Sync meeting rooms with Microsoft 365

Connect deskbird with Microsoft 365 to sync meeting room availability and bookings between deskbird and your Microsoft calendar. Once connected, users can book rooms directly in deskbird while all bookings stay synchronized with your Outlook/Exchange room calendars.

1. Prerequisites
2. Set up in deskbird
3. Grant admin consent in Microsoft Entra ID
4. Required permissions
5. Import meeting rooms
6. Cross-tenant meeting room booking
7. Microsoft Teams Rooms compatibility
8. FAQs

1. Prerequisites

• Admin rights: you need a Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) account with sufficient permissions to grant admin consent — this applies to the Global Administrator role, but usually also to Cloud Application Administrator, Application Administrator, or a custom role with the appropriate consent permission.
• Use a browser: complete the setup in a web browser (not within Microsoft Teams).
• Calendar provider is the source of truth: room bookings are ultimately accepted or declined by the room's resource calendar in Microsoft. If Outlook/Exchange rejects a booking, it will be removed from deskbird.

2. Set up in deskbird

1. Go to Admin > Company: Integrations.
2. In the Rooms calendar sync row under Calendars, click Set up sync (or Manage if a tenant is already connected).
3. Select Microsoft (in the Manage dialog: Add a Microsoft tenant).
4. Sign in with a Global Administrator account.
5. Consent to all requested permissions and follow the on-screen steps.

3. Grant admin consent in Microsoft Entra ID

1. Open the Microsoft Entra ID (Azure) portal.
2. Go to Enterprise applications.
3. Select the deskbird app (deskbird Calendar Sync).
4. In the left-hand menu, open Permissions.
5. Click Grant admin consent for <your company name> and accept all permissions.

💡 You can limit access to specific calendars using a Microsoft Application Access Policy.

4. Required permissions

• Place.Read.All — allows deskbird to read company spaces information (e.g., meeting rooms and room lists) so rooms can be imported into deskbird.
• Calendars.ReadWrite — allows deskbird to create, read, update, and delete events on room calendars to keep meeting room bookings synchronized.

These are application-level permissions, meaning deskbird accesses Microsoft Graph API as an application (not on behalf of a user).

5. Import meeting rooms

After connecting Microsoft 365, you can import your rooms into deskbird:

1. Go to Admin > Workplace > Floors & spaces and select the floor.
2. Click + Add area and select Meeting room.
3. Choose Import room from Microsoft or Google and click Continue.
4. Select rooms from your connected tenant and import them.

⚠️ Important: newly created or updated rooms in Microsoft can take up to 48 hours to appear in the import list.

💡 Once rooms are imported, you can create conference links when booking meeting rooms in deskbird (depending on your provider setup).

💡 Search respects the room name exactly (including spelling and punctuation). Enter the room name as shown in the provider directory.

6. Cross-tenant meeting room booking

In a multi-tenant Microsoft 365 environment, security policies often prevent users in one tenant from booking resources (like meeting rooms) directly in another tenant. deskbird solves this by providing a unified booking layer that works across all your tenants.

💡 Multi-tenancy is available with Rooms Plus, or with Desks Professional and above. You can add multiple Microsoft and Google tenants. To add another tenant, go to Admin > Company: Integrations, click Manage in the Rooms calendar sync row, and select Add a Microsoft tenant or Add a Google tenant.

How it works

• Unified visibility: all users, regardless of their native tenant, can see the real-time availability of every meeting room across the entire organization.
• Fallback booking logic: if a user doesn't have direct permission to book a specific room, deskbird uses a fallback mechanism. It utilizes the admin_email linked to that specific calendar resource to facilitate the booking.
• Transparent to users: bookings are processed instantly on the backend. Users simply select a room and confirm — deskbird manages cross-tenant calendar synchronization transparently.

Key benefits

• No complex trusts: eliminates the need for complex PowerShell configurations or guest account management for every user.
• Single source of truth: prevents double-bookings by ensuring all tenants are reading from the same live calendar data.
• No IT intervention required: users can book rooms across any connected tenant without needing IT involvement.

7. Microsoft Teams Rooms compatibility

deskbird is compatible with Microsoft Teams Rooms devices. Teams Rooms displays the room's Microsoft resource calendar, so meeting room bookings made in deskbird appear on the device just like bookings made in Outlook — with or without a Microsoft Teams link, and including meetings moved from one room to another. No additional configuration is needed in deskbird beyond connecting Microsoft 365 and importing the room as described above.

⚠️ Important: bookings made via the deskbird Kiosk currently appear on the Teams Rooms device without a Microsoft Teams link. To start a call in the room, start an ad-hoc Teams meeting from the Teams Rooms console and invite participants.

8. FAQs