Guide · Google Calendar

How to block personal appointments on your work Google Calendar

Updated November 7, 2026

Short answer

Google Calendar doesn't sync one account's events into another. Sharing your personal calendar with your work account lets you see your appointments at work, but coworkers who look for a time still see you as free. To actually block the time, a private "Busy" event has to exist on your work calendar, either created by hand or kept in sync by a tool.

SyncBusy does that automatically: every personal event becomes a private busy block on your work calendar within seconds, and moves or disappears when the original does.

Option 1: Share your personal calendar with your work account

In your personal Google Calendar's settings, under Share with specific people, add your work address. Your personal events now show up next to your work ones when you're signed in at work.

That helps you, but not your coworkers. Their scheduling tools check your work calendar, and a calendar shared into it doesn't count, so they can still book over your appointments. Some companies also block calendars shared from outside accounts.

Option 2: Add a private busy event by hand

For each appointment, create an event on your work calendar, call it "Busy" and set visibility to Private. This blocks the time and hides the details. The catch is upkeep: every new, moved or cancelled appointment means another edit, and the ones you forget are the ones that get booked over.

Option 3: Automate the copy

General automation tools such as Zapier can copy new events from one Google Calendar to another. A single automation only handles new events, though: edits and cancellations need extra automations, and free plans cap how many times they run each month.

SyncBusy is built for exactly this job:

Read-only on your personal calendar. It asks for read-only access and never changes your personal events.
Private busy blocks at work. Each event appears as "Busy (via SyncBusy)". You can rename them to just "Busy", or (on Pro) to the real event title so you know why you're blocked. Coworkers only ever see "Busy".
Changes follow within seconds. Google notifies SyncBusy when your personal calendar changes, so moves and cancellations update right away. Recurring events are copied occurrence by occurrence.
Skips what shouldn't block you. Events marked Free and invitations you declined are left off.
Only touches its own events. SyncBusy never edits or deletes anything on your work calendar that it didn't create.

Free covers 14 days ahead. Pro ($4 a month or $36 a year) goes up to 60 days and adds a weekday filter (say, Monday–Friday only), scheduled pauses for vacations, custom names and travel time around events.

Questions

Do both calendars have to be Google?

Your work calendar does. Your personal calendar can be Google Calendar or Apple iCloud; see the iCloud guide.

Will SyncBusy change my personal calendar?

No. For a personal Google Calendar it asks for read-only access (calendar.readonly). It only writes to a personal calendar if you turn on reverse sync (Pro), and then only to the calendar you choose.

What do coworkers see?

Just "Busy". Busy blocks are Private events, so the name you see on your own calendar is hidden from them. Your event's description, location and guests are never copied.

Can I stop it for a vacation?

Yes. Pause and resume any time on the free plan. On Pro you can schedule a pause window in advance, and SyncBusy clears the busy blocks inside it.

Try SyncBusy

Free to start, no card needed. Connect your personal Google or iCloud calendar and your work Google Calendar, and your busy time shows up within minutes.

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