Join meetings from GCal

From the menu bar

Connect the account containing your meetings and select its calendars in Settings → Calendar. See Choose which calendars appear if you need help with this setup.

1. Click GCal in the menu bar to open your agenda.
2. Find the meeting and select its meeting entry or conference-link action to open the call.
3. Complete any sign-in or waiting-room steps in the meeting service.

To adjust which meetings appear, open Settings → Meetings → Menu Bar. Choose Show Meetings for and turn on Show only video meetings if you want to hide events without a conference link.

From a meeting alert

1. When a GCal meeting notification appears, reveal its available actions. Depending on the macOS notification presentation, you may need to expand it first.
2. Choose Join Meeting to open the call.

Clicking the notification itself opens the event rather than joining the meeting. The Join Meeting action is available for timed events with a conference link when the reminder is delivered from one hour before the start through the end of the event. All-day reminders and grouped summaries do not offer this action.

If alerts are not appearing, see Fix missing notifications.

From a widget

1. Add a GCal agenda or calendar widget that displays individual events. See Add and configure widgets for setup.
2. Find the meeting in the widget and click its event entry. When that entry has a recognized conference link, GCal opens the meeting.

Without a conference link, the event entry opens its event or date instead. Date-only and clock widgets do not provide meeting entries. Desktop widgets require macOS 14 or later; you can also use widgets in Notification Center.

With Apple Shortcuts

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac and create a shortcut.
2. Search for GCal and add Join Next GCal Video Meeting.
3. Name the shortcut and run it when you are ready to join.

The action first looks for a meeting still in progress that started no more than 10 minutes ago. If none qualifies, it opens the next upcoming meeting with a conference link within the next seven days.

See Use GCal with Apple Shortcuts for more ways to build a workflow.

With a connected AI assistant

1. Open GCal Settings → AI Tools and enable the connection feature.
2. Under Connections, enter a name for your assistant and choose Create Connection. Copy the configuration into a compatible assistant’s MCP connection settings. You only need to do this setup once for each assistant.
3. In the connected assistant, ask: “Use GCal to join my next video meeting.” Follow any confirmation the assistant requests.

GCal opens the next upcoming meeting with a recognized conference link. Your assistant must be connected to GCal for the request to work. For setup and more examples, see Use GCal with an AI assistant.

Choose how meeting links open

1. Open Settings → Meetings → Services.
2. Choose the opening option for each supported meeting service.
3. Join a meeting again to use your selected app or browser. Make sure the chosen app is installed.

GCal opens the meeting link. The meeting service handles sign-in, waiting rooms, and microphone or camera permissions.

If you do not see a join option

• Check the link: open the event in Google Calendar and confirm that it contains a valid conference link GCal recognizes.
• Check the calendar: make sure the account is connected and its calendar is selected in GCal.
• Check the menu-bar range and filters: review Settings → Meetings and any active macOS Focus filter.
• Check the alert: look for an individual timed-event notification delivered near the meeting. Clicking its body opens the event; use Join Meeting to enter the call.
• Check the widget: use a layout with individual event entries. If the meeting is missing or outdated, see Fix empty or outdated widgets.
• Check Shortcuts or AI access to current data: these actions need a fresh, complete agenda and may be unavailable offline, even when cached events are still visible. If no eligible meeting is found, check its start time and conference link.

If the event is missing from GCal altogether, see Find missing calendars or events.