Focus time
How to block deep-work time with alfred_, how focus blocks affect scheduling, and how to keep whole days meeting-free.
Focus time in alfred_ is not a separate mode or a settings screen. It is two ordinary things that work together: focus blocks, which are calendar events you ask alfred_ to create, and focus days, which are whole weekdays you have told alfred_ to keep meeting-free.
How do I block focus time?
Ask for it in plain language. alfred_ shows you the event first, and it is only created once you confirm.
- “Block my calendar tomorrow 2–3pm for focus time”
- “Hold 9–11 Thursday for deep work”
- “Put a 30 minute focus block on my calendar tomorrow at 9am”
For something repeating, say so explicitly and alfred_ will create a recurring event rather than a series of one-offs:
- “Block a focus block every Wednesday at 9am for 30 minutes”
- “Hold 9–11 every Tuesday and Thursday for deep work”
Why does a focus block stop meetings being scheduled over it?
Because it is a real event on your calendar, marked busy, exactly like a meeting. Nothing special has to happen for it to be respected:
- alfred_ does not offer the time when you ask “when am I free?”
- alfred_ does not propose it when sending your availability to someone else
- The time shows as busy to anyone checking your calendar externally
- Conflict detection flags an incoming request that lands on it, the same as it would for any overlap
- It appears in your Daily Brief alongside your meetings
It is also a soft block in the sense that matters: if you decide to take a meeting during it, nothing stops you. Ask alfred_ to move or delete the block, or accept the meeting and move the block.
How do I keep a whole day meeting-free?
Tell alfred_, and it remembers:
- “Keep Fridays meeting-free”
- “Tuesdays are my focus days, don’t book me”
alfred_ then avoids proposing times on those days when it sends availability. This is a preference, not a hard rule. If a day you marked as focus is the only workable option, alfred_ will still offer it rather than come back with nothing.
Which scheduling rules are absolute?
One is. An earliest-meeting rule is enforced strictly:
- “No meetings before 10am”
alfred_ will not propose a time before that hour, even when the alternative is proposing no times at all. Focus days, by contrast, are a strong preference that can give way. If you need a day genuinely protected, block it as an event rather than relying on the focus-day preference.
See Suggesting times for how alfred_ picks slots and Settings → Quiet hours for when alfred_ is allowed to contact you, which is a separate setting from when meetings may be scheduled.
What alfred_ does not do
Worth being direct about the edges, so nothing here surprises you:
- There is no focus-time settings panel. No default duration, no default time of day, no “auto-block these weekdays” toggle. Focus blocks are created by asking, and focus days are set by telling alfred_.
- alfred_ does not auto-decline meetings that hit a focus block. It surfaces the conflict and your options, and you decide. Declines are drafted for your approval, never sent silently.
- Google Calendar’s own Focus Time event type is treated as an ordinary event. If you create a focus block natively in Google Calendar, alfred_ still sees it as busy and still protects it, but it will not be labelled differently from any other event.