Calendar Sync Problems

Calendar Sync Problems

Having trouble with calendar integration in Boardwise? This guide covers common issues with meeting invitations, RSVP syncing, and calendar connections.

Meeting Invitations Not Appearing in Calendar

If meeting invitations are not showing up in your calendar:

Check your spam or junk folder

Calendar invitation emails sometimes get filtered. Look for emails from Boardwise in your spam, junk, or promotions folder.

Verify your email client supports ICS files

Most modern email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) automatically detect and display calendar invitations. If yours does not:

  1. Open the email containing the meeting invitation
  2. Find the attached invite.ics file
  3. Download and open the file
  4. Your calendar app should prompt you to add the event

Check your email address in Boardwise

The invitation is sent to the email address on your Boardwise account. If this differs from your primary calendar email, invitations may not appear automatically. Contact your administrator to update your email address if needed.

Corporate email filtering

Some organizations block automated calendar invitations. If you consistently do not receive invitations, ask your IT department to whitelist Boardwise email addresses.

RSVP Responses Not Syncing Back to Boardwise

When you respond to a meeting invitation from your calendar app, Boardwise should automatically update your RSVP status. If this is not happening:

Ensure you responded from your calendar app

Responding directly in your email client (clicking buttons in the email preview) may not generate a proper calendar response. For reliable syncing:

  1. Add the event to your calendar first
  2. Change your response (Accept, Decline, Tentative) from within your calendar app

Wait a few minutes

Calendar responses are processed as they arrive. Allow up to 5 minutes for your response to appear in Boardwise.

Verify your email address matches

Boardwise identifies you by the email address in your calendar response. This must match the email address on your Boardwise account exactly. If your calendar uses a different email address (such as an alias), responses may not be linked to your account.

Check for calendar aliases

If you use calendar delegation (for example, an assistant managing your calendar), responses may come from a different email address. Ensure the email address associated with your calendar matches your Boardwise account.

Email system not forwarding responses

Calendar responses are sent as emails to a special Boardwise address. If your email system blocks or filters these outgoing messages, responses will not sync. Check with your IT department if you suspect email filtering.

Calendar Subscription Not Updating

Boardwise provides a personal calendar subscription feed that shows your meetings and action item due dates. If it is not updating:

Understand subscription refresh intervals

Calendar apps periodically fetch subscription feeds, typically every 15-60 minutes. Changes may not appear immediately. This is normal behavior for all calendar subscriptions.

Force a manual refresh

Most calendar apps allow you to manually refresh subscriptions:

Google Calendar:
- Subscribed calendars refresh automatically and cannot be manually refreshed
- New events appear within 12-24 hours

Apple Calendar:
1. Right-click on the subscribed calendar
2. Select "Refresh"

Microsoft Outlook:
1. Right-click on the subscribed calendar
2. Select "Refresh" or "Send/Receive All Folders"

Verify the subscription URL is correct

If you copied an old or incorrect URL, your calendar will not update properly:

  1. Go to your Profile in Boardwise
  2. Navigate to the Calendar section
  3. Copy the current subscription URL
  4. Remove the old subscription from your calendar app
  5. Add a new subscription with the correct URL

Check your internet connection

Calendar subscriptions require your device to fetch updates from the internet. If you are offline or have connectivity issues, updates will not appear until you reconnect.

OAuth Connection Expired or Failing

Google and Outlook calendar connections use OAuth for secure access. These connections can expire or fail for several reasons.

