Conflict detection
When alfred_ checks a meeting request against your calendars, what counts as a conflict, and what it does when it finds one.
alfred_ checks proposed times against your calendars before committing to them. What triggers that check depends on how the request reaches you, so it is worth knowing which of the three cases you are in.
When does alfred_ check?
When you ask alfred_ to schedule something. Ask for “lunch with Sarah next Wednesday at noon” and the confirmation card shows any overlap before you approve it. You can still go ahead, you just do it knowingly rather than by accident.
When alfred_ is on a scheduling thread. If alfred_ is a recipient or is copied on an email where times are being worked out, it reads your live availability before it replies, and it checks any time a participant proposes against your calendar first.
When an ordinary meeting request lands in your inbox. This one is different. For a normal email asking to meet, where alfred_ is not on the thread, the suggested reply shares your booking link rather than proposing specific times. No calendar check happens, because no specific time is being committed to.
What counts as a conflict
Direct overlap with a real event on any connected calendar. That is the check, and it is deliberately literal:
- The event can be on any connected account, work or personal
- Focus blocks count, because they are ordinary busy events
- All-day markers and timed events are distinguished, so an all-day “PTO” does not read the same as a meeting
Separately, the calendar-change text alerts flag a tight gap when two events land within 10 minutes of each other. That threshold is fixed and is a heads-up in the notification, not something that blocks scheduling.
What alfred_ does when it finds one
For a booking you asked for, it shows you the overlap on the confirmation card and waits. Nothing is written to your calendar until you confirm.
On a scheduling thread, alfred_ will not propose a time you are busy for, and if a participant suggests one it says so and offers times that do work.
alfred_ never moves or deletes an existing event to make room. Changing something already on your calendar always needs your explicit say-so.
What alfred_ does not check
Being specific here so nothing surprises you:
- Travel time between locations. alfred_ will not notice that two back-to-back meetings are in different places. There is no location-aware conflict check.
- A buffer between meetings. There is no global “always leave 15 minutes between meetings” preference. Buffers exist only on booking links, where they pad the slots other people can grab.
- Who is on the meeting. There is no VIP or priority ranking for calendar events. alfred_ will not decide that one meeting is more important than another, or suggest moving one to fit the other in.
- Quiet hours. Quiet hours control when alfred_ contacts you, through texts and notifications. They are not a constraint on when meetings may be booked. See Quiet hours.
Across all your calendars
Conflicts are read across every connected account and provider at once, Google and Outlook together, work and personal. A vet appointment on your personal calendar blocks work scheduling.
Two limits worth knowing:
- Read-only calendars you subscribe to, like holidays or a sports schedule, are excluded on purpose. They are not commitments.
- The calendar-change text alerts work from a rolling 14-day window, so they cover the near term rather than a booking months out.