Single-use links: Protect your availability with one-time scheduling

Sharing your Calendly link is a fast and easy way to book meetings — no back and forth required. On your booking page, people can see your availability, choose a time, and get a meeting scheduled in just a few clicks.

But what if you want to limit access to your booking page?

That's where Calendly’s Single-Use Link feature comes in: booking links that expire after the first use. You can even customize your meeting details to tailor your link for any scheduling scenario while staying in control of your availability.

What is a single-use link? 

Think of a single-use link as a booking page that expires after one use. If you want someone to schedule with you again, you'll need to share a new booking link (either a new single-use link or your standard scheduling link). One-time use limits provide an automatic guardrail so you don’t need to worry about getting overscheduled or receiving undesired bookings. 

When you generate a single-use link, you also have the option to customize meeting duration, location, and availability. 

Single-use links are available on all Calendly plans, including the Free plan. 

When should I use a single-use link?

Single-use links are a great choice when you want to limit who books with you and/or tailor the scheduling experience for certain customers. 

1. You want control over your availability: You don’t want your booking link to be a free-for-all. You have a specific process, and a customer should only be able to schedule that meeting type once. For example, you don’t want customers to be able to book more than one intro call, so you invite each new customer to book their intro via a single-use link.

2. You want more customization and flexibility: You want to quickly update specific meeting details, but don’t want to change, update, or impact Event Types (also called meeting types) that you share out more broadly. For example, you want to tweak the event duration, location, or availability to cater to a VIP client on a one-time basis.

Here are some common use cases for single-use links.

Protect your calendar for priority meetings and focus work

Your time is limited and you tend to get overbooked. For example, people you've met with before are reusing your product demo booking link to get on your calendar again and again, taking time away from your other important meetings and focus work. You need a way to take back control of your schedule. Next time you share your link, consider using a single-use link vs. a standard booking link to limit unwanted bookings and save time for important work.

Open up time to meet outside your usual availability for a VIP client

Let’s say your regular schedule is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the work week. You want to give a busy, high-priority customer more meeting time options, so you update the availability for your single-use link to 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. This update doesn’t impact your availability for other meeting types or booking links. 

Accommodate a different meeting location for a specific customer

You typically hold meetings at your office, but you’re willing to meet your top client at their office to help close an important renewal deal. Simply update the location field in your single-use link to help meet the moment with your customer. 

Offer a longer or shorter meeting duration on a one-time basis

You normally host a 30-minute intro call but want to extend the meeting slot for a certain prospect, so you change the duration for your single-use link to an hour. The prospect gets more time with you without you needing to alter or recreate your intro call meeting type.

“Single-use links are great when you want to meet with folks and customize based on their availability.”

Sid Babla

Development Manager at WholeSchool Mindfulness

How do I create a single-use link?

A single-use link is built off an existing Event Types, making it fast and easy to generate a new link. On your Calendly homepage on your desktop or the browser extension: 

1. Hover on the Event Type you’d like to start with

2. Select the 1x icon to create a new single-use link

3. (Optional) Add a contact to pre-populate name and email fields on the booking page

4. Update the duration, location, and availability as needed

5. Select Create & Copy Link to start sharing your single-use link

6. (Optional) If you’re on a Calendly paid plan, you can click Share to compose and send an email with your single-use link right from Calendly

You can also generate a single-use link from the Calendly mobile app. (To customize or manage links, you’ll need to use Calendy’s desktop app.) 

Easily manage all of your single-use links by clicking Single-use links at the top of your Calendly homepage. From here, you can edit the meeting details, copy your link to share, and see whether or not a meeting has been booked with your link. 

Because single-use links expire after use, you’ll need to create a new single-use link each time you want someone to schedule with you on a one-time basis. 

What are other ways I can control who books with me?

Calendly also offers other availability features that help you only get scheduled when you want to be. If a single-use link doesn’t quite fit your needs, we recommend you try: 

• Buffers: Automatically block off time before or after your meetings for other work

• Meeting limits: Cap bookings by day, week, or month so you don’t get overloaded

• Date range: Set how far in advance someone can book to keep meetings near-term

• Minimum notice: Avoid surprise last-minute meetings with a minimum scheduling notice

• Other availability options like custom schedules, holidays, and date-specific hours

Single-use links are just one of the many ways Calendly helps you protect your time and take control of your schedule. Whether you want to customize availability for a one-time meeting or set broader limits on how often you’re booked, Calendly puts you in charge of when — and how — meetings happen.

Start using single-use links and other availability tools today to stay focused, flexible, and fully in control. Happy scheduling!