User FAQ¶
Common questions from RoomVox users.
Booking Basics¶
How do I book a room?¶
Add the room as an attendee to a calendar event in any calendar app — Nextcloud Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, Thunderbird, or eM Client. The room responds Accepted, Tentative, or Declined like a human attendee. See Booking Rooms for per-app instructions.
How do I know whether a room is available?¶
In Nextcloud Calendar with the calendar patch installed, the room browser shows real-time availability per room with green/red/blue badges. Without the patch, the standard resource picker shows availability in search results. In other calendar apps, the room responds to your invitation with Accepted/Declined immediately.
What's the difference between Accepted and Tentative?¶
- Accepted — the room is confirmed. No further action needed.
- Tentative — the room requires manager approval. You'll be notified by email when approved or declined.
Can I book a room without a Nextcloud account?¶
No. RoomVox uses Nextcloud's authentication. You need a Nextcloud account with at least Booker role for the room. External attendees can be invited to your event, but only Nextcloud users can book rooms.
Permissions¶
Why can't I book a room I can see?¶
You have Viewer role but not Booker. Ask your administrator to add you (or your group) as a Booker. The Responsible contact field in Personal Settings → My Rooms tells you who to ask.
Why can I see some rooms but not others?¶
Rooms are restricted by permissions. You only see rooms where you have at least Viewer role — either directly or via group membership. Nextcloud administrators see all rooms regardless.
Can my colleagues see my bookings?¶
Bookings live in CalDAV calendars owned by the room. Managers of the room can see all bookings; other users typically see only that the room is busy at a given time (free/busy), not the event details. Your event in your own calendar follows your usual calendar privacy rules.
Recurring Events¶
Can I book a recurring event?¶
Yes. RoomVox supports recurring events, with caveats:
- Availability rules apply to every occurrence
- Booking horizon is checked against the furthest occurrence
- Infinite recurring events (no
UNTIL/COUNT) are always declined when a booking horizon is set - Conflict checking applies to every occurrence — booking the second instance of a weekly series is correctly flagged as a conflict (fixed in v1.1.0)
Can I cancel just one occurrence of a recurring booking?¶
Yes (since v1.1.1). When you cancel a recurring booking through the admin UI, you choose between Cancel this occurrence and Cancel entire series. Cancelling one occurrence writes an EXDATE on the master event and marks the room as DECLINED for that one instance in your own calendar.
Notifications¶
Why don't I receive emails?¶
Common reasons:
- Your administrator has not enabled email notifications in RoomVox settings
- Your Nextcloud profile has no email address — set one in Personal Settings → Email
- Nextcloud's SMTP isn't configured — ask your administrator
- Emails are in your spam folder — check there
See Notifications for the full list of notification types.
Why does the email come from noreply@…?¶
Rooms without a real email address use the Nextcloud system sender. Your administrator can set a real email per room (e.g., boardroom@company.com), which becomes the sender for that room's notifications.
Personal Settings¶
Why don't I have an "Approvals" or "Bookings" tab?¶
Both tabs are Manager-only:
- Approvals — appears if you manage at least one room. Shows pending bookings to approve/decline.
- Bookings — appears if you manage at least one room. Shows the full booking overview scoped to your rooms (since v1.1.0).
If you're a Booker or Viewer, you only see the My Rooms tab.
Can I subscribe to a room's calendar in my external calendar app?¶
Not directly. The iCal feed at /api/v1/rooms/{id}/calendar.ics requires a Bearer token, which external calendar apps don't support. Your administrator can create a Public API token and provide you a tokenized URL, or you can rely on your own calendar showing the events you've added the room to.
Client-Specific¶
iOS sends the wrong attendee type — does RoomVox handle that?¶
Yes. iOS / macOS Calendar sends room attendees with CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL instead of CUTYPE=ROOM. RoomVox auto-detects and corrects this transparently. No action needed.
eM Client only sets LOCATION — does RoomVox handle that?¶
Yes. eM Client sometimes adds a room only via LOCATION without an ATTENDEE. RoomVox detects the room by matching the LOCATION against