Understanding Scheduling Windows

Last updated: April 14, 2026

Scheduling Windows allow you to control when interviews can be scheduled by defining specific time periods when interviewers are available or unavailable. This powerful feature helps you manage complex scheduling scenarios, respect organizational policies, and ensure interviews are scheduled at appropriate times.

What Are Scheduling Windows?

Scheduling Windows are configurable rules that either make time slots available for booking (free) or block them from being scheduled (busy). They can be applied organization-wide, to specific teams or tags, or to individual interviewers, giving you precise control over scheduling availability.

Types of Scheduling Windows

There are three main types of scheduling windows:

  1. Organization-level (Global) Windows: Apply to everyone in your organization
  2. Personal Windows: Created by individual interviewers for their own calendars
  3. Restricted Windows: Special windows used on specific scheduling requests, rounds, or recruiting events

How Scheduling Windows Work

System-Driven Windows vs Match Calendar Events

Scheduling windows can operate in two different modes:

System-Driven Windows

System-driven windows create availability or blocks based on time ranges or recurring patterns you define in candidate.fyi. These windows don't require any calendar events to exist—the system automatically applies them based on your configuration.

  • Date Range Windows: Apply rules to a specific date range (e.g., "Block all interviews from December 20-31 for holiday shutdown")
  • Recurring Windows: Apply rules based on a recurrence pattern (e.g., "Block every Friday afternoon for team meetings")

Match Calendar Events Windows

Match calendar events windows look for specific event names in interviewers' calendars and use those events to determine availability. This approach was previously known as "whitelist" and "blacklist" functionality.

  • Free Events: When candidate.fyi finds a calendar event matching your specified name, that time becomes available for scheduling
  • Busy Events: When candidate.fyi finds a calendar event matching your specified name, that time is blocked from scheduling

Organization-Level (Global) Windows

Global windows apply scheduling rules across your entire organization or to specific groups of interviewers.

Who Can Manage Global Windows

  • Only Admins can create, edit, or delete global windows
  • Non-admin users can view global windows but cannot modify them
  • Admins can create windows that apply to any interviewer in the organization

Creating a Global Window

To create a global window:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Scheduling > Scheduling Windows
  2. Click Create Window
  3. Configure your window settings:
  4. Window Name: Give your window a descriptive name
  5. Type: Choose between "Free" (available) or "Busy" (blocked)
  6. Mode: Select "System" for date range/recurring windows, or "Match Calendar Events" for calendar-based windows
  7. Applies To: Choose "Everyone", specific tags, or individual interviewers
  8. Define the time period or calendar event matching rule
  9. Save your window

Applies To Options

When creating a global window, you can control who it affects:

  • Everyone: The window applies to all users in your organization
  • Tags: The window applies to all users within selected tags (including inactive users in those tags)
  • Individual Interviewers: The window applies only to specifically selected users

Personal Scheduling Windows

Individual interviewers can create their own scheduling windows to manage their personal availability.

Managing Personal Windows

  • Users can create windows for themselves from the interviewer settings page
  • Users can edit or delete their own windows
  • Users cannot edit global windows (unless they are Admins)
  • When assigned to a global window, users can view it but not modify it

Creating a Personal Window

Interviewers can create personal windows by:

  1. Navigating to their interviewer profile or settings
  2. Accessing the Scheduling Windows section
  3. Creating a new window with their preferred settings
  4. Choosing between system-driven or calendar event matching modes

System-Driven Windows: Date Ranges vs Recurrence Rules

Date Range Windows

Date range windows apply scheduling rules within a specific start and end date. They're ideal for one-time events or known periods like holiday shutdowns, conference attendance, or onboarding periods.

Configuration: - Set a start date and end date - Choose whether the window makes time free or busy - Optionally, specify time ranges within those dates

Recurring Windows

Recurring windows apply scheduling rules based on a repeating pattern. They're perfect for ongoing organizational policies like weekly team meetings or focus time blocks.

Configuration: - Define the recurrence pattern (daily, weekly, monthly) - Set specific days of the week or month - Choose the time range for each occurrence - Optionally set an end date for the recurrence

Calendar Event Matching (Previously Whitelist/Blacklist)

Calendar event matching windows work by scanning interviewers' calendars for events with specific names.

