# Suggesting times How alfred_ finds your open slots, what it respects when picking them, and when it sends times to a participant without checking back with you. Source: https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar/suggesting-times Updated: 2026-10-09 When you need to send someone availability, alfred_ does the calendar math and writes the email. On a scheduling thread it will also send that email for you, so it is worth reading the section on approval below. ## Finding your open time Ask for your own openings in whatever way is natural: - "When am I free for an hour this week?" - "What do I have open Tuesday afternoon?" - "Find me three 30 minute slots between Wednesday and Friday" If nothing fits, alfred_ tells you why rather than returning an empty list. Usually that is a day packed solid, or a window too narrow for the length you asked for. ## What alfred_ respects when picking slots - **Real events on every connected calendar**, work and personal, Google and Outlook together - **[Focus blocks](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar/focus-time)**, since they are ordinary busy events - **An earliest-meeting rule**, if you have set one. "No meetings before 10am" is absolute, and alfred_ will return nothing rather than break it - **Focus days**, as a strong preference. Whole days you have asked to keep meeting-free are avoided when possible, but offered rather than coming back empty-handed - **A default weekday business-hours window** when you have not told it otherwise Two things it does not apply, despite being easy to assume: there is no configurable gap between meetings outside of booking links, and quiet hours do not restrict scheduling. See [Conflict detection](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar#conflicts) for the full list of what is and is not checked. ## Does alfred_ send times without asking me? On a scheduling thread you've handed to it, yes, and that is deliberate. If you email or copy **** on a thread where a time is being worked out, and it finds two or more slots that work, it sends those options straight to the other people on the thread. Copying alfred_ in is treated as the approval. alfred_ only answers threads that come from you or include you. It comes back to you instead of sending when: - It can find only one workable slot, or none at all - The calendar lookup fails or returns something it cannot trust - The back-and-forth has been running a long time without landing Booking the event is held to a stricter rule than proposing. If alfred_ cannot confirm the slot is still free at the moment of booking, it stops rather than risk double-booking you. This is different from the rest of your inbox. When alfred_ drafts a reply to an ordinary email, that draft waits for you. The send-on-your-behalf behavior applies to scheduling threads alfred_ is actually part of. See [Drafts and approvals](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/email/drafts). ## Proposing times in a reply you send yourself For a thread alfred_ is not on, ask for the times and paste them, or let alfred_ draft the reply for your approval: - "Reply with three 30 minute options next Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon" - "Send my availability for a one hour call next week" ## Scheduling with other people alfred_ proposes **your** openings. On the surfaces you use day to day, the web app, text messages, and email threads, it does not compute mutual free time across a group by reading everyone else's calendars. In practice that means for a meeting with several people, alfred_ finds when you are free and offers those times, and the participants pick from them. That is the same thing a person would do on your behalf, and it works without needing access to anyone else's calendar. If you need people to pick a time without a round trip, a [booking link](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar/booking-links) is the better tool: participants see your live openings and choose one themselves, in their own timezone. ## Related - [Booking links](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar/booking-links) - [Conflict detection](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar#conflicts) - [Focus time](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/calendar/focus-time) - [Drafts and approvals](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/email/drafts)