# Major Zoom + GCal sync problems / recent behavior change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Meetings\ **Created:** [December 30, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912 "2022-12-30T20:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/1 "2022-12-30T20:26:22Z")
Hi there – our SaaS service integrates with the Zoom API to create Zoom meetings automatically on behalf of our joint customers. One of our features requires the creation of Zoom meeting, which we then put on a series of individual Google Calendar events that our product schedules. To do this, we use the “recurring no fixed time” type (type 3) and then place the same URL in the location + description fields of multiple events. This has worked well for us for a long time, but recently we’ve been getting reports of this breaking badly for our customers. Upon investigation, what we’ve found is that Zoom appears to have recently started to keep Zoom meetings + Google Calendar events “in sync” even when the “Automatically sync Zoom calendar events information bi-directionally between Zoom and integrated calendars” setting is disabled. From what I can tell, this is new functionality that activates once users have connected their calendar to use the recently launched Email + Calendar beta functionality. What I’m observing is that Zoom is now working very hard to find and identify any Google Calendar event that links to a Zoom meeting, and then it will update the Zoom meeting to match what is in the Google Calendar event. In our case, it is changing the type from “recurring no fixed time” (type 3) to “scheduled meeting” (type 2), which badly breaks things for us because we have many events that are suddenly linked to Zoom meetings that are no longer valid / joinable. Even worse, this behavior depends on if our joint customers have enabled certain settings or tried out the new calendar feature. Worse still, even when they disable the calendar + email feature, the sync behavior continues unless you revoke Zoom’s access to Google Calendar entirely. And worst of all, we’re finding that our system and Zoom’s can now get in “loops” trying to “fix” the issue, draining the customer’s 100 event quota for the day. In short: it’s a terrible customer experience for our joint customer. Because the behavior isn’t consistent for all Zoom users, it’s also difficult for us to work around this issue. Our best path, for now, is to hide the Zoom URLs behind a redirect, which Zoom’s sync logic doesn’t seem to follow. But this seems like a poor workaround that could break at any moment, and it also breaks other workflows, such as calendar apps (including Zoom’s own) that provide convenient “join now” buttons for known video conferencing domains. I am hoping that Zoom is open to working with us on a better path forward. Specifically, it would be really great if there were a way to very clearly communicate to Zoom that someone else (our service in this case) is responsible for keeping the Zoom meeting + the calendar event in sync and Zoom should not modify things. This could be accomplished by Zoom looking for a specific key/value pair in the Google event’s extended metadata. Alternatively, if the Zoom API allowed me to indicate that I don’t want Zoom to apply any sync logic to it, I could use that when creating Zoom meetings. Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope this information all makes sense. Thank you, and happy New Year! Patrick ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/2 "2022-12-30T21:06:38Z")
Hey Patrick, Thanks for providing detailed information on the issue you’re seeing. I’m working to get confirmation on this change and see if we can rollback or change this behavior. I’ll be sure to keep you posted. Thanks, Max ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/4 "2022-12-30T21:08:23Z")
If helpful, I can record a quick Loom demonstrating the behavior without our service involved at all, but highlighting the way Zoom is changing the Zoom meeting type unexpectedly. LMK if it’d be useful. ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/5 "2023-01-04T14:49:49Z")
Hi - any update on this? We rolled out a workaround by hiding the Zoom URLs via a redirect, but as predicated, customers are now hitting the problem of that redirect breaking their other calendar apps and workflows. ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/6 "2023-01-05T20:45:12Z")
Sorry for the delay here, if you’re able to provide a loom that should help me to demonstrate the issue to our engineering team. I’m still working to get details on any changes on our end. ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/7 "2023-01-06T00:19:58Z")
> **[Zoom Recurring No Fixed Time Calendar Sync Behavior](https://www.loom.com/share/de00d8bc3d664f1eb7f813aee35e1674)** ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/8 "2023-01-09T14:05:08Z")
Hi - just checking back in here. Did the video help clarify things a bit more? ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/9 "2023-01-09T21:03:57Z")
Thank you for providing that video, that’s very helpful. I’ve created a ticket with our engineering team and added that video to the ticket to assist in describing the issue. I’ll keep you posted as I hear back from them. (ZSEE-77552) ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/10 "2023-01-13T14:42:16Z")
Hi just checking back in on this. Our customers continue to be frustrated by this experience. Maybe while we wait to hear back from Zoom’s engineering team, could you point me to any documentation that describes when/how Zoom will or won’t sync with Google Calendar? I would be happy to study that closely and see if we can find other workarounds. ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/11 "2023-01-18T01:02:29Z")
