Cal.com Keyboard Shortcuts
Cal.com's shortcut set closely mirrors Calendly's for the core booking-page-management workflow, since both solve the identical basic problem — turning your calendar availability into a shareable link others can book against — but Cal.com's open-source, self-hostable nature shifts some of its shortcut weight toward event-type and workflow configuration that a purely SaaS tool wouldn't necessarily expose as directly. Because Cal.com can be self-hosted and deeply customized (including white-labeling and custom booking-page domains), its settings and configuration navigation carries a bit more administrative weight here than in Calendly's more locked-down, fully-managed SaaS experience. Event-type creation and duplication are the most repeated actions in typical day-to-day use, since most people managing a Cal.com account are maintaining several distinct booking types (a 15-minute intro call, a 60-minute consultation) rather than just one generic availability link. Workflows, an automation feature that sends reminder emails or texts, follow-up messages, or triggers integrations based on booking events, extend Cal.com beyond pure scheduling into lightweight booking-related automation, similar in spirit to what a marketing automation tool does but scoped specifically to the scheduling lifecycle rather than general marketing sequences. Round-robin and collective event types, which distribute bookings across a team rather than a single individual's calendar, reflect Cal.com's growing focus on team scheduling scenarios beyond the single-user booking-link use case Calendly is most commonly associated with. Video-conferencing defaults and API access both matter more the further an account moves from a single freelancer's booking link toward a team or product-integrated deployment, since generating a fresh Zoom or Meet link automatically per booking, or wiring booking data into another internal system via the API, are the kinds of details that barely register for a single user but become genuinely important at team scale.
Event Type Management
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create new event type | + New button (no dedicated key) | — | Creates a new bookable event type with its own duration, availability rules, and booking page, the fundamental building block of a Cal.com scheduling setup. |
| Duplicate existing event type | Event type menu > Duplicate | — | Duplicates an existing event type's configuration as a starting point for a new similar one, faster than rebuilding availability rules and settings from scratch for a slightly different meeting type. |
| Toggle event type active/hidden | Toggle switch on event list (no dedicated key) | — | Hides or shows a specific event type from your public booking page without deleting its configuration, useful for temporarily disabling a booking option without losing its settings. |
| Create a booking workflow | Workflows tab > New Workflow | — | Sets up an automated reminder or follow-up message triggered by booking events, extending Cal.com into lightweight scheduling-related automation beyond the core booking-link functionality. |
| Customize booking form questions | Event type > Advanced > Booking questions | — | Adds or edits custom fields collected on the booking form before a meeting is confirmed, like asking for a phone number or a brief description of what the meeting is about, beyond the default name-and-email fields. |
| Set default video/conferencing location | Event type > Location tab | — | Sets which video conferencing tool (Zoom, Google Meet, Cal Video, or a phone number) automatically gets attached to bookings for this event type, generating a join link without manual setup per booking. |
Availability Scheduling
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edit availability schedule | Availability tab > select schedule | — | Opens the availability schedule editor, defining which days and hours you're bookable, which can be applied differently across different event types. |
| Configure buffer time before/after meetings | Event type > Limits tab | — | Sets buffer time before and/or after a booked meeting, preventing back-to-back bookings without breathing room, configured per event type rather than globally. |
| Configure a round-robin team event | Event type > Assignment > Round Robin | — | Turns an event type into a round-robin or collective booking that any qualifying team member can be assigned to, instead of funneling every booking into one specific person's calendar. |
| Manage team members and permissions | Settings > Teams | — | Adds or removes team members and controls who can be included in round-robin or collective event types, a setting only relevant once an account moves beyond a single individual's booking page. |
Navigation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search account settings | Ctrl+K (varies) | Cmd+K | Opens a searchable settings/command interface, useful given how deep Cal.com's configuration options run, particularly relevant for self-hosted instances with more administrative surface area than a typical locked-down SaaS tool. |
| Copy booking page link | Copy Link button on event type (no dedicated key) | — | Copies the shareable booking link for a specific event type to the clipboard, ready to send to someone who needs to schedule time with you. |
| Get embed code for a booking page | Event type > Embed | — | Generates embed code for placing a booking calendar directly within an existing website, an alternative to sharing a standalone hosted booking link. |
| Generate API key | Settings > Developer > API Keys | — | Generates a key for programmatic access to bookings and event types, relevant for self-hosted or custom-integrated deployments wiring Cal.com into another internal tool rather than using it purely through the web interface. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that Cal.com is open-source, and does that matter for someone just wanting to schedule meetings?
Being open-source means the underlying code is publicly available and Cal.com can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure rather than relying solely on Cal.com's own hosted cloud service — for most individual users just wanting a scheduling link, this distinction mainly matters if data control, custom hosting, or deep white-label customization is a specific requirement, since the hosted cloud version otherwise functions similarly to Calendly for everyday use.
Can Cal.com sync with Google Calendar and Outlook the way Calendly does?
Yes, Cal.com supports calendar integrations with major providers including Google Calendar and Outlook/Microsoft 365, checking your connected calendar's existing events to avoid double-booking and adding confirmed bookings back to your calendar, functioning similarly to how Calendly's calendar sync works.
Is self-hosting Cal.com difficult, or is the hosted version recommended for most users?
Self-hosting requires genuine technical setup (deploying the application, managing a database, handling updates) comparable to self-hosting other open-source web applications, so most individual users and smaller teams without dedicated DevOps resources typically use Cal.com's own hosted cloud offering instead, reserving self-hosting for organizations with specific data-control requirements and the technical capacity to maintain it.
Can Cal.com send automatic reminders before a scheduled meeting?
Yes, through Workflows, which let you configure automated reminder emails or texts, confirmation messages, or follow-ups triggered by booking events, extending the platform beyond pure scheduling into lightweight booking-related automation.
What's the difference between a round-robin event and a regular one-person event type?
A regular event type books time on a single specific person's calendar, while a round-robin event type distributes incoming bookings across a defined team of people, useful for support or sales scenarios where any qualified team member can take a given meeting rather than routing everything to one individual.
Can I embed a Cal.com booking page directly into my own website?
Yes, the Embed option generates code for placing a live booking calendar directly within an existing site's page, functioning as an alternative to simply sharing a standalone hosted booking link when you want scheduling to feel native to your own website.
Does Cal.com support collecting payment for paid consultations at the time of booking?
Yes, Cal.com supports Stripe-based payment collection tied to specific event types, letting you charge for a paid consultation or session directly as part of the booking flow rather than invoicing separately afterward.
Can I limit how far in advance someone can book a meeting with me?
Yes, each event type supports configurable booking limits, including how far in advance bookings are allowed and minimum notice required before a meeting, giving you control over scheduling windows beyond just your basic weekly availability.
Can I collect information from the person booking beyond just their name and email?
Yes, through custom booking questions configured per event type under the Advanced tab, letting you require a phone number, a short description of the meeting's purpose, or any other custom field before someone can confirm a booking, useful for pre-qualifying meetings like sales calls or support sessions.