group appointment show in Google Calendar? 

A group appointment exported from Zanda will create multiple individual events in the same time slot in Google Calendar: one event with the name of the group appointment and abbreviation (GRP), and the start and end times of the appointment, and one individual event per each group participant, showing a client name, their appointment status and the start and end times of the appointment. 

My changes made in Google are not appearing in Zanda. 

Only some changes are copied, and nothing is copied automatically from Google to Zanda. See "Getting changes from Google back into Zanda" (above) for more information.

What if I want one Diary in Zanda to be synced with multiple Google Accounts?

See "Sharing the Google Calendar to other users" above.

How can this help in the event of an Internet or Zanda outage?

In the event of an internet or Zanda outage, new appointments can be made in the Google calendar on your mobile device and then synced back to Zanda at a later stage. These new appointments will show up as Personal Appointments in Zanda. Make notes in the Google appointments so you know the client details. These notes will be synced back to Zanda.

If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, then it's best to make a note in the existing appointment and make a new appointment for the new time, rather than move it.  That way, the changes will be imported to Zanda when you are back online (you'll need to click on the import button to get the changes back into Zanda).

What if I make a change in Google?

Some changes are able to be transferred from Google to Zanda. See "Getting changes from Google back into Zanda" for more information.  Not all changes are able to be synced because we have no way of telling which system you would like to have priority over the other in the event of a conflict.  Changes to appointment times in Google are not transferred back to Zanda.

What are the 3 letter codes that appear after the client's name in Google?

This is the appointment status or appointment type in Zanda. Each code refers to a different status or appointment type, as indicated in the table below.


Can I sync my Zanda account with my Apple Calendar? 

While it is not possible to do this directly, after you synced your Zanda account with a Google Calendar, you can sync your Apple Calendar and Google Calendar two-way.