How to Share Your Availability in Slack, Teams, and Group Chats

The Problem with Scheduling in Chat

Chat-based scheduling has a few specific challenges that email doesn't:

1. The conversation is real-time. When someone asks when you're free in Slack, they expect an answer in minutes, not hours. There's pressure to respond quickly, which leads to checking your calendar in a rush and missing conflicts.

2. Booking links feel wrong in chat. Sending a Calendly link in a Slack DM is the messaging equivalent of handing someone a business card in the middle of a conversation. It breaks the conversational tone.

3. Calendar tools don't integrate with chat. Gmail's "Propose Times" feature only works inside Gmail. Outlook's scheduling assistant only works inside Outlook. Neither of them helps when you're scheduling in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, iMessage, Discord, or LinkedIn messages.

4. You can't attach a calendar invite. In email, you can attach an .ics file. In most messaging apps, you can't — or if you can, it's awkward and the recipient has to download and open a file.

The solution for all of these is the same: generate your availability as plain text and paste it into the chat.

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How to Share Availability in Slack

Option 1: Use ShareAvailability (Fastest)

ShareAvailability connects to your Google Calendar and generates a copy-paste list of your free times. Open it, click "Generate," and paste the result into Slack.

The output looks like this:

Here's my availability this week (ET):
Wed (3/18): 9-11am, 2-4pm
Thu (3/19): 10am-12pm
Fri (3/20): 1-3pm, 4-5pm

Paste that into any Slack channel, DM, or thread. It reads naturally as part of the conversation and takes about 10 seconds from start to finish.

Because it checks all your Google Calendars simultaneously, you won't accidentally offer a time that's free on your work calendar but blocked by a dentist appointment on your personal one.

Option 2: Type It Out

If you're only sharing one or two time slots, typing is fine:

I'm free tomorrow 2-4pm or Friday morning. What works for you?

But once you need to share more than two options across multiple days, the manual approach breaks down. You have to open your calendar, scan each day, check for conflicts across calendars, and type it all into Slack without making a mistake.

Option 3: Slack's Built-in Scheduling (Limited)

Slack doesn't have a native "share availability" feature. You can set your Slack status to show your working hours and set a "Do Not Disturb" schedule, but there's no way to generate a list of free times from within Slack itself.

Some teams use Slack integrations like Clockwise or Reclaim that sync with Google Calendar, but these are team-wide productivity tools, not quick ways to share your personal availability in a chat.

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How to Share Availability in Microsoft Teams

Teams has a scheduling assistant built into the meeting creation flow, but it only works when creating a formal meeting — not when you're chatting with someone and need to share when you're free.

For quick availability sharing in a Teams chat, the approach is the same as Slack: generate your availability as text and paste it in. ShareAvailability works here too since the output is plain text that works in any messaging app.

If both you and the recipient use Microsoft 365, you can also use the FindTime add-in for Outlook to propose times. But this only works through email, not Teams chat.

For Teams-specific options (Scheduling Assistant, Outlook calendar sharing, Bookings, and a sample chat message), see the dedicated guide: how to share your availability in Microsoft Teams.

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How to Share Availability in WhatsApp, iMessage, and SMS

Text-based messaging apps are the simplest case. There's no rich formatting, no integrations, and no plugins. The only option is plain text — which is exactly what ShareAvailability generates.

Copy your availability text and paste it into the conversation:

Hey! Here are some times that work for me this week (PT):
Tue (3/24): 10-11:30am
Wed (3/25): 2-4pm
Thu (3/26): 9am-12pm
Let me know what works!

This works in WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, Signal, Telegram, and any other text-based messaging app. The recipient doesn't need to download anything, click anything, or create an account.

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How to Share Availability on LinkedIn

LinkedIn messaging is one of the most common places where scheduling happens in professional contexts — and one of the worst places to send a booking link. If you're networking, responding to a recruiter, or following up after a conference, a Calendly link in a LinkedIn DM can feel presumptuous.

Instead, paste your availability as text directly in the LinkedIn message:

Would love to connect! Here are a few times that work on my end (CT):
Mon (3/23): 10am-12pm
Tue (3/24): 2-4pm
Thu (3/26): 9-11am
Happy to work around your schedule if none of those work.

This keeps the tone conversational and puts the other person at ease. They just reply with what works.

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Formatting Tips for Chat

When sharing availability in messaging apps, keep these formatting principles in mind:

Keep it short. Chat messages shouldn't read like emails. Offer 3-5 time slots, not 10.

Include the timezone. This is easy to forget in casual chat but critical if there's any chance the other person is in a different timezone.

One line per day. Even in chat, vertical formatting is easier to scan than a paragraph. Most messaging apps preserve line breaks, so use them.

Add a casual opener and closer. In chat, your availability should be wrapped in conversational language. A raw list of times without context reads like a form letter.

Use the day and date together. "Tuesday" is ambiguous — which Tuesday? "Tue (3/24)" is not.

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Why Plain Text Works Better Than Links in Chat

Booking links were designed for email. In a chat context, they introduce friction:

• The recipient has to leave the conversation, open a browser, navigate the booking page, and come back
• It breaks the conversational flow of the chat
• It signals "schedule yourself into my calendar" instead of "let's find a time together"
• Many people on mobile won't click external links from messaging apps

Plain text removes all of that friction. The recipient reads your times, replies with what works, and you're done — without either person leaving the chat.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I share my availability in Slack?

Use ShareAvailability to generate a plain-text list of your free times from Google Calendar, then paste it into your Slack channel, DM, or thread. The output reads naturally as part of the conversation and takes about 10 seconds to generate.

Does Slack have a built-in way to share availability?

No. Slack does not have a native feature for sharing calendar availability. You can set your working hours and Do Not Disturb schedule in Slack settings, but there is no way to generate or share a list of free times from within Slack. The best approach is to generate availability as text using a tool like ShareAvailability and paste it into the chat.

Should I send a Calendly link in Slack?

In most cases, no. Sending a booking link in a Slack DM breaks the conversational tone and requires the other person to leave the chat, open a browser, and navigate a booking page. Pasting your availability as plain text keeps the scheduling inside the conversation and feels more natural.

How do I share availability in Microsoft Teams?

Teams does not have a quick availability-sharing feature in chat. The scheduling assistant only works when creating formal meetings. For quick sharing in a Teams chat, generate your availability as plain text with ShareAvailability and paste it into the conversation. See the dedicated Microsoft Teams availability guide for Scheduling Assistant, calendar sharing, and Bookings tradeoffs.

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The Bottom Line

The fastest way to share your availability in any messaging app is to generate it as plain text with ShareAvailability and paste it in. It works in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, iMessage, LinkedIn, Discord, and anything else that accepts text. No plugins, no integrations, no booking links — just your free times, ready to paste.