Guide

Google Calendar busy vs free: what it means and why others see it wrong

Short answer: Busy occupies the time. Free does not. That is the event availability setting, not Default, Public, or Private and not calendar sharing See only free/busy (hide details). Busy does not hide the title. Private and See only free/busy hide details. Those steps are in the show busy instead of details guide and the private events guide. Timed events typically start as Busy. All-day events typically start as Free. Help does not document those defaults. Other people only see free/busy for the calendar they can access.

Resync writes private Busy holds onto your other Google calendars. It does not change Busy or Free on the source event. It currently syncs Google calendars only.

Busy, Free, visibility, and sharing

Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. That control occupies time or leaves it open. Visibility and sharing decide who can find the title. They are different settings.

Setting	Where	What it does	What it does not do
Busy	On the event. Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. It does not document a labeled Show as path.	Occupies the time. Appointment-schedule Help hides booking slots for a Busy event on a checked calendar, including an all-day event set to Busy.	Does not hide the title. Use Private or See only free/busy to hide details.
Free	The same event control as Busy.	Does not occupy the time. A private event marked Free is hidden from people with Make changes (see private events as free/busy).	Does not hide a title from people who can already see event details.
Default, Public, or Private	Event editor: Edit event, then Default visibility. In the Calendar app: Edit, then Visibility settings.	Controls who can find the title and other details. Private shows others a block labeled Busy.	Does not change whether the time is occupied. That is Busy or Free. See the show-busy and private-events guides.
See only free/busy (hide details)	Calendar Settings and sharing, for a person, group, or org-wide access.	They can find out when you are busy. They cannot find names or other details.	A view of that calendar. It does not write Busy onto a different Google account. See the show-busy guide.

Busy

Where: On the event. Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. It does not document a labeled Show as path.
What it does: Occupies the time. Appointment-schedule Help hides booking slots for a Busy event on a checked calendar, including an all-day event set to Busy.
What it does not do: Does not hide the title. Use Private or See only free/busy to hide details.

Free

Where: The same event control as Busy.
What it does: Does not occupy the time. A private event marked Free is hidden from people with Make changes (see private events as free/busy).
What it does not do: Does not hide a title from people who can already see event details.

Default, Public, or Private

Where: Event editor: Edit event, then Default visibility. In the Calendar app: Edit, then Visibility settings.
What it does: Controls who can find the title and other details. Private shows others a block labeled Busy.
What it does not do: Does not change whether the time is occupied. That is Busy or Free. See the show-busy and private-events guides.

See only free/busy (hide details)

Where: Calendar Settings and sharing, for a person, group, or org-wide access.
What it does: They can find out when you are busy. They cannot find names or other details.
What it does not do: A view of that calendar. It does not write Busy onto a different Google account. See the show-busy guide.

For Default, Public, Private, and See only free/busy, use the show busy instead of details guide and the private events guide. This page stays on Busy versus Free.

Google Calendar Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026. Cited from Change event & task visibility and Choose what others can do with your calendar.

How to set Busy or Free

Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. It does not document a labeled Show as control or a separate click path on computer, Android, or iPhone. Confirm the Busy or Free control in your own event editor. Some editors call it Show as.

On a computer:

On your computer, open Google Calendar.
Open the event, then click Edit event.
In the event details, look for Busy or Free. Choose the one you want.
Click Save.

Default visibility, Public, and Private are a different row in that same editor. Help documents Edit event, then Default visibility for those three. Do not use that row to occupy or free the time.

On Android:

Open the Calendar app.
Tap the event, then tap Edit.
Swipe through the event details. Help lists title, location, who is invited, and Event visibility. It does not list Busy or Free. Look for that control in the same details list and confirm the label in your app.
Tap Save.

On iPhone or iPad:

Open the Calendar app.
Tap the event, then tap Edit.
Help documents Visibility settings for Default visibility, Private, or Public. It does not document Busy versus Free. Look for Busy or Free in the same event details and confirm the label in your app.
Tap Save.

If you only need to hide a title, stop here and use the show busy instead of details guide. Resync does not change this setting on the source event.

Google Calendar Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026. Cited from Create an event, Create an event (Android), Create an event (iPhone & iPad), and Change event & task visibility.

Why you show as busy

People and booking pages treat you as busy when an event on a calendar they can see occupies the time.

Timed events typically start as Busy. All-day events typically start as Free. Google Calendar Help does not document those defaults. Appointment-schedule Help does say no appointment times show on days where you have an all-day event set to Busy.
Out of office shows you as out on that calendar and can auto-decline overlapping invitations. It occupies that calendar. It does not write a hold onto a different Google account. See the out of office guide.
Focus time occupies that block on an eligible work or school account and can auto-decline meetings. See the focus time guide.
Working hours tell people when you are available and warn invitees outside those times. They do not block time or create Busy events. See the working hours guide.

A free/busy read, including a scheduling tool that checks free/busy at a high level, only sees calendars it can access. It does not invent busy time from an account it cannot see.