Thanks for your patience here. Our team got back to me with some steps to resolve the issue, but it doesn’t answer our questions. I’m pushing for more detail and am hoping to have a substantial response for you very shortly With that being said, we don’t seem to have information on the specifics of syncing but I’ve done my best to include our relevant documentation below. To start here is documentation on our bi-directional calendar syncing: > **[Enabling bi-directional calendar sync](https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/8522918261645)** > > With automatic bi-directional syncing, you can ensure that the Zoom meetings that you create or update on either Zoom or external calendars will automatically sync across all integrated application... And we have information on calendar syncing here: > **[Syncing Zoom Events to your calendar](https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/4412079083917-Syncing-Zoom-Events-to-your-calendar)** > > You can sync your registered Zoom Events events to your Google, Yahoo, Outlook, or iCal calendar for convenient viewing. If you have calendar and contacts integration set up, Zoom Events events wil... ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/12 "2023-01-25T20:25:58Z")
Apologies for the delay here, I was OOO but don’t have a response from our team to confirm these details. I followed up with them to see if I can get more information. ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/13 "2023-01-27T15:27:08Z")
Thank you. This continues to be a major issue with our joint customers. I’m really surprised that this isn’t considered as a critical bug – the API offers the option to create “recurring no fixed time” meetings, which aren’t a concept in any calendar platform. I can’t understand why Zoom would see changing those meetings as OK, even with the calendar sync feature on (which it is not). ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/14 "2023-01-30T21:14:57Z")
Hey @patrick_reclaim, I agree that this seems like buggy behavior and at least deserves a message to our developer platform. I’m working to communicate this to our service engineering team but haven’t been able to do so. If I don’t hear a significant update soon I’ll reach out to a manager to see if we can pull more resources into this. ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/15 "2023-02-09T13:50:52Z")
Just checking back in to see if there is any acknowledgement from the dev team. We continue to get frustrated customers pointing out how much this disrupts their workflows. ---
**Author:** ![patrick\_reclaim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/patrick_reclaim/32/29252_2.png) [@patrick\_reclaim](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/patrick_reclaim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/16 "2023-02-20T15:52:21Z")
Max - any luck connecting with a manager? This remains a major issue for us and our joint customers. It seems like it should be treated as a pretty serious regression: Zoom is changing meetings that were specifically created as “recurring no fixed time” to a single fixed time. That’s a pretty bad bug ☹ ---
**Author:** ![corespace](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/corespace/32/45835_2.png) [@corespace](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/corespace)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/17 "2023-02-24T20:01:31Z")
Hi folks, joint customer here. Any chance we could escalate this issue? My team have now lost multiple hours of productivity over the past couple weeks due to delayed start meetings. ---
**Author:** ![kade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/kade/32/46009_2.png) [@kade](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/kade)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/18 "2023-03-01T16:24:52Z")
Another joint customer here. It’s really disappointing that there hasn’t been a response on this issue for over 30 days, especially after Patrick asked for an update twice. Can you please escalate and fix this bug? Lots of confusion and lost time over here as well. ---
**Author:** ![bastian.doetsch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/bastian.doetsch/32/46186_2.png) [@bastian.doetsch](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/bastian.doetsch)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/19 "2023-03-07T11:10:38Z")
Hi there, is this going to be fixed? This is disrupting us quite a bit when using Meeter / MeetingBar integrations for macOS. ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 12:24am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/20 "2023-03-08T00:24:45Z")
> [@patrick\_reclaim](#): > > It seems like it should be treated as a pretty serious regression: Zoom is changing meetings that were specifically created as “recurring no fixed time” to a single fixed time. That’s a pretty bad bug ☹ My apologies, I was OOO and this slipped through the cracks while I was gone. While I’m able to reproduce this issue on my end I’m not seeing it when disabling the “_Automatically sync Zoom calendar events information bi-directionally between Zoom and integrated calendars_” setting as you mentioned. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/zoomdeveloper/original/3X/6/4/643b1179d4767c944fd6ab2423c2ff4a84693ea0.png) I agree that the sync setting shouldn’t be changing the meeting type here and I can see it’s breaking multiple apps. I’ll engage our product manager to see how we can change this behavior and see if they can confirm if this was an intentional change. ---
**Author:** ![MaxM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/maxm/32/42303_2.png) [@MaxM](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/MaxM)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912/21 "2023-03-08T17:59:10Z")
I just reminded myself that you are using the Calendar beta feature and that is why the setting seems to be implicitly enabled. I’ve also seen that using the Add to Calendar feature can change the meeting type. [Next page](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/major-zoom-gcal-sync-problems-recent-behavior-change/80912.md?page=2)