Google Calendar’s invitation policy controls which incoming invitations are automatically added to your calendar. It does not decide whether you actually attend. Choose the policy that fits your workflow while keeping legitimate invitation emails and attendance responses under separate review.
Open the invitation policy
On a computer, open Settings > Settings > Event settings. Choose Add invitations to my calendar. Google’s guidance says a work or school administrator can restrict which options are available.
Choose the intended automatic behavior
From everyone automatically adds direct invitations. Only if the sender is known uses contacts, organizational relationships, or previous interactions. When I respond to the invitation in email waits for that email response. Read the current descriptions before choosing a policy for a heavily used account.
Google says these changes apply to new invitations. Do not promise that changing the preference retrospectively removes every earlier unwanted event. Group-address invitations can also need an email response rather than following the same direct-address assumption.
Verify without accepting spam
Inspect a legitimate representative invitation and confirm its actual calendar and response state. Do not interact with an unfamiliar sender merely to make the person known. Google’s guidance notes that a known-sender-only setting can reveal to senders that they are not in your contacts. Review pending-invitation visibility separately when others manage your calendar. If spam persists on Android, inspect app calendar permissions as another potential source. The completed configuration should establish the selected rule for new invitations, without confusing automatic addition, email receipt, shared visibility, and genuine acceptance as one identical state.
References
Reviewed against the linked official product guidance on November 4, 2026. Features, limits, screen labels, and access can vary by account, platform, region, and organization policy.