How to Ask Someone for Their Availability (Templates + Examples)

Asking someone when they're free sounds trivial. It isn't. "Let me know when you're available" is the single most common way scheduling threads turn into five emails over four days.

The problem is that it asks the other person to do unbounded work. They have to open their calendar, decide how much of it to reveal, guess which days you meant, guess how long the meeting is, and type it all out. Faced with that, most people put it off. Some never reply at all.

The short version: don't ask an open question. Give them a bounded window, name the meeting length, and make it easy to answer in one line. If you'd rather they picked from your calendar instead, generate your own availability and send that — it's often faster than asking.

Here's how to phrase it, when each approach works, and what to do when they don't reply.

---

Why "Let Me Know When You're Free" Fails

Three things go wrong with the open-ended ask:

It has no boundaries. "When are you free?" could mean this week or next month. The recipient has to guess your urgency, and guessing wrong wastes another round.

It hides the meeting length. Someone who thinks you want 15 minutes offers different slots than someone who thinks you want an hour. If you don't say, they'll either ask or guess.

It makes them go first. Whoever proposes times does the work and takes the risk of proposing something awkward. Open-ended asks push that onto the other person, which is exactly why they stall.

The fix for all three is the same: constrain the question.

---

The Four-Part Ask

A request that reliably gets specific times back has four parts:

1. A window. "Next week" or "the week of the 22nd" — not "sometime soon."
2. A duration. "30 minutes" tells them which gaps in their calendar qualify.
3. A format. Ask for two or three options, not their whole schedule.
4. An out. Offer your own times as a fallback so the thread can't stall.

Put together:

Would you have 30 minutes sometime next week? If you send me two or three times that work, I'll make one of them work on my end. Happy to send over my own availability instead if that's easier.

That's answerable in one line, and the last sentence means even a non-reply has a next step.

---

Templates

Asking a colleague

Subject: 30 minutes next week?

Hi [Name],

Do you have 30 minutes free next week to talk through [topic]? If you send me two or three times that work, I'll lock one in.

If it's easier, I can send my availability instead.

Thanks, [You]

Asking a client or someone senior

Give them more room and do more of the work yourself. Senior people reply faster to a smaller ask.

Subject: Finding 30 minutes

Hi [Name],

I'd like to get 30 minutes on your calendar in the next couple of weeks to cover [topic].

Rather than go back and forth, here's when I'm free — let me know if any of these work and I'll send an invite:

Tue (9/22): 10am–12pm Wed (9/23): 1pm–4pm Thu (9/24): 9am–11am

All times Eastern. If none of those work, just send a couple that do.

Best, [You]

Note what this does: it looks like you're asking, but you've actually proposed. The recipient can reply "Wednesday at 2" and be done. This is the highest-response-rate version of the ask, and it's why leading with your own availability often beats asking.

Asking for a networking chat or coffee

Keep it light and make the window generous — you're asking for a favour.

Hi [Name],

Would you be up for a 20-minute call in the next few weeks? No agenda beyond [reason].

I'm flexible — if you send a couple of times that suit you, I'll work around them.

Thanks, [You]

Asking a group

Groups are where open-ended asks do the most damage, because every ambiguity multiplies by the number of recipients.

Hi all,

Trying to find 45 minutes for [topic] the week of the 22nd.

Here's when I'm free:

Mon (9/22): 2pm–5pm Wed (9/24): 9am–12pm Thu (9/25): 1pm–4pm

Could everyone reply with which of those work? I'll pick whichever has the most overlap.

Thanks, [You]

Offering a shortlist and asking people to mark what works is far faster than collecting three separate calendars.

---

Asking vs. Proposing: Which to Use

The pattern: whoever has less flexibility should propose. If your calendar is the harder one to fit, send your times. If theirs is, ask.

In practice, proposing wins more often than people expect. It removes the work from the other person and usually ends the thread in one reply. If you're going to propose, ShareAvailability reads your Google Calendar and generates the list as plain text in about ten seconds — no booking link, nothing for the recipient to click.

---

When to Send a Booking Link Instead

Asking for availability is the wrong move when:

• You take inbound meetings at volume. If ten people a week want time with you, a booking page is the right tool. Asking each one individually doesn't scale.
• The other person expects one. Sales demos, support calls, and office hours all carry the expectation of a scheduling link.
• You genuinely don't care when. If any slot is fine, a link saves everyone a round.

For a first conversation with someone you want something from, a booking link reads as "schedule yourself into my calendar." That's the wrong signal for networking, recruiting, and warm outreach — which is most of the time people are asking this question.

---

What to Do When They Don't Reply

Silence after an availability request usually means the ask was too big, not that they're uninterested.

Follow up by shrinking it. Don't resend the same question. Replace it with specific times:

Following up on the below — would Wednesday at 2pm or Thursday at 10am work? Happy to find another time if not.

A yes/no question gets answered. An open one gets postponed.

Give it three to four business days before following up on a non-urgent request. Same day is pushy; two weeks is forgotten.

Stop after two follow-ups. If someone hasn't replied to a second attempt, the answer is usually no, and a third email doesn't change it.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I ask someone for their availability professionally?

Give them a bounded window, state the meeting length, and ask for two or three specific options rather than their whole schedule. For example: "Would you have 30 minutes sometime next week? If you send two or three times that work, I'll lock one in." Constraining the question is what makes it professional — it respects the other person's time by making it answerable in one line.

What should I say instead of "let me know when you're free"?

Name a window and a duration: "Do you have 30 minutes the week of the 22nd?" The open-ended version asks the recipient to search their entire calendar with no guidance, which is why it so often goes unanswered. Adding a window and a length turns an unbounded task into a quick one.

Is it better to ask for someone's availability or send my own?

Usually better to send your own. Proposing removes the work from the other person and typically ends the thread in a single reply. Ask only when their calendar is the harder one to fit — for example when they're coordinating other people, as a recruiter does. The general rule is that whoever has less flexibility should propose.

How do I ask a group of people for their availability?

Don't collect calendars individually. Send a shortlist of three time blocks you can make and ask everyone to reply with which ones work, then pick the slot with the most overlap. Asking four people for open availability creates four separate threads and a scheduling problem you then have to solve by hand.

How long should I wait before following up about availability?

Three to four business days for a non-urgent request. When you follow up, don't repeat the original question — replace it with two specific times and ask which works. A yes/no question gets answered where an open one gets postponed. Stop after two follow-ups.

Should I send a Calendly link when asking for a meeting?

Only when you take inbound meetings at volume, or when the other person expects one, such as for a demo or support call. For networking, recruiting, or a first conversation with someone whose time you're asking for, a booking link reads as "schedule yourself into my calendar" and can land badly. Plain-text times feel more collaborative.

---

Related Guides

• How to Send Your Availability in an Email (Copy-Paste Templates) — the other half of the conversation, with templates.
• How to List Your Availability in an Email — formatting rules that get faster replies.
• How to Share Your Google Calendar Availability (5 Methods) — every way to get your free times out of Google Calendar.
• How to Share Availability Across Time Zones — what to do when you and the recipient aren't in the same place.

---

ShareAvailability is a free tool that connects to your Google Calendar (read-only) and generates plain-text availability lists. Try it here — no credit card, and nothing for the other person to sign up for.