Symptoms of an expired connection

  • Error message about "token expired" or "authentication failed"
  • Calendar availability showing as outdated
  • Sync jobs failing in the background

Reconnecting your calendar

  1. Click your name in the top navigation
  2. Select Calendar Connections
  3. Find the affected calendar and click Disconnect
  4. Click the connection button for your provider to reconnect
  5. Sign in and authorize Boardwise again

Why connections expire

OAuth tokens can expire when:

  • You change your Google or Microsoft account password
  • You revoke Boardwise access from your Google or Microsoft account settings
  • The connection has been inactive for an extended period
  • Your organization's security policies force token expiration

Permissions were revoked

If you or your IT administrator revoked Boardwise access:

  1. Check your connected apps in Google (Security > Third-party apps) or Microsoft (My Account > Permissions)
  2. Reconnect through Boardwise to re-grant access

Calendar Events Showing Wrong Time

If meetings appear at the wrong time in your calendar:

Check your calendar time zone

Ensure your calendar app is set to your correct time zone:

Google Calendar:
- Go to Settings > Time zone
- Select your local time zone

Apple Calendar:
- Go to Preferences > Advanced
- Check "Turn on time zone support" if you travel
- Set your default time zone

Microsoft Outlook:
- Go to File > Options > Calendar
- Verify the time zone setting

Verify your Boardwise time zone

Your profile in Boardwise may have a different time zone setting:

  1. Click your name in the top navigation
  2. Go to Profile settings
  3. Check your time zone setting matches your calendar

All-day events vs. timed events

All-day events (meetings without specific times) display differently across calendar apps and may appear on the wrong day when crossing time zones. If a meeting should have a specific time, contact the meeting organizer.

Daylight saving time transitions

Around daylight saving time changes, some calendar apps may display incorrect times temporarily. Refreshing your calendar or waiting a day usually resolves this.

Duplicate Calendar Entries

If you see the same meeting multiple times in your calendar:

Using both invitation and subscription

If you add meetings via both the email invitation AND a calendar subscription, you may see duplicates:

  • Email invitation: Creates a standalone event you can RSVP to
  • Subscription feed: Creates a read-only synced event

Choose one method. For RSVP tracking to work, use the email invitation method.

Multiple subscription feeds

Check if you have subscribed to your Boardwise calendar feed multiple times:

  1. Review all subscribed calendars in your calendar app
  2. Remove duplicate Boardwise subscriptions
  3. Keep only one subscription

Updated meetings creating new entries

When a meeting is significantly updated (time change, for example), some calendar apps create a new event instead of updating the existing one. The old event should show as cancelled. You may need to manually delete the cancelled version.

Different calendar accounts

If you use multiple calendar accounts (personal and work), check if you added Boardwise to both. Meeting invitations sent to your work email may create events in your work calendar, while subscriptions might be on your personal calendar.

Corporate and Enterprise Calendar Restrictions

Organizations with strict IT policies may experience additional calendar integration challenges.

OAuth blocked by administrator

Some organizations block third-party OAuth applications. If you cannot connect your Google or Outlook calendar:

  1. Contact your IT department
  2. Ask if Boardwise (boardwise.co) can be added to your organization's approved applications list
  3. Provide the following OAuth scopes that Boardwise requests:
    • Google: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.readonly
    • Microsoft: https://graph.microsoft.com/Calendars.ReadWrite

Calendar invitation emails filtered

Enterprise email security may filter or quarantine calendar invitations. If invitations consistently do not arrive:

  1. Ask IT to whitelist the Boardwise email domain
  2. Check your organization's email quarantine for blocked messages

Outbound email restrictions

If your RSVP responses do not sync, your organization may block outbound emails to external addresses. Calendar responses need to reach Boardwise servers to update your status.

Conditional Access Policies

Microsoft 365 organizations using Conditional Access may block token requests from Boardwise servers. Your IT administrator needs to:

  1. Review Conditional Access policies
  2. Allow Boardwise application access or
  3. Add Boardwise to the trusted applications list

On-premises Exchange limitations

Organizations using on-premises Exchange (not Microsoft 365) may have limited calendar integration support. The OAuth connection requires Microsoft 365 or a hybrid configuration.

Contact Support

If none of these solutions resolve your issue:

  1. Contact your administrator first: Your organization's administrator can help with permission issues and verify your account settings.

  2. Reach out to Boardwise support: Email support@boardwise.co with:

    • Your email address
    • Your calendar provider (Google, Outlook, Apple)
    • A description of the problem
    • Any error messages you see
    • Steps you have already tried

Our support team typically responds within one business day.

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