Calendar scheduling infrastructure for everyone
Typically, when visiting Cal.com's blog, you'll be greeted with articles about new product features, app integrations, and use cases. However, today, we are going to dive into Cal.com's account-level settings. When you sign up for a product, it's pretty standard to decide how much time and effort you will invest based on previous experiences. Our species loves pattern recognition. We use this innate skill as part of our everyday life when exploring new subjects or learning how to use new tools.
However, sometimes it's a good idea to take extra time and examine things more thoroughly. This helps to ensure that we're forming impressions based on facts rather than assumptions. There's nothing inherently wrong with assumptions; they can be useful, however, they can also limit your understanding.
This is why it makes sense to take some time to really explore Cal.com's account settings. You'll find many things you're already familiar with, but there are a few you may not have been aware were nestled within this specific area of your dashboard. So, without any further ado, let's get started.
The Basics
Cal.com's account-level settings can be accessed by clicking the drop-down arrow beside your display name. The first section starts right below your username, and it's what I like to call the Basics. This is where you'll find the first level of options that a person typically thinks of when they imagine account settings.
The Profile page is where you can customize things like your avatar, change your display name and email address, and add a little bio. You can also access the danger zone if you want to delete your account. However, one thing to keep in mind is that whenever you make changes to the profile area, you will have to log out of your account and then log back in to see them actually take effect.
The next page in the Basics section is called General. This is where you can change settings related to language and time zones. This is also where you can set the time format you'd like to see displayed on the backend of your account. When it comes to time format, you can choose between the usual 12-hour format or a military 24-hour format.
One thing to remember is that this is an internal setting, so it won't affect how times are displayed on your public booking pages. The next setting available within the general area is called "start of the week." This lets you specify the day on which your week starts. You can set it to Sunday, Monday, Tuesday—whatever works for you. The final thing you have control over here is whether or not to enable dynamic group links.
Enabling this feature lets other Cal.com users book you through our dynamic settings. Once you've made any changes to this area, just hit the update button at the bottom of the page.
You also have control over your connected calendars from the settings area. You can add a calendar using the button at the top right-hand of the page. You can also specify which calendar you'd like to default to and which all booked events are added to. Don't worry, this setting can still be overridden on a per-event basis via your event-level setting.
You can also use this area to select which calendars are referenced when checking for scheduling conflicts. This is a great way to avoid any issues with double booking. As a final note, you might notice that there isn't an update or save button on this page. This is because any changes that you make here will be auto-saved.
After the calendar section, you'll find an area called Conferencing. This is where you can see the different video conferencing apps enabled within your calendar scheduling environment. However, one thing to keep in mind is that this won't include any messaging apps you have installed, even if they do have video conference capabilities. This is an area where you can add additional conferencing apps and decide which conferencing app is the default for your bookable events. You can also use this area to uninstall conferencing apps account-wide.
The final page within what I like to think of as the Basics area is called Appearance. This is where you can make choices regarding how your bookings appear. You'll find that there are four main parts to this subsection. The first option that you can customize is called "theme." This lets you specify whether you'd like to use a light theme, dark theme, or simply default to whatever your browser's system settings are.
Right underneath this area, you'll find your booking layouts. This is where you can decide whether bookers can access monthly, weekly, or column views for booking slots. You can also enable multiple views to let bookers switch between them according to their preferences. In addition, this is where you can specify which option will act as the default view when prospective meeting attendees visit your page. Underneath the layouts area, there's a section called "custom brand colors." This is where you can select the main brand color you want to incorporate within either the light or dark version of the Cal.com themes.
You can do this by typing a specific color code or using the provided color picker. Finally, for anyone on one of our paid plans, you'll see an area called "disabled Cal.com branding." By switching this toggle into the on position, you can automatically remove any Cal.com-related brand marks or word marks. This is the setting you're looking for if you want to hide our logo or the term "powered by Cal.com." One thing to keep in mind when making any changes in the appearance area is that, in addition to having to click the update button after you've made your changes, you also have to log out and then log back in for them to fully take effect.
Security
The second main group of settings that you'll find is called Security. This is where you can manage things like your password, support, and authentication. The first topic within the section is the seemingly straightforward "Password." Clicking on this item naturally lets you update your password. However, you'll also notice that it has another option as well. Below the password management area, you'll find a toggle labeled "session timeout."
By switching that toggle into the on position, you can specify the number of minutes allowed to pass before automatically logging out of your account and needing to re-enter your credentials. Your choice ranges from 5 minutes to 10 minutes and 15 minutes. Naturally, once you finish making any changes to the section, you will have to hit the update button at the bottom of the page for those adjustments to be applied.
The second item within the security area is called "Impersonation." This is the area where you can choose whether or not to allow a Cal.com technical support team member to impersonate your account to troubleshoot. Impersonation lets Cal.com employees temporarily sign in as you to fix any issues related to your account quickly. This setting can be turned on or off simply by hitting the toggle button so that it goes from off to on. Once you've deactivated or activated this, just hit the update button. This setting is easy to use, and you can leave it disabled until a point in time when you need it.
The final item within the security section is called "Two-factor auth." This is where you can set up two-factor authentication. When you access the page, you'll notice that the setting is automatically disabled. If you want to enable it, you'll have to click the toggle button so that it goes from being in the off position to being in the on place. In addition, once you do that, you will be asked to enter your current Cal.com password.
Once this is done, a QR code will pop up, and you'll be prompted to scan it with the authenticator app of your choice. Alternatively, if you don't want to use your phone's camera to do that, you can manually enter the text string below the QR code. Once this is done, you'll click the continue button and then be prompted to enter the secure code generated in the authenticator app. After you've done this, you'll be able to click the enable button, which means you're finally done setting up your two-factor authentication.
Billing
The billing area is primarily aimed at Cal.com's paid subscribers. By clicking the "Manage billing" menu item, you'll be able to view and manage your billing details as well as contact support. This is achieved through two buttons which you'll find on the billing page. The first one is the "billing portal" button. Clicking this opens up a page in a new tab. From here, you'll be able to view your listed payment methods and edit them, update your email address, and view your invoice history. The second button is called "contact support." Selecting this button will activate a chat pop-up that you can use to contact a member of our team regarding your concerns or technical issues.
Developer
This section contains two pages specifically designed around the needs of developers. The first item is called "Webhooks." Clicking on this will take you directly to a page where you can view, manage, and create webhooks. If you'd like to learn more about how Cal.com's webhooks work, please check out this docs page. The second item within the developer area is called "API keys." This section works similarly to the webhook section, allowing you to add, manage, and edit your API keys.
Teams
This is the final section that you'll find within the account settings dashboard. It's self-explanatory, though its utility is only applicable to people who are part of team plans. This area lets you not only create teams but also manage features related to them. Once you've created a team, you can access the team profile, view its members, add members, manage the team appearance, billing, and so much more through this subsection. If you want to learn more about the features available to team users, please check out this page.
While some of these subjects have already been addressed via Cal.com's documentation page or previous blog posts, a couple of topics here are yet to be fully explored. The idea behind the article is to provide a jot of notes or a cheat sheet for you when navigating account-specific settings. If you'd like to learn more about Cal.com settings in a more hands-on method, we invite you to create an account using the link below.