Migration from Whitelist/Blacklist

If you previously used "whitelisted" or "blacklisted" event names, these have been migrated to scheduling windows:

  • Whitelisted events → "Match Calendar Events" windows set to Free
  • Blacklisted events → "Match Calendar Events" windows set to Busy

The functionality remains the same, but the interface and terminology have been updated for clarity.

How Calendar Event Matching Works

When you create a "Match Calendar Events" window:

  1. You specify an event name or phrase to match
  2. candidate.fyi reads interviewers' calendars looking for events containing that text
  3. When a matching event is found:
  4. If set to Free: That time block becomes available for scheduling
  5. If set to Busy: That time block is blocked from scheduling

Setting Up Calendar Event Matching

To create a calendar event matching window:

  1. Choose Match Calendar Events as the window mode
  2. Enter the event name or phrase to match (the system will find events containing this text)
  3. Select whether matching events should be Free or Busy
  4. Define who the window applies to

Important Notes: - The configured text will match if it appears anywhere in the event name - Events must be visible (not private) on the calendar - Declined calendar events are not recognized by the system - Busy events override the calendar event's free/busy status

Restricted Windows

Restricted windows are a special type of scheduling window used for specific scheduling scenarios. They can only use the "Match Calendar Events" mode.

What Makes Restricted Windows Different?

  • Scope: Applied at the scheduling request, round, or recruiting event level (not globally)
  • Override Behavior: When active, restricted windows ignore all other free/busy windows
  • Availability Source: Suggested time slots are generated only from matching calendar events

Where to Use Restricted Windows

Restricted windows can be configured on: - Scheduling Requests: For one-time scheduling needs - Rounds: For specific interview types - Recruiting Events: For campus recruiting or other special events

How Restricted Windows Work

When you enable a restricted window:

  1. candidate.fyi scans interviewers' calendars for events matching the specified name
  2. Only time slots within those matching calendar events are considered available
  3. All other availability windows are ignored
  4. No other calendar events influence availability (except candidate.fyi events, if configured to respect them)

Setting Up a Restricted Window

To use a restricted window:

  1. Navigate to your round, scheduling request, or recruiting event settings
  2. Go to All Settings > General
  3. Enable "Restrict Availability to Calendar Event"
  4. Enter the exact name of the calendar event to match
  5. Configure the Respect Availability Options:
  6. Respect All candidate.fyi Events: Won't schedule over any events created by candidate.fyi
  7. Respect candidate.fyi round events: Only respects events created for that specific round

Understanding Window Priority and Conflicts

How Windows Interact

When multiple windows could apply to the same time slot, candidate.fyi follows these rules:

  1. Restricted windows override everything: When a restricted window is active on a scheduling request, all other windows are ignored
  2. Busy windows take precedence: If a time slot is marked busy by any window, it cannot be scheduled
  3. Personal windows override global windows: An interviewer's personal window settings take priority over organization-wide settings
  4. Calendar event matching uses substring: Events are matched if they contain the configured text anywhere in their name

Visibility Rules

  • Global windows: Visible to all users; only Admins can edit
  • Personal windows: Visible only to the interviewer who created them
  • Restricted windows: Not visible on the general interviewer windows page; only configured where they're applied (rounds, scheduling requests, recruiting events)

Best Practices

Naming Conventions - Use clear, descriptive names: "Holiday Shutdown 2025", "Executive Interview Block" - Avoid generic names like "Block1" or "Test" - For calendar event matching, choose text specific enough to avoid unintended matches

System-Driven Windows - Use date ranges for one-time periods (holidays, conferences) - Use recurring patterns for ongoing policies (weekly meetings, focus time) - Be specific with time ranges to avoid over-blocking availability

Calendar Event Matching - Document your organization's standard event naming conventions - Ensure calendar events are not marked as private - For restricted windows with executives, create pre-approved time blocks like "Executive Interview Block"

Implementation - Test new windows with a small group first - Review and update recurring windows periodically - Communicate changes to your team before implementing organization-wide windows