Google Calendar Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026. Cited from Check your availability across calendars, Set your working hours & location, and Use focus time in Google Calendar.

Why others see busy or free wrongly

If a colleague, Find a time, or a booking page has you wrong, the event mark, your reply, or the calendar they can access is usually the cause.

Events marked Free do not occupy the time. Appointment-schedule Help hides slots for events set to Busy, not Free.
Declined events do not count as blocking on a booking page. Help says if you RSVP Yes or Maybe, or have any Busy event on a calendar reviewed for conflicts, that block does not appear as open.
Events on a calendar that is not shared, or not checked for conflicts, stay invisible. Find a time compares guest calendars they have shared with you. A booking page only checks calendars selected under Check calendars for availability.
In a work or school organization, the administrator can set the default to no sharing, only free/busy, or all information.

Overlaying two accounts in the Calendar app is your view. It does not make the other account's busy time visible to colleagues. That limit is in the multiple accounts guide.

Google Calendar Help and Google Workspace Admin Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026. Cited from Check your availability across calendars, Find times to meet in Google Calendar, and Set Google Calendar sharing options.

Busy vs free troubleshooting

Use this table when the status looks wrong to you or to someone booking you.

What you see	Likely cause	Fix
Says busy but calendar empty	You only have See only free/busy, the event is Private, or the busy time lives on a calendar you cannot see.	Ask the owner to raise your permission to See event details, or to change that event from Private, if they want you to see the title. If the calendar itself is missing, that is a sharing problem, not a Busy setting.
Event not blocking time	The event is marked Free, you declined it, or the booking tool is not checking that calendar.	Open the event and set it to Busy. Appointment-schedule Help only hides slots for Busy events and for Yes or Maybe replies on calendars it reviews. Working hours do not create a Busy event.
All-day event not blocking	All-day events typically start as Free. Appointment-schedule Help only hides that day's slots when the all-day event is set to Busy.	Open the all-day event and mark it Busy if it should occupy the day. Help does not document the all-day default, so confirm Busy or Free on the event.
Scheduling tool books over a meeting	The meeting is Free, declined, or on a calendar the tool does not check for conflicts.	Mark the event Busy, accept it if it should count, and include that calendar in the tool's conflict check. A personal or second work account is invisible until it is connected or mirrored.
Colleagues see you free during a personal event	They can only see free/busy for the calendar they can access. Your personal or second work calendar is not that calendar.	Share the other calendar as See only free/busy for a view, or use Resync to write private Busy holds onto the calendar they already book.
Resync Busy hold is missing	The source event is Free, declined, cancelled, or a working-location event, or you deleted or edited the hold.	Resync does not create a hold for those source events. If you delete or edit a hold, it does not recreate it for the same source event on that mirror.

Says busy but calendar empty

Likely cause: You only have See only free/busy, the event is Private, or the busy time lives on a calendar you cannot see.
Fix: Ask the owner to raise your permission to See event details, or to change that event from Private, if they want you to see the title. If the calendar itself is missing, that is a sharing problem, not a Busy setting.

Event not blocking time

Likely cause: The event is marked Free, you declined it, or the booking tool is not checking that calendar.
Fix: Open the event and set it to Busy. Appointment-schedule Help only hides slots for Busy events and for Yes or Maybe replies on calendars it reviews. Working hours do not create a Busy event.

All-day event not blocking

Likely cause: All-day events typically start as Free. Appointment-schedule Help only hides that day's slots when the all-day event is set to Busy.
Fix: Open the all-day event and mark it Busy if it should occupy the day. Help does not document the all-day default, so confirm Busy or Free on the event.

Scheduling tool books over a meeting

Likely cause: The meeting is Free, declined, or on a calendar the tool does not check for conflicts.
Fix: Mark the event Busy, accept it if it should count, and include that calendar in the tool's conflict check. A personal or second work account is invisible until it is connected or mirrored.

Colleagues see you free during a personal event

Likely cause: They can only see free/busy for the calendar they can access. Your personal or second work calendar is not that calendar.
Fix: Share the other calendar as See only free/busy for a view, or use Resync to write private Busy holds onto the calendar they already book.

Resync Busy hold is missing

Likely cause: The source event is Free, declined, cancelled, or a working-location event, or you deleted or edited the hold.
Fix: Resync does not create a hold for those source events. If you delete or edit a hold, it does not recreate it for the same source event on that mirror.

Google Calendar Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026.

Multiple accounts

Other people only see free/busy for the calendar they can access. Busy time on a personal Gmail calendar or a second work account stays invisible to the calendar they book. Sharing that other calendar as See only free/busy is a view. It does not write a Busy block onto the account they already use. That path is in the busy-time guide.

Seeing both accounts together does not stop double-booking. Web Calendar is one Google Account per browser tab. The Calendar app can show several signed-in accounts. Those limits are in the multiple accounts guide. This is where Resync helps: it writes private Busy holds onto the Google calendars you mark as mirrors so the calendar others book treats that time as busy.

