How to Stop Google Calendar Spam: Manual Settings Guide

The Problem with Calendar Spam

Google Calendar spam has become an increasingly frustrating problem for millions of users. Spammers exploit Google Calendar's default settings by sending unsolicited calendar invitations that automatically appear on your calendar. These spam events often contain phishing links, advertisements, or scam promotions that clutter your schedule and waste your time.

The most common types of calendar spam include fake appointment reminders, cryptocurrency scams, tech support fraud, weight loss promotions, and suspicious meeting invitations from unknown senders. If you're receiving these unwanted calendar events, you're not alone—and there are steps you can take to reduce this spam manually.

Manual Method: Change Your Google Calendar Settings

Google Calendar includes a built-in setting that controls how calendar invitations are added to your calendar. By adjusting this setting, you can significantly reduce the amount of spam that appears on your calendar automatically.

Step 1 Open Google Calendar Settings

Navigate to Google Calendar and click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner. Select "Settings" from the dropdown menu.

Step 2 Find Event Settings

In the left sidebar, make sure you're viewing the "General" section. Scroll down to find Event settings section.

Step 3 Change "Add Invitations to My Calendar"

Look for the setting labeled Add invitations to my calendar. This is the key setting that controls how calendar invites are handled. You have three options:

• From everyone (Default) - This automatically adds all calendar invitations to your calendar, including spam. This is why you're seeing unwanted events.
• Only if the sender is known (Recommended for most users) - This setting only accepts invitations from people in your contacts or people you've interacted with before. This blocks most calendar spam while still accepting legitimate meeting invitations from acquaintances and colleagues.
• When I respond to the invitation in email (Most restrictive) - This prevents any calendar invitation from automatically appearing on your calendar until you explicitly respond to the invitation email. This gives you complete control but requires manual action for every invitation.

Step 4 Save Your Changes

Google Calendar automatically saves your setting changes, so once you've selected your preferred option, you're done. New invitations will now be filtered according to your chosen setting.

Alternative Solutions for Google Calendar Spam

If you find that calendar spam is still slipping through Google's basic filters, or if you want to keep the convenience of automatically accepting invitations without the spam risk, you need a more sophisticated solution.

Why Automatic Protection Works Better

Automatic calendar spam protection tools use advanced detection algorithms to identify and remove spam events based on multiple criteria including:

• Sender domain analysis and reputation scoring
• Event content pattern recognition (links, phone numbers, suspicious text)
• Guest permission settings that spammers commonly use
• Real-time monitoring and instant spam removal
• Learning from spam patterns to improve detection over time

This approach allows you to maintain the convenience of automatic calendar invitations while removing the burden of manual spam management. You get the best of both worlds: legitimate invitations appear automatically, while spam is silently removed in the background.