Booking turns on with the AI receptionist. We connect Google Calendar now; until that is switched on for your line, the receptionist takes a message instead.
Setup steps
- Choose Connect on this page or in the app. If it shows Guided setup, Connect opens a short form and our team connects it with you.
- On a call with us, sign in with the Google account that owns the calendar you want bookings in. If Google shows "Google hasn't verified this app", choose Advanced and continue to TimberSwitch.
- Approve the two permissions below: seeing your free and busy times, and creating events on calendars you own.
- Tell us which calendar to book into (your main calendar, or another one you own: Google Calendar, Settings, the calendar's name, Integrate calendar, Calendar ID), your time zone, bookable hours for each day, appointment length, the gap to leave between appointments, and how far ahead callers may book.
- In the app, turn on the actions you want. Checking open times is on by default; booking, moving and cancelling stay off until you turn them on.
- Call your number and book a test appointment, then check it appears in Google Calendar with the caller's name and number.
- If your Google Workspace admin restricts third-party apps, ask them to allow TimberSwitch in the Admin console under Security, API controls, App access control.
Permissions we ask for, and why
- See your availability in your calendars (calendar.freebusy): So the AI only offers times that are open. This shows busy and free blocks only, not what the events are.
- See, create, change and delete events on calendars you own (calendar.events.owned): So the AI can book the appointment the caller confirmed, and move or cancel it later. It only ever changes events it created itself, and only on the one calendar you pick.
What the AI receptionist will do
- Checks your calendar's free and busy times and offers two or three open times inside your bookable hours.
- Reads the time back and books it only after the caller says yes. The event has the caller's name, callback number and reason.
- Checks the time is still free at the moment it books, so two callers can't take the same slot.
- Moves or cancels a booking only if the AI made it and the caller is calling from the number that booked it.
- If Google doesn't answer within a few seconds, takes a message instead and tells the caller the team will confirm.
What it can't do, and limits
- Until Google finishes verifying our app for the calendar permission it treats as sensitive, sign-in shows a "Google hasn't verified this app" screen. You choose Advanced, then continue. Verification also caps sign-ins at 100 accounts until it is done.
- Books into one calendar per connection, and the Google account you connect must own that calendar. Staff-by-staff calendars come later.
- Only busy and free times are checked. An event marked Free in Google is treated as open, and other calendars on the same account are not checked.
- The AI only moves or cancels appointments it booked. Anything your team added by hand stays with your team.
- Google workspace admins can block third-party apps. If yours does, an admin has to allow TimberSwitch first.
- Each check or booking adds about a second to the call. A slow answer from Google means the AI takes a message instead of booking.
- Booking on calls needs the AI receptionist, which is on the Receptionist and Front Desk packages.
The AI says something is booked or ordered only when Google Calendar confirms it. If Google Calendar doesn't answer in time, the AI takes a message instead and tells the caller someone will follow up.
Troubleshooting
The AI says it can't reach my calendar.
Open Connectors in the app. If it says your sign-in expired, choose Reconnect. Google ends access when the password changes, when access is removed under your Google Account, Security, Third-party apps, or after a long time without use.
It offered a time I'm busy.
Only the calendar you connected is checked. Busy times in your other calendars aren't seen, and events set to show as Free count as open. Change that event to Busy, or book from the calendar you actually use.
Sign-in shows "Google hasn't verified this app".
That is expected while Google reviews our app. Choose Advanced, then Go to TimberSwitch. Your data goes only to TimberSwitch; the screen goes away once Google finishes the review.
Sign-in says my admin blocked the app.
Your Google Workspace admin restricts third-party apps. Ask them to allow TimberSwitch under Security, API controls, App access control, then connect again.
A caller asked to cancel and the AI wouldn't.
The AI only cancels appointments it booked, and only for the number that booked them. Bookings your team made by hand, or a call from a different number, go to a message for your team.
Can I stop it booking but keep it checking times?
Yes. Turn off Book appointments on the Connectors page. Checking open times stays on.
Disconnecting, and the data we keep
An owner or admin can disconnect at any time from Phone, then Connectors, in the app. Disconnecting stops TimberSwitch using Google Calendar straight away.
- An encrypted Google access token and refresh token, and your booking settings (calendar, hours, appointment length).
- A log of each booking the AI made: time, the Google event reference and a masked caller number.
- On each event we create, private tags only TimberSwitch reads: which connection made it and a one-way code of the caller's number, so only that caller can move or cancel it.
- We don't store your other events. Free and busy times are read during the call and not kept.
- Disconnecting deletes the tokens straight away. You can also remove access in your Google Account under Security, Third-party apps at any time.
Still stuck?
Get help: it opens an Integration support ticket. Include the time of the call and what you expected to happen.
Google is a trademark of its owner; TimberSwitch is not affiliated.