Google Calendar Help steps checked Nov 4, 2026. Cited from Share your calendar.

When Resync helps (and when it does not)

Use Busy or Free on the event when this calendar should occupy or leave the time. Use Private or See only free/busy when people looking at this calendar should see Busy instead of the title. Resync does not change those settings. It does not sync Outlook, Apple Calendar, or iCloud.

Use Resync when another of your Google calendars should treat this busy time as busy. Resync only creates Google-only private Busy holds between a user's own Google Calendars. Holds are titled Busy. It currently syncs Google calendars only. $1.50/month or $9/year after a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

Holds are titled Busy. Description, location, attendees, and conference data are left empty, so source meeting details stay on the source calendar.
Each hold occupies the time. Resync sets that availability on the hold. It does not copy the source title.
If a source event moves, Resync updates the hold. If the event is cancelled, marked free, declined, or is a working-location event, Resync does not keep a hold.
Out of office and Focus time on a source calendar still get a private Busy hold if they occupy time. Working hours are not events, so Resync does not read them.
Resync looks 90 days ahead when it reads source events. A polling fallback also runs about every 5 minutes. Read-only calendars cannot be mirrors. Resync currently syncs Google calendars only.
If you delete or edit a hold, Resync records that and does not recreate it for the same source event on that mirror.
If the source event is Private, the hold is Private. Otherwise the hold uses default visibility.

Set up Resync

Sign in with GoogleOpen Resync and sign in with the Google account you want as your primary account. You land on setup.
Connect another Google accountChoose Connect another Google account and finish Google's permission screen. Resync needs at least two Google accounts before you can start.
Start syncingWhen a second account is connected, setup shows bidirectional mirroring as the intended default: real events on either side become private busy blocks on the other. Choose Start syncing to open the dashboard.
Mark sources and mirrorsIn Sync configuration, turn on Source to read busy time from a calendar and Mirror to receive Busy holds. A calendar can be both. Read-only calendars cannot be mirrors because Resync needs write access to create holds.

FAQ

What does busy vs free mean in Google Calendar?

Busy occupies the time. Free does not. Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. That is not Default, Public, or Private, and it is not See only free/busy (hide details). Busy does not hide the title. Free does not hide a title you can already see. Appointment-schedule Help says a Busy event on a checked calendar hides those booking slots, and an all-day event set to Busy hides that day's slots.

How do I change Show as Busy or Free in Google Calendar?

Open the event and click or tap Edit. Look for Busy or Free in the event details. Some editors label that Show as. Google Calendar Help describes events as marked Busy or Free. It does not document a labeled Show as control or a click path on computer, Android, or iPhone. Confirm the control in your own Calendar. Visibility settings (Default, Public, Private) are a different control, documented under Edit event on a computer and Visibility settings in the Calendar app.

Why does Google Calendar say busy when the calendar looks empty?

You are usually looking at someone else's permission, not a missing title on their side. See only free/busy (hide details) shows when they are busy and hides names. A Private event also shows others a block labeled Busy. In a work or school organization the administrator can set the default to only free/busy. The event can also live on a calendar you cannot access, so your grid looks empty while Find a time or a booking page still sees them as busy.

Why isn't my Google Calendar event blocking time?

The event is marked Free, you declined it, or the calendar is not the one others check. Appointment-schedule Help hides slots for Busy events and for Yes or Maybe replies on calendars reviewed for conflicts. A declined event does not block those slots. Working hours warn invitees outside your hours; they do not create Busy events. An all-day event typically starts as Free, so it will not block until you mark it Busy.

Why don't colleagues or a booking tool see busy time from my other account?

Other people and scheduling tools only see free/busy for calendars they can access or that the tool checks for conflicts. A personal Gmail calendar or a second work account is invisible to the calendar they book. Overlaying both accounts in the Calendar app is your view only. Share as See only free/busy for a view, or use Resync to write private Busy holds onto the calendar others already check.

Does Resync copy event details or only write Busy holds?

Resync writes private holds titled Busy. Description, location, attendees, and conference data stay empty. It sets those holds to occupy the time (opaque). It does not create a hold for a source event marked Free, declined, cancelled, or a working-location event. Out of office and Focus time on a source still get a hold if they occupy time. $1.50/month or $9/year after a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

How to make Google Calendar events private (one event, by default, or all events)

How to use Google Calendar with multiple accounts (see them together, and keep them from double-booking)

How to show busy time from one Google Calendar on another without sharing event details

Google Calendar family sharing: find the Family calendar, fix it, or leave

Google Calendar iCal link: get the ICS address, fix a missing secret, or add a feed

Google Calendar availability: show yours and check someone else's

Connect the Google calendars you want to keep aligned, then mark sources and mirrors on the dashboard.

Resync will ask Google for permission to:see your list of calendars; see events on the calendars you choose as Sources, to know when you're busy; and create, update and delete events titled "Busy" on calendars you choose as Mirrors. We never store event titles, attendees or locations. Privacy policy