How to Make Your Google Calendar Private (2026)
Google Calendar privacy has three separate layers, and changing one does not change the others. That is why people tighten a setting and find their events are still visible.
Work through all three.
1. Turn off public access
This is the layer that exposes a calendar to anyone with the link, and to search engines.
- Open calendar.google.com on a computer.
- In the left panel, hover over the calendar and click the three dots, then Settings and sharing.
- Scroll to Access permissions for events.
- Untick Make available to public.
If you are on Google Workspace there is a second control right below it, Make available for [your organization], with a dropdown. Set it to See only free/busy (hide details) so colleagues see that you are busy without reading your event titles.
2. Remove people you shared with individually
Public access being off does not remove named people you shared with earlier.
In the same settings screen, scroll to Share with specific people or groups. Each person is listed with their permission level. Click the X next to anyone who should not have access.
For those who should keep access but do not need detail, change their permission to See only free/busy (hide details).
3. Make individual events private
Even on a calendar shared with full details, you can hide specific events.
- Open the event and click Edit.
- Find the visibility dropdown, which shows Default visibility.
- Change it to Private.
A private event shows as a busy block with no title to anyone except you and the event’s guests. Use this for the handful of appointments that matter rather than locking down the whole calendar, which tends to make you harder to schedule with.
Check what people actually see
Do not assume. Verify.
In Settings and sharing, scroll to Integrate calendar and copy the Public URL to this calendar. Paste it into a private or incognito window. If your calendar loads, it is still public. If you get an error, public access is properly off.
For the organization view, ask a colleague to open your calendar and tell you what they see. Workspace admins can also set organization-wide defaults that override your preference, so if your events keep appearing to colleagues, that is worth checking with IT.
The secondary calendars people forget
Privacy is set per calendar, not per account. If you have a separate calendar for a side project, a family calendar, or one you created years ago for a specific purpose, each has its own settings and each needs checking.
The same goes for any calendar you subscribed to or were shared into. Those carry the owner’s settings, not yours.
The real problem with a private calendar
Locking everything down works, and it creates a new problem immediately: nobody can tell when you are free, so you are back to trading emails about times.
That trade-off is false, and it is the thing Carly is built to remove. Instead of sharing a calendar at all, you share a booking page. People see open slots and pick one. They never see an event title, an attendee, or a location, because they are not looking at your calendar. They are looking at gaps.
It reads across every calendar you connect, so a slot only shows as open when you are genuinely free on all of them, including the personal calendar you would never share with a colleague. You get unlimited booking pages and connected calendars, so Claire can have a client-facing link while your internal one stays separate.
For a team, the admin setup lets colleagues share connections without anyone exposing their own schedule. Carly connects to thousands of apps, so a booking can also fire a workflow that updates your CRM or files the notes. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
If you would rather keep sharing calendars directly, our guides to sharing a Google Calendar and sharing on iPhone cover the permission levels in detail.
FAQ
Is Google Calendar private by default?
Yes. A new calendar is visible only to you until you change a sharing setting. The common cause of an exposed calendar is a setting changed long ago and forgotten, which is why it is worth checking the public URL in an incognito window.
Can my employer see my Google Calendar?
On a Workspace account, admins can access your calendar and can set organization-wide visibility defaults that override yours. Marking events Private hides the details from colleagues but not from an admin with full access.
What is the difference between a private event and a private calendar?
A private calendar controls who can open it at all. A private event hides one entry’s details even from people who can see the calendar. They stack, so use both.
How do I let people book me without seeing my calendar?
Share availability instead of the calendar. Carly offers open slots from every calendar you connect while your event details stay private.
Will making my calendar private break existing invitations?
No. Events you were invited to and events you invited others to continue to work normally. Privacy settings control who can browse your calendar, not who can attend a meeting.
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