Connecting Your Google Calendar to Canvas
Last updated: October 16, 2026
Contact Canvas Support to enable this feature.
Any Canvas staff member can connect their own Google account using either a Google Workspace account or a personal Gmail account.
Connect your Google account to Canvas so your calendars stay in sync both ways:
Canvas to Google: your Canvas appointments copy to a new Canvas (Busy) calendar in your Google account. Each event shows only the visit type and time, is marked private, and carries no patient details or video visit link.
Google to Canvas: busy events on the Google calendars you select show as Busy on your Canvas schedule, with no title or details from your Google event, so that time is not offered for booking.
Connect your calendar
Open the left sidebar menu and click Google Calendar. It opens in a new browser tab.
Click Connect Google Calendar.
Choose your Google account.
Click Continue.
Click Allow to give Canvas access to your calendars. If you see checkboxes, leave them all checked then Save Selection.
Back in Canvas, check the calendars you want to sync and click Save selection. Busy times on these calendars will block time on your Canvas schedule.
If no calendars are listed yet, wait a few minutes and refresh the page. Your calendars usually appear shortly after you connect.
Your Canvas appointments start copying to Google as soon as you connect, and Busy times from the calendars you selected appear on your Canvas schedule shortly after you click Save selection. After that, Canvas checks for changes every 15 minutes, so allow up to 15 minutes for an update to show on either side.
How syncing works
Each event is managed where it was created:
make changes to Canvas appointments in Canvas
make changes to Google events in Google.
Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
An appointment is booked, moved, or canceled in Canvas | The Canvas (Busy) calendar in Google updates to match. Canceled appointments are removed. |
You edit, move, or delete an event on the Canvas (Busy) calendar in Google | Canvas puts it back on the next sync. Make appointment changes in Canvas. |
You add your own event to the Canvas (Busy) calendar | It stays in Google but does not block time in Canvas. Add personal events to one of your other calendars instead. |
You add, move, or delete an event on a selected Google calendar | The matching hold on your Canvas schedule updates. Changes are picked up automatically, typically within about 15 minutes. |
An event is canceled in Google | It no longer blocks time in Canvas. |
A recurring event on a selected Google calendar | Each occurrence blocks its time in Canvas. |
The same meeting appears on more than one selected calendar | It blocks the time once. |
A Google event spans several days, or is all-day | Canvas blocks each full day the event covers. The day runs midnight to midnight in your Google calendar's time zone, so if Google is set to a different time zone than your practice, the block shifts by the difference. |
An event in Google is marked Free | It does not block time in Canvas. |
You decline a Google invitation | It does not block time in Canvas. Events you accept, or mark as Maybe, do block time. |
Date range | Syncing covers 31 days in the past through 183 days ahead. |
Disconnect your calendar
Open the left sidebar menu and click Google Calendar.
Click Disconnect.
Canvas removes the Canvas (Busy) calendar from your Google account, clears the Busy time it added to your Canvas schedule, and removes its access to your Google account.
If syncing stops
If Canvas loses access to your Google account, for example because you removed Canvas in your Google account settings, syncing pauses. The Google Calendar page shows "Your Google Calendar connection has expired or was revoked." Click Reconnect Google Calendar to resume.
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove a Busy block from my Canvas schedule?
Make the change in Google. A Busy block comes from an event on one of your selected Google calendars, so delete that event, decline it, or mark it Free, and Canvas releases the time within about 15 minutes. To stop a whole Google calendar from blocking time, open Google Calendar from the left sidebar menu, uncheck that calendar, and click Save selection.
Do patient names appear in Google?
No. Each event on the Canvas (Busy) calendar shows only the visit type and time, and is marked private. Patient names, other patient details, and video visit links stay in Canvas.