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. FAQs

1. Prerequisites

• Admin rights: you need a Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) account with the Global Administrator role.
• 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 > Integrations.
2. Click Connect (or Update sync if you already have a connection).
3. Select Microsoft.
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 > Floors & Spaces.
2. Click + Add area and select Meeting room.
3. Choose Import room from Microsoft or Google.
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 the Rooms Plus plan. You can add multiple Microsoft and Google tenants. To add another tenant, go to Admin > Integrations, open your existing sync, and click Update sync.

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.
• Seamless experience: to the end user, the process is instant and invisible. They simply select a room and book it — deskbird ensures the calendar invite is accepted and synchronized correctly on the backend.

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.
• User autonomy: empowers employees to find and book space wherever they are working that day, without IT intervention.

7. FAQs