Add email accounts and calendars (so gig dates never clash)

Most performers juggle more than one inbox and more than one calendar. Booked Solid is built for that: add every email account and calendar you actually use, tag each one with its purpose, and the app will catch date clashes before you double-book a Saturday - and always reply from the right address.

Where this lives

Open the Connections tab and scroll to the Mail & calendars section. Everything in this article happens there.

Add an email account

1. Click Add an email account.
2. Give the account a name you will recognize, like "Booking inbox".
3. Choose its purpose: bookings, personal, support, or business. The purpose tells the app which inbox does what, so booking mail goes out from your booking address and personal mail stays personal.
4. Pick the method - the form defaults to Any email (IMAP), which is the right choice for almost everyone:
   • Any email (IMAP) - works with almost any mail provider, and it is the supported path for Gmail too (with a Google App Password - see below).
   • Local Mail app - use the mail app already set up on your computer.
5. Enter the email address. For IMAP, also enter the IMAP server and an app password (most providers issue app passwords from their security settings - it is a special password just for apps, not your main login).
6. Use Check it to test the sign-in - it shows Checking… while it works - then click Save, or Cancel to back out.

Changes apply immediately: adding, editing, or removing an account reaches Otto the moment you save, with no app restart. And when the new inbox is a Gmail one, saving it also switches on the Gmail (app password) tool for Otto automatically.

Connecting Gmail? Gmail needs a Google App Password over IMAP (your normal password will not work, and you do not link anything on claude.ai). The exact steps, including custom-domain Google accounts, are in Connect your Gmail with an app password (step by step).

Add a calendar

1. Click Add a calendar.
2. Pick the method: a Calendar feed (ICS link) - the right choice for Google Calendar and most services - a private calendar sign-in (CalDAV) for iCloud with an app-specific password, or Mac Calendar.
3. If you chose ICS, paste your private ICS link into the field. Every major calendar service can give you one from its sharing settings.
4. Click Save.

The setup that pays off most: add a bookings calendar and a personal calendar. With both connected, gig dates never collide with family plans, school events, or that vacation you already promised. Calendars feed Otto's built-in agenda and date conflict tools directly - there is no claude.ai linking involved. And if the Calendars connection was switched off, adding a new calendar turns it back on for you.

How clashes show up

When two calendars have dates that collide, a calendar-conflict warning box appears in the Mail & calendars section listing the colliding dates. That is your cue to move something before a client is involved.

Keep everything fresh

• Check now - syncs your inboxes on demand instead of waiting for the next automatic pass.
• Check it - next to each account, tests that the connection still works.
• Edit - opens the account card so you can fix details in place. Leaving the password blank keeps the saved one.
• Remove - disconnects an account you no longer want the app to see.

If a Check it test fails on an IMAP account, the usual culprit is an expired app password - issue a fresh one from your provider, click Edit on the account, and paste the new password. No need to remove and re-add anything.

Still stuck? Submit a ticket from this help center and we'll take it from there.

Using iCloud? You need version 1.11.18 or newer

If you connected an iCloud calendar before 25 July 2026, please update the app and check it again. On earlier versions an iCloud calendar signed in perfectly, showed as connected, and then read none of your events, so every date you asked about came back looking free. Nothing was wrong with your calendar or your app-specific password. The app was misreading Apple's reply and finding no calendars in it.

That is fixed as of 1.11.18. Install the latest version, open Mail and calendars, and click Check it on your iCloud calendar. You should now see Connected followed by the number of upcoming events it found in the next 60 days. If it still reports zero and you know that calendar has events coming up, submit a ticket and we will look at it with you.

Two things worth saying plainly. This only ever affected the private calendar sign-in (CalDAV) with iCloud - calendar feeds (ICS links) and Mac Calendar were never touched by it. And it is the failure direction we care most about, because a calendar that reads as empty looks exactly like a calendar with nothing booked. If you took a booking between connecting an iCloud calendar and updating to 1.11.18, it is worth a quick look back at those dates.

Google Calendar: use the ICS link, not the private sign-in

The Private calendar sign-in option (the one that asks for an app-specific password) is for iCloud and other standard calendar services. Google Calendar cannot be added that way - Google closed that kind of calendar sign-in, so the app can never finish connecting and the calendar just keeps reporting itself as unreadable.

For a Google calendar, choose Calendar feed (ICS link) instead:

1. Open Google Calendar in your browser.
2. Hover the calendar in the left list, click the three dots, then Settings and sharing.
3. Scroll to Integrate calendar and copy the Secret address in iCal format. Keep it private: anyone with that link can read the calendar.
4. In Booked Solid, add a calendar, pick Calendar feed (ICS link), and paste it.

One thing worth knowing: when a calendar cannot be read for any reason, Booked Solid says the check was incomplete rather than calling the day free. It will never tell you a date is clear on information it could not get.