Why Everest needs calendar permissions
When you connect a calendar, Google and Microsoft ask you to approve a list of permissions. Here is what each one is for.
Everest is an assistant that schedules meetings for you. To do that it has to read your calendar, check whether the people you want to meet are free, and put the meeting in everyone's calendar. Each of those actions needs its own permission, which is why the list is longer than one line.
Google and Microsoft split the same job up differently. Google asks you to approve several narrow permissions, one checkbox each. Microsoft asks once, for four broader ones. The table below is organised by what Everest actually does, with each provider's name for it beside it.
What each permission is for
| Google calls it | Microsoft calls it | Why Everest needs it |
|---|---|---|
| View and edit events on all your calendars | Have full access to your calendars (Calendars.ReadWrite) | Everest reads your calendar and schedules meetings for you.This is the whole point of the product. Everest reads the calendar of each account you connect, and creates, moves, and cancels events when you ask it to. Without this one Everest can't do anything. |
| View your availability in your calendars | The same calendar permission above covers this. | Everest checks whether the other person is free.This lets Everest look up someone's availability when you are scheduling with them, instead of guessing. Without it, Everest can only find times that work for you, and you have to confirm with them yourself. It works when their calendar is visible to you (normally a colleague in the same organisation). Personal Outlook.com accounts do not offer this, so on those Everest schedules from your side only. |
| See and download your organization's directory See and download your contacts See and download contact info automatically saved in your "Other contacts" |
Read your relevant people list (People.Read) | Everest finds the people you mention by name.When you say "find 30 minutes with Priya", this is how Everest works out which Priya you mean and what her address is, instead of asking you to paste it. It covers colleagues in your organisation, your saved contacts, and the people you email often without ever having saved them. |
| View your Calendar settings | Read your mailbox settings (MailboxSettings.Read) | Everest reads your time zone and working hours so times are always right.This is what keeps times correct when you travel. Without it, Everest can propose times in the wrong time zone. On Microsoft this setting also holds the working hours you set in Outlook, so Everest proposes times inside your working day instead of assuming one. The permission itself covers everything in your Outlook settings, including your automatic-reply message, so Everest asks Microsoft for the time zone and the working hours specifically and never requests the rest. It reads those two once, when you connect the account; you can change both afterwards in Everest's settings. This does not let Everest read any email. |
| See the list of Google calendars you're subscribed to | The same calendar permission above covers this. | Everest reads all your calendars to schedule meetings on your behalf.For a complete picture of your calendars, Everest doesn't just look at your primary calendar, it looks at all the calendars in your list of calendars including shared calendars and calendars you subscribe to. |
Both providers also ask you to sign in and share your name and email address. Everest uses this information to identify each account you connect and distinguish between them when you have multiple accounts. Microsoft calls this permission Sign you in and read your profile (User.Read).
Microsoft additionally asks to keep that access while you are not using the app. Everest needs this to watch your calendar and answer scheduling emails in the background — without it, Everest would only work while you have it open on screen. Google grants the same thing without showing a separate checkbox.
What happens if you leave one unchecked
On Microsoft, the permissions come as one set. You either accept them together or you do not connect, so there is nothing to untick.
On Google, each one is a separate checkbox and you can untick any of them. That said, we require you to select them all to ensure a smooth experience using the product, so if you leave any permission unticked you won't be able to use Everest.
If you do untick one, Everest does not add the account at all: you are sent back to the connect screen and asked to try again with every permission checked.
What Everest does not ask for
- Your email. No Gmail access, and no access to your Outlook messages. The only email Everest reads is a thread you CC it into. On Microsoft you will see a permission called Read your mailbox settings; Everest uses it to read exactly two things, the time zone and the working hours you set in Outlook. It does not include your mail.
- Your files. No Drive, no OneDrive, no documents or spreadsheets.
- Your chats. No Teams messages.
You stay in control
You can remove Everest's access at any time:
- Disconnect the account in Everest, under Settings → Calendars. This is the one that works for both providers.
- Google: revoke directly at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
- Microsoft: revoke from your Microsoft account's app permissions — account.live.com/consent/Manage for a personal account, or your organisation's My Apps page for a work account.
More detail
For the exact technical scope names, how long data is kept, and who processes it, see the Privacy Policy. Questions about any of this: privacy@everest.ag.