Frequently asked questions

Q: What’s the difference between the native (indexed) and federated modes for Google Calendar?

• Native (data crawling and indexing):
  • Stores meeting metadata in Glean’s index.
  • Powers rich meeting search, hero cards, Meeting Summary agent, and calendar actions.
• Federated (data fetching):
  • Does not index meeting content; fetches live data at query time.
  • Historically used for homescreen widgets and simple availability lookup, without AI features.

You can enable both retrieval methods on a single connector for maximum flexibility.

Q: How far back and ahead does Glean index my meetings?

• Up to 6 months of past events.
• Up to 3 months of future events.

Events outside this window will not appear in search, Meeting Summary agent, or calendar actions.

Q: Why do some meetings show only as “busy” with no details in Glean search or in Calendar?

Glean respects Google Calendar permissions and event visibility:

• If the event is marked private, or if the user only has free/busy access on the calendar, Glean surfaces only a busy block without title/description.
• Opening the event in Calendar from Glean will show the same limited view (e.g., “Private” with just time and busy status).

Q: What’s required for a Meeting Summary agent to work?

• The Google Calendar connector must have data crawling and indexing enabled and a successful crawl.
• The meeting must have either a Google Meet transcript or Gemini-generated notes accessible via Google Drive.
• The event must be within the indexed time window (6 months past / 3 months future).

Q: Do I need to set up anything special for Calendar Search actions in agents?

Yes:

1. Ensure data crawling and indexing is enabled and healthy for the Google Calendar connector.
2. In each agent’s configuration, enable the Calendar Search action and save the agent. For more information, see Calendar search.