# How to use Reclaim with your existing calendars

# Is Reclaim a calendar app?

Reclaim is designed to be a calendar assistant that works *with* your Google or Outlook calendar (not replace it). We built Reclaim to enable you to work where you already do. You can use our [Planner](https://app.reclaim.ai/planner) to make changes to your Reclaim-managed events, [install our Google Calendar and Gmail Add-on](https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/reclaimai/950518663892) to get the power of Reclaim directly in Google or Outlook's web UI, and/or add our [Slack integration](https://help.reclaim.ai/en/articles/3643248-get-started-with-reclaim-for-slack) to work with Reclaim there.

# Supported calendar services

Currently, Reclaim has full support for Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook

However, you can use a shared calendar (via iCloud, or another external calendar service) and sync events *from* that calendar to another Google Calendar using our [Calendar Sync](https://app.reclaim.ai/sync) feature. You can learn more about how to sync shared Calendars [here](https://help.reclaimai.com/en/articles/3640324).

# By default, Reclaim schedules on your primary calendar

By default, Reclaim will schedule time blocks on the *primary calendar of your main account email* in your Reclaim account. We do this because the primary calendar tends to be where all inbound meetings will be scheduled for the majority of users.

For some features, like Habits, Tasks, and Smart Meetings, you can opt to schedule to different calendars and different accounts.

## What is a "primary calendar"?

Most other calendaring platforms have a concept of "primary" and "shared" calendars. Primary calendars are special: they are the calendar that Google and Outlook rely on for most scheduling workflows, and they are where most events will land by default. Shared calendars, on the other hand, are simply "sub-calendars" that aren't considered in most scheduling workflows.

For example, if you use Google Calendar's "Find a Time" feature or Outlook's Scheduling Assistant when trying to book time with someone in your workspace, it will *only* ever show events from the primary calendar. All other calendars will be ignored.

This is a big reason why Reclaim's [Calendar Sync](https://app.reclaim.ai/sync) feature exists – to help merge events from other calendars to your primary calendar so that they show as unavailable to your colleagues.

## Reclaim can consider availability from other calendars

As mentioned above, Reclaim schedules events on the primary calendar of your [main account email](https://help.reclaim.ai/en/articles/5479619-your-reclaim-account-s-main-email) only. However, it can consider availability from other calendars when it blocks time – either by you using our [Calendar Sync](https://help.reclaim.ai/en/articles/3600762-calendar-sync-overview) feature, or our [Connected Calendars](https://help.reclaim.ai/en/articles/6516165-connected-calendar-overview) feature.

Calendar Sync allows you to literally duplicate and copy events across calendars so that Reclaim will see you as unavailable, *and* so that **others in your workspace will see you as unavailable** when looking for times on your primary calendar.
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Similarly, Connected Calendars allows you to designate other calendars for *Reclaim* to consider when blocking time, *but* it doesn't duplicate events across calendars – that means that others who go to book time with you within Google Workspace won't see events from other calendars.

You can learn more about the differences between Connected Calendars and Calendar Sync [here](https://help.reclaim.ai/en/articles/6516309-difference-between-connected-calendar-and-calendar-sync).