What it is
The QualiFlow calendar is the one that counts. A connected Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar receives copies of booked appointments automatically: when a visit is booked, moved or cancelled (by your team or by Aria), QualiFlow adds, updates or removes it on that calendar with no click. Booking never needs a connected calendar. Each booked appointment also has a Calendar and confirmation card, showing where the copy is and letting you send the customer an approved confirmation email.
Settings → Calendar & appointments shows which appointments go on which calendar, with each calendar's permission to add events and busy-time sync, and the counts of appointments held, needing review, ready to write and confirmations to approve.
How to use it
Confirmations and reminders on SMS and email
A booking can start in a social conversation, website chat, form or email. Aria uses contact details already saved, asks for a phone number if neither phone nor email is known, and can offer email as an optional additional channel. Declining email does not block a booking when a phone number is available.
Booking confirmation and permission to contact the customer are separate. Aria asks clear service-permission questions; agreeing to book does not also grant SMS or email permission. Marketing permission is separate again.
When both SMS and email are configured in the approved appointment-reminder policy and permitted for the customer, each channel has its own checkpoint, delivery result and retries. A saved number on a social contact can be used to create the appropriate SMS conversation after permission and sender checks. Email uses the dealership's connected mailbox or verified sender. A missing or unavailable sender does not change the appointment itself or authorise a different channel.
An ordinary thank-you or general vehicle question does not automatically pause appointment logistics. Cancellation, rescheduling, ambiguous changes, opt-outs and staff control still require the appropriate review or action. Unsent messages waiting for contact setup expire when they are no longer useful; they are not sent after the appointment begins.
Check the recorded result for each channel. “Booked” confirms the appointment, not delivery of an SMS or email.
- Open Settings → Connections and choose the Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar tile.
- Sign in and allow QualiFlow to add booked appointments to your calendar, and QualiFlow uses your main calendar (change it under Details if you need to). If Gmail or Outlook mail is already connected, the same account is used.
- Open Settings → Calendar & appointments and review the counts for the selected location.
- Book as usual. On the appointment, the Calendar status reads Adding to Google Calendar, then Added to Google Calendar (or Updated in / Removed from after a change or cancellation). There is nothing to click.
- Only when a time conflicts with busy time or opening hours does a person decide: review it and select Add to calendar (or leave it out). Add to calendar is also there for an older appointment that was booked before this was automatic; select Check again to re-check.
- To email a confirmation, select Prepare draft, then Approve text (approving doesn't send), then Queue email.
Choose what appears on the outside calendar
The Owner can open Settings → Booking → Calendar details and choose:
- Full (default): the event title names the visit type, customer and linked vehicle, for example Test drive: John Smith · 2024 Toyota RAV4 XLE. Other types read Showroom visit, Service or Pick-up. The description includes recorded customer contact details, vehicle specifications, stock number, VIN and price, linked opportunity and stage, salesperson, booking notes, and links back to the appointment and contact. The location shows the dealership location's name and recorded address. Missing details are left out.
- Private: the outside calendar shows QualiFlow appointment and the time, without customer details, notes, links or location. This is useful when your calendar is shared widely.
Rescheduling refreshes the title, description and location as well as the time, using the current saved information and calendar-details setting. Cancelling removes the copied event. Changing this setting applies on the next calendar write; it does not immediately rewrite older copies. Long titles and notes are shortened to fit the calendar while preserving the links back to the full record.
Neither mode adds the customer as an attendee or sends a calendar invitation. Google calendar writes use sendUpdates=none. Customer confirmation emails remain a separate, approved action.
What the data means
| Calendar status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Added to … Calendar | The copy is on the connected calendar |
| Adding to … Calendar | QualiFlow is adding it now; nothing to do |
| Ready to write | Not added yet; select Add to calendar |
| Held — not connected | Waiting for an authorized calendar |
| Needs review | Busy time or opening-hours conflicts |
| Write failed | The copy could not be written |
| No calendar set up | No calendar is connected for this appointment |
Add to calendar doesn't send the customer an invitation or change the booking in QualiFlow. If the outside calendar shows a conflict you are asked Add despite the conflict? An event changed outside QualiFlow is left alone, and no duplicate is created.
The confirmation email goes only through your connected mailbox or verified email domain. When the appointment reminders journey sends the confirmation, the card reads Handled by reminders and there is nothing to do.
Possible issues and fixes
The appointment isn't on our Google or Outlook calendar
Symptom: The calendar status reads Held — not connected, Ready to write or Needs review.
Why: No calendar is authorized, the appointment was booked before copies were automatic, or the copy conflicts with busy time or opening hours.
Fix: Connect the calendar tile in Settings → Connections and check Settings → Calendar & appointments. For Ready to write or a conflict, review it and select Add to calendar.
How to check: The calendar status reads Added to Google Calendar (or Outlook Calendar).
The confirmation email won't send
Symptom: Queue email isn't available.
Why: The email is never sent by itself: it needs a prepared, approved draft and a connected dealership mailbox or domain.
Fix: Connect a mailbox in Settings → Connections, then Prepare draft, Approve text and Queue email.
How to check: The card shows the email as queued.
The calendar connection needs to be renewed
Symptom: The calendar tile asks you to renew access, or appointments stop appearing in the outside calendar.
Why: The Google or Microsoft permission expired or was removed.
Fix: Open the calendar tile in Settings → Connections and renew access. Bookings in QualiFlow keep working meanwhile. If it stays pending, create a ticket in Support.
How to check: The tile shows Connected and new appointments read Added to Google Calendar (or Outlook Calendar).
