When Google Workspace Hides the Secret Address
To bring a Google calendar into Zyntro you need its secret address in iCal format. On a personal Google account that address is simply there in the calendar's settings.
On a Google Workspace account — a work or school Google account — it often is not. The field does not appear greyed out or empty. It is absent, with nothing to explain why, which is what makes this so confusing: the instructions tell you to copy something that is not on your screen.
The cause is an organisation-wide setting, and it has to be changed by a Workspace administrator. It is a one-time change for the whole organisation.
Info: How to tell this is your problem. Open the settings for your calendar in Google Calendar and scroll to the Integrate calendar section. If you can see a public URL and a shareable link but there is no Secret address in iCal format, the setting below is switched off for your organisation. If you can see the secret address, this article does not apply to you.
Before You Begin
- A Google Workspace account — if your email is a @gmail.com address, this does not apply
- A Workspace administrator, which may be you, or may be whoever runs IT
Steps
Confirm the field really is missing
In Google Calendar, hover the calendar in the left-hand list, open its Settings and sharing, and scroll to Integrate calendar.
You are looking for Secret address in iCal format. If it is not listed there at all, continue. If it is listed, copy it and carry on with the normal connection steps instead.
Send the setting to your administrator
The change is in the Google Admin console, which ordinary accounts cannot open. Pass on this path:
admin.google.com → Apps → Google Workspace → Calendar → Sharing settings
The administrator enables external sharing
Under External sharing options for primary calendars, the administrator needs to choose one of the two options at the bottom of the list — the ones that share full event information, rather than the options that share only free/busy information or nothing at all.
Those bottom two are the only settings that make the private address available. The exact wording of each option changes occasionally as Google updates the console, so go by their position and by the fact that they share all information.
Wait a few minutes
The change applies across the whole organisation, but it does not appear instantly. Give it a few minutes to propagate before checking again.
Collect the secret address
Reload Google Calendar and return to Integrate calendar on your calendar's settings. Secret address in iCal format should now be present. Copy the whole address.
Connect the calendar in Zyntro
Carry on with the normal connection steps — add it in Zyntro as the ICS Feed URL, with a label and a sync frequency.
Result
The secret address is available to everyone in the organisation, and you can connect your calendar to Zyntro. Because the setting is organisation-wide, your colleagues will not hit this again.
Warning: Treat the secret address like a password. Anyone holding it can read that calendar's events without signing in to anything. Do not paste it into a shared document or a ticket — if you need to send it somewhere, send it the way you would send a credential.
Important: If the field is still missing several minutes after your administrator has made the change, ask them to confirm which option they selected under External sharing options for primary calendars. Choosing an option that shares only free/busy information looks like a reasonable, privacy-conscious choice but does not expose the private address — this is the most common reason the fix appears not to have worked.
Tip: This setting controls what your organisation may share externally, which is a legitimate thing for an administrator to be cautious about. It is worth saying what you actually need it for: Zyntro reads the calendar so your booking availability reflects your real week. Nothing is published publicly, and the address can be reset from Google at any time.
