Summary: When you schedule a meeting in Zoom, it’ll most likely end up on your Google Calendar. This is convenient! However, if you move or delete the Google Calendar event, the Zoom meeting is not altered, and if you move or delete the Zoom meeting, the calendar is not updated. Depending on how you use Zoom and how far off your event is scheduled, this may or may not be an issue. If you frequently schedule meetings and attend yourself, we recommend making your Personal Meeting ID the default for your meetings instead of generating a different meeting ID for each meeting.

Much of this article also applies to use of Zoom with Outlook or Yahoo calendars, but we are focusing on Google Calendar since it is the preferred calendaring solution at Brown.

When is a Zoom Meeting Link Valid?

When you schedule a Zoom meeting at a specific time and date, you receive a meeting ID and link to join the meeting. This information is actually usable outside of the scheduled time of your meeting. 

• A non-recurring meeting ID will expire 30 days after the meeting is scheduled for. You can restart the same meeting ID as many times as you would like, within the 30 day period.  
• A recurring meeting ID will expire 365 days after the meeting is started on the last occurrence. You can re-use the meeting ID for future occurrences.
• Scheduled meetings can be started at any time before the scheduled time. The links will not expire or become invalid unless it is past the 30 day period for a non-recurring meeting, has not been used for over 365 days for a recurring meeting, or has been deleted from your Zoom account. An instant meeting link will expire as soon as the meeting is over. 

How Zoom Events Get Onto Your Google Calendar

You can add Zoom meeting information to your Google Calendar in five ways:

• Scheduling a meeting in the Zoom app and choosing “Google Calendar” as your calendar.

• Using the Zoom for GSuite G Suite Marketplace Add-on to schedule a meeting.

• Using the Zoom Scheduler Plugin for Chrome/Firefox to schedule a meeting.

• Clicking “Make it a Zoom Meeting” in a Google Calendar event (you’ll see this option if you have the extension installed).

• Scheduling a meeting at brown.zoom.us and clicking “Add to Google Calendar.”

• Copying and pasting Zoom meeting information into a Google Calendar event. 

Altering a Google Calendar Event

If you move or delete a Google Calendar event with Zoom meeting information, the Zoom meeting is not altered. Likewise, if you update the meeting in Zoom, the calendar event is not updated. (This is the same with other conferencing systems as well.)

This may not matter to you, since the link should work anyway within the time frame described earlier in this article. However, you might find it confusing to have different times in both places.

How to Address This Issue

There are two things you can do to address this issue:

1. If you alter a Google Calendar event, edit the Zoom meeting to match.

You can access your Zoom meetings in three places:

1. After you log in at brown.zoom.us, under My Meetings.

2. From the Zoom computer app, in the Meetings tab.

3. From the Zoom phone/device app, under Schedule or Host a Meeting > Upcoming Meetings.

2. Recommended if you will be attending the meetings: Use your Personal Meeting ID when scheduling on your Google Calendar.  Because personal meetings never expire and don't have a fixed date and time, the meeting in Zoom doesn't need to be updated if you move the calendar event.

Here are instructions from Zoom: Schedule with Personal Meeting ID (PMI)

If you are using the Chrome extension to schedule directly in Google Calendar, go to your settings and check the option to always use your Personal ID.