> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.anny.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Participant Management

> Add extra people to a booking and control their visibility, rights and calendar sync.

With participant management you can add more people to a booking alongside the actual customer. Participants see the appointment in their own anny, can view details depending on their permissions and manage their attendance. The function is especially helpful for meeting room bookings where colleagues should be invited to the appointment.

## How does participant management work?

Each booking always has exactly **one customer** (the person who books). Participants are **additional people** invited to that booking. They can:

* See the appointment in their anny booking overview (under "Bookings you attend")
* Edit their attendance or cancel the booking, depending on their rights
* Appear as participants in the external calendar (Outlook/Google) via the calendar integration
* Receive an invitation as an .ics file and respond via RSVP

### Roles and status

| Role/status           | Description                                                     |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Organizer             | Central person of the booking (unique, created as the customer) |
| Participant           | Additional invited people                                       |
| Internal              | People from your company                                        |
| External              | People outside your company                                     |
| Attendance status     | Accepted, Pending, Tentative, Declined                          |
| May edit              | Participant may cancel the booking (if enabled)                 |
| Will attend virtually | Marker for online attendance                                    |

### Calendar synchronization

Participants appear in the external calendar (Outlook/Google) when the calendar integration is active and **"Create appointments as blockers"** is disabled. Blockers never have participants.

In addition, an .ics file is included in the confirmation email. Participants can add the appointment to their personal calendar and respond via RSVP. The response is updated in anny.

## When do I use this?

* **You book meeting rooms and want to invite colleagues**: activate participants on the booking option and allow searching for people via the community.
* **You want to control who may see and manage a booking**: set editing rights and visibility per participant.
* **You need participants in the external calendar**: disable "Create appointments as blockers" in the calendar integration.
* **You want to set a minimum/maximum number of participants**: configure min/max in the Form tab.
* **Not suitable for**: controlling a resource's capacity (use the available quantity for that) or limiting the booking quantity in the cart (use [Min & Max Selection](/en/min-max-selection) for that).

## Relationship with other features

* [**Calendar integrations**](/en/calendar-integrations): participants are synced to external calendars when "Create appointments as blockers" is disabled.
* [**Outlook Add-In**](/en/outlook-add-in): participants can be added and managed via the Outlook Add-In (with an active two-way integration, this syncs with anny).
* [**Communities**](/en/communities): the participant search for people uses all communities linked to the service.
* [**Booking series**](/en/booking-series): participant changes on series master appointments are automatically applied to all series appointments.

## Settings & options

| Setting (admin)                | Description                                                     |
| ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Allow more participants        | Activates the participant function on the booking option        |
| Minimum number of participants | Minimum number of participants per booking                      |
| Maximum number of participants | Maximum number of participants per booking                      |
| Allow people search            | Members of linked communities are searchable                    |
| Show profile info              | Full name, profile picture, department visible                  |
| Show participants              | Participants visible in community/display for existing bookings |
| May edit                       | Participant may cancel the booking                              |
| Type of involvement            | Organizer or participant                                        |
| Attendance status              | Accepted / Pending / Tentative / Declined                       |

## Practical examples

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Meeting room booking with internal participants">
    A company wants employees to be able to add colleagues as participants directly when booking a meeting room.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open the booking option">
        Open **Resources**, select the meeting room and open the **booking option**. Switch to the **Form** tab.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Activate participants">
        Scroll to the **Participants** section and activate **Allow more participants**. Set the **maximum number of participants** (e.g. 10).
      </Step>

      <Step title="Activate people search">
        Activate **Allow people search** and optionally the display of full name, profile picture and department.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Test">
        Create a test booking on the booking page. At checkout, an area for adding participants from the linked community should appear.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Admin adds external participants afterwards">
    An admin wants to add an external guest to an existing booking, who is invited by email.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open the booking">
        Open **Bookings** and select the desired booking.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Add a participant">
        In the detail view, under the **Participants** component, click **+ Add participant**. Enter the email address of the external guest.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Define the settings">
        Set the type of involvement to **Participant**, the attendance status to **Pending** and enable **May edit** if needed.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Check the result">
        The external guest receives an .ics invitation by email and can respond via RSVP. The response is updated automatically in anny.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What is the difference between participants and the resource's available quantity?">
    The available quantity controls how many **parallel bookings** are possible on a resource at the same time. Participants are **people within a single booking**. The two are independent of each other.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can participants also be added by customers?">
    Yes, at checkout. When "Allow more participants" is enabled, customers can add people during booking. Adding participants afterwards is currently only possible via the admin area.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do participants appear in the external calendar?">
    Only if the calendar integration is active and "Create appointments as blockers" is disabled. Blockers never have participants.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens to participants with booking series?">
    Changes to participants on the master appointment are automatically applied to all series appointments.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can there be more than one organizer per booking?">
    No. Each booking has exactly one organizer and one customer (often the same person). All other people are participants.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Participants do not appear in the external calendar">
    Check whether "Create appointments as blockers" is disabled in the resource's calendar integration. Blockers have no participants. In addition, a default service must be set.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Customers cannot add participants">
    Check whether "Allow more participants" is enabled in the booking option under Form → Participants.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The people search shows no results">
    Check whether "Allow people search" is enabled and whether the desired people are members of a community linked to this service.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

> Important information for agents:
>
> * UI path: **Booking option** → **Form** tab → **Participants** section
> * Participants ≠ customers: exactly one customer per booking, participants are additional people
> * Participants ≠ resource's available quantity: available quantity = parallel bookings on a resource. Number of participants = people PER booking.
> * Participants ≠ Min-Max selection: Min-Max limits the booking quantity in the cart. Participants are people invited to a booking.
> * Participants can currently only be added/edited/deleted afterwards via the admin area
> * For series master appointments: participant changes applied to all series appointments
> * Calendar sync: participants only visible in the external calendar when "Create appointments as blockers" is disabled + a default service is set
> * .ics file: included in the confirmation email, RSVP responses updated in anny, available even without a calendar integration
> * Outlook Add-In: participants can be added through it (syncs with an active two-way integration)
> * Related articles: /en/calendar-integrations, /en/configure-booking-option, /en/communities, /en/outlook-add-in, /en/booking-series, /en/min-max-selection