Booking turns on with the AI receptionist. We connect Microsoft 365 / Outlook 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 Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account whose calendar takes bookings, and approve the permissions below.
- If Microsoft says the app needs admin approval, your admin opens the Microsoft Entra admin center, Enterprise applications, Admin consent requests (or uses the approval link we send) and grants consent for TimberSwitch once. Then sign in again.
- Tell us which calendar to book into (your main calendar unless you say otherwise), 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 booking, moving and cancelling when you're ready. Checking open times is on by default.
- Call your number and book a test appointment, then check it appears in Outlook with the caller's name and number.
Permissions we ask for, and why
- Have full access to your calendars (Calendars.ReadWrite, delegated): So the AI can see open times and book, move or cancel the appointment the caller confirmed. Only the mailbox you sign in with, never other people in your organization, and it only changes events it created itself.
- Maintain access to data you have given it access to (offline_access): So bookings keep working after you close the browser. You can revoke it at any time.
What the AI receptionist will do
- Checks the calendar for open times inside your bookable hours and offers two or three.
- Reads the time back and books 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 Microsoft 365 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
- Some Microsoft 365 organizations turn off user consent for new apps. Then an admin has to approve TimberSwitch once in the Microsoft Entra admin center before anyone can connect.
- One mailbox's calendar per connection, and you sign in as that mailbox. Shared mailboxes, room calendars and staff-by-staff calendars come later.
- Busy, tentative and out of office times block a slot; times shown as Free or Working elsewhere count as open.
- The AI only moves or cancels appointments it booked. Anything your team added by hand stays with your team.
- Each check or booking adds about a second to the call. A slow answer from Microsoft 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 Microsoft 365 / Outlook calendar confirms it. If Microsoft 365 / Outlook calendar doesn't answer in time, the AI takes a message instead and tells the caller someone will follow up.
Troubleshooting
Sign-in says I need admin approval.
Your Microsoft 365 admin has turned off user consent for new apps. Ask them to approve TimberSwitch once in the Microsoft Entra admin center under Enterprise applications, then connect again.
The AI says it can't reach my calendar.
Open Connectors in the app. If it says your sign-in expired, choose Reconnect. A password change, a revoked session, or an admin removing the app ends access.
It offered a time I'm busy.
Only the connected mailbox's chosen calendar is checked. Events shown as Free or Working elsewhere count as open; change the event to Busy.
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 Microsoft 365 / Outlook calendar straight away.
- An encrypted Microsoft access token and refresh token, and your booking settings (calendar, hours, appointment length).
- A log of each booking the AI made: time, the Outlook event reference and a masked caller number.
- On each event we create, hidden 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 TimberSwitch at myapps.microsoft.com or account.live.com/consent/Manage.
Still stuck?
Get help: it opens an Integration support ticket. Include the time of the call and what you expected to happen.
Microsoft is a trademark of its owner; TimberSwitch is not affiliated.