The TerpEngage Calendar

Overview

TerpEngage’s Calendar feature automatically logs all of your appointments and can be synced to Google Calendar. TerpEngage’s Calendar works best when synced with your Google Calendar as the two will share information, allowing you to more easily keep track of events across both calendars and help prevent double scheduling.

Calendar Dos and Don'ts

  • Do use the word "Free" in the Subject field when creating Availability (e.g., "Free Virtual Availability"). This will convert your blocks of Availability to be seen as "Free" in your Google Calendar. Colleagues will then be able to schedule meetings over that time.

  • Do limit your use of appointment buffers in order to maximize appointment slots. The auto-calculation of the appointment buffer may eliminate more appointment slots than you think.

  • Do use Google Calendar to book time when you are not available for appointments. Any meeting scheduled in Google (and set as "Busy") will not be seen as available for student appointments in TerpEngage. 

  • Don't schedule your non-advising related events in TerpEngage, instead use Google Calendar. This will make it easier if you ever unsync your calendar.

  • Don't schedule, reschedule, or cancel advising related events in either your Google or TerpEngage Calendar because students will not get a notification that you have done so. Make these changes on the student's Advising Case or in Appointment Manager.

  • Don't block off your Availability in Google. Your TerpEngage Availability will already display there if your calendar is synced.

Accessing the Calendar

To open the TerpEngage Calendar:

  1. Click the down arrow corresponding to the first primary tab on the left to open the main navigation menu in TerpEngage.Arrow from main drop down to open calendar

     

  2. Select Calendar from the list of options that appears.

  3. This is the TerpEngage Calendar.

Google Calendar Sync

General Information about Calendar Sync

  • With a few exceptions, all events sync bi-directionally between the TerpEngage Calendar and the advisor’s primary UMD Google Calendar. 

    1. The first exception is that Advising Appointments deleted in the Google Calendar will not be deleted in the TerpEngage Calendar. Advising Appointments should only be deleted through TerpEngage (in an Advising Case or via Appointment Manager). Please note that deleting an advising event in your TerpEngage Calendar does not equate to canceling the advising appointment, you have just deleted the event in the calendar.

    2. The second exception is that events in Google Calendar will not sync to the TerpEngage Calendar until you RSVP “Yes” on them. 

  • The initial sync may leave some meetings, particularly ongoing recurring meetings, unsynced (e.g., a regular staff meeting). If this happens, you will want to create a new version of that meeting after the sync.

  • There IS a time delay for each sync. It should normally be 7-10 minutes after creating the event (sometimes less) but it has taken hours on occasion when the system is down. The latter is not expected behavior, but if you see that happening regularly, please email TEadvisingsupport@umd.edu so we can troubleshoot.

  • The synced events all appear as a "Peacock Blue" color with a shadow color that matches whatever Gmail color you have selected as your default color. You will know that an event hasn't synced if it's not that color of blue. If you choose to sync your calendar, you will not be able to use colors to distinguish between types of events on your calendar, though you will still see other calendars in whatever color they appear. We’re continually searching for a solution that enables use of dynamic coloring. 

  • If you want your recurring advising Availability to be treated as "Free" on your Google Calendar until an appointment is scheduled over it, go to your Availability settings in TerpEngage and edit (or create) Availability with the word “Free” in the Subject of that Availability. Examples: “Free Virtual Advising Time” or “Free College Park Availability.” Using the word “Free” will ensure that colleagues will be able to schedule meetings during your block of Availability. Otherwise, these blocks are set by default to "Busy," which you would have to change one at a time.

  • Below is a list of how syncing works for different event types.

    • Individual Events: sync from TerpEngage to Google and from Google to TerpEngage.

    • All-Day Events: sync from TerpEngage to Google and from Google to TerpEngage.

    • Individual Advising Appointments: only sync from TerpEngage to Google, and not from Google to TerpEngage.

    • Advising Availability: only sync from TerpEngage to Google, and not from Google to TerpEngage.

    • Recurring Events: sync from TerpEngage to Google and from Google to TerpEngage.

    • Unaccepted Event Invitations: do not sync in either direction.

Sharing the TerpEngage Calendar

Advisors are able to view other advisor’s calendars by adding them in TerpEngage. In other words, if you want to view another advisor’s TerpEngage Calendar, you have to add it to your calendars in TerpEngage. If your TerpEngage Calendar is synced with your Google Calendar, sharing your Google Calendar will also allow advisors to see your TerpEngage Calendar. To add another advisor’s calendar in TerpEngage:

  1. Open the TerpEngage Calendar. Instructions about how to do this are above.

  2. Click the small gear icon next to “Other Calendars” on the right side of the page. 

    Gear icon to add a calendar

 

  1. Click Add Calendars.

  2. Search for, then select the advisor whose calendar you would like to add.

  3. Click Add.

  4. You have now added another advisor’s calendar and should be able to see their events. Continue to the next heading for information about how to differentiate between calendars.

Differentiating Between Calendars

If your TerpEngage Calendar is synced with your Google Calendar, all events on both Calendars will appear in blue. Although you cannot differentiate events on your own calendar by color at this time, you can differentiate your calendar from other peoples’ calendars by color.  

On the TerpEngage Calendar:

  1. Once you’ve added them, TerpEngage will display other selected calendars in a different color. Navigate to Calendar from the drop-down menu (See the "Accessing Calendar" heading from above). All of the Calendars you have added in TerpEngage (outside of your own) appear under the “Other Calendars” heading on the right side of the page.

  2. Under the “Other Calendars” heading, click the small down arrow corresponding to the calendar whose color you want to change.

    Arrow to change calendar settings

 

  1. Choose the color you would like the calendar to be.

On the Google Calendar:

  1. Ensure that your unit’s sharing settings are one of the 2 options indicated in the image below. If your settings are not one of these options, you will see each calendars’ events in the same color of blue.

    Calendar sharing options

 

  1. Once your unit’s advisors adjust their settings, you should see them listed under “Other Calendars” instead of “My Calendars” on the left side of the calendar screen.

Last updated on
Sep 27, 2022