Guide uses out-of-office periods to avoid automatically assigning scheduling work to someone while they are away. If you connect Google Calendar, Guide can keep these periods in sync with your calendar. You can also add periods directly in Guide.
Automatic replies are configured separately. This lets you pause automatic assignment without sending a message, or use one standing reply across future out-of-office periods.
View and manage your periods
Open Settings → Scheduling preferences and find Out of office. The list shows active periods and periods beginning within the next 90 days.
A Google Calendar period is labelled Synced from Google. Change its dates in Google Calendar rather than in Guide.
A period created in Guide is labelled Added by you. You can edit a manual period that you created for yourself.
Use Add manual OOO in the section menu to add a period without creating a Google Calendar event.
Use Resync from Google if you need Guide to check your calendar immediately.
An active period makes you unavailable for queue auto-assignment and scheduling-request assignment. It does not change interviewer availability in Find Times.
Ignore or remove a period
Turn off a Google-synced period when you want Guide to ignore that event by using the toggle. Guide keeps it disabled across normal syncs. If the event's start or end changes in Google Calendar, Guide treats the changed event as current and enables it again.
Manual periods can be removed. A removed manual period cannot be restored from the list; add it again if you still need it.
Send automatic replies
Turn on Send automatic replies and enter a message to reply to incoming Guide messages while you are out of office. The setting applies to periods from Google Calendar and periods created in Guide.
Guide sends these replies only when every Guide-side recipient on the candidate thread is out of office. Each recipient who has automatic replies enabled uses their own message.
The previous single Out of office responder is replaced by the period list and separate automatic-reply controls. If an older responder was still active during the transition, its period and message remain effective until that period ends. The saved message is available for future use, but the new automatic-reply toggle starts off and must be enabled explicitly.
Admin access
Org Admins can open another user's scheduling preferences to add or remove periods for them. Guide shows who added each manual period. Only the person who created a manual period for themselves can edit it; synced and carried-over periods are not editable in Guide.
What syncs from Google Calendar
Guide syncs only events created with Google Calendar's Out of office event type on the user's primary calendar. Events merely named PTO or OOO, ordinary busy events, and events on shared calendars do not count. Guide-created periods are not written back to Google Calendar.
Sync updates are best-effort. If Guide cannot read your calendar, the Out of office section keeps known periods visible and prompts you to reconnect. Use Reconnect to restore calendar access.
