Create and Use Custom Meta Fields from your Google or Outlook Calendar

Custom Fields from Calendar

If you are looking for basic custom fields on Events for Online Scheduling go here.

This article is an in-depth look at custom fields and custom properties on Events that originate from Google or Outlook. Out-of-the-Box Events have limited “fields” to use. Title, Description, Location is about all we have.

The purpose of custom fields is so you can use them in your Reminder Templates.

Events Scheduled WITH GReminders:

When a customer schedules a meeting with you via a GReminders Event Type AND you are using Custom Questions, we will automatically write these “custom fields” back to Google Event Extended Properties OR Microsoft’s Office Graph Extended Properties.

These fields may be used by downstream integrations.

Passing Custom Field Data TO GReminders:

For now, we are not pulling extended Properties from Google or Microsoft Events. We may change this decision in the future, please contact [email protected] if you want to discuss this topic.

We are supporting custom fields to GReminders via the Body of the Event. We parse certain elements of the Text and write them to our Custom Field area. In your Event description you can add the following type of template:

Do not write below this line
~~METAFIELDS~~
$KEY=$VALUE
$KEY=$VALUE
.....

Specifically, we are looking for the string ~~METAFIELDS~~ and then parsing the keys/values from there. Here is a real example:

Meeting with Dr. Jones

Do not write below this line
~~METAFIELDS~~
c_type=Initial Visit
c_source=referral
c_subtype=virtual

Note if you use the same “API Name” as in your Custom Questions you can map them to your CRM as well.

Then in your Reminder Template, you can reference custom fields using this syntax:

{{custom.$KEY}}

in other words, you can use something like:

{{custom.c_type}} 

which will equate to “Initial Visit” in the example above.

This can be combined with the Templating engine to produce powerful IF THEN type logic. Such as:

{% if custom.c_type == "Initial Visit" %}
Please make sure you come 15 minutes prior to your appointment time to fill out the new patient questionaire.
{% elsif custom.c_type == "Follow Up" %}
We look forward to seeing you for your Follow Up Appointment
{% endif %}

You can read more about templates here.

If you have technical questions or need help with further integration or implementation please contact [email protected].

Happy Scheduling!

Want to Eliminate No Shows? Try GReminders today for Free

Try It Free Today!