Respond to event invitations

Important: If you’re an event organizer, learn how to track responses to your event.

When you get an event invitation from Google Calendar, it shows on your primary calendar. To let the event organizer know if you can make it, respond to the invitation.

Learn more about event invitations

  • When you respond to an invitation, the organizer gets a notification.
  • If you have permission to invite others to the event, you can forward an invitation email to someone else so that they can RSVP to the event. This also adds them to the event as a guest.
    • When you forward an invitation, it allows any recipient to:
      • Send a response to the organizer.
      • Invite others regardless of their RSVP status.
      • Modify your RSVP.
  • To forward an invitation, the event organizer needs to give you the "Invite others" permission or update the event’s permissions.
  • After you accept or confirm a sender, invitations appear on your calendar automatically, even if the sender is unknown. To adjust your settings, learn how to manage invitations in Calendar.

Respond to an invitation

An animation that shows how to respond to events in Calendar. In Calendar, the user clicks on a new event and responds "Yes." Next, if the user has a work or school account, they can click the arrow next to "Yes" to find options to join the meeting from a virtual location or in a meeting room.

You can respond to an event invitation from Google Calendar or Gmail.

Respond to an invitation in Google Calendar

  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. On your calendar, click the event.
  3. Select a response:
    • Yes
    • No
    • Maybe

Respond to an invitation in Gmail

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Open the email invitation.
  3. At the top of the email, select a response:
    • Yes
    • No
    • Maybe

Propose a new time

If you can’t attend an event or need to inform the event organizer about schedule conflicts, you can propose a new time.

  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. On your calendar, click the event.
  3. Next to "Maybe," click the down arrow Down arrow and then Propose a new time.
  4. Select a different time or day.
    • Optional: Add a message with your proposal.
  5. Click Send proposal.

Tip: You can’t propose a new time for:

  • Events with more than 200 guests
  • All day events

Add a note with your response

Important: Your note is visible to all invitees.

  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. On your calendar, click the event.
  3. Next to "Maybe," click the down arrow Down arrow and then Add note.
  4. Select your response.
  5. Enter a note.
  6. Click Send.

Respond to invitations sent to another email address

Important: To respond to an invitation sent to an alternate email address, you need to:

  • Have a Gmail account.
  • Add a non-Gmail address to your account.
  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. On the left, point to the name of your calendar.
  3. Click Options and then Settings and sharing.
  4. On the left, under "Settings for my calendars," click Other notifications.
  5. Check the box next to "Allow responding to invitations forwarded through alternative email addresses."
    • If you can’t find this option, you probably don’t have an alternate email address in your Google Account. Learn about alternate email addresses.
    • When you respond to the event from your alternate email address, sign in to your Google Account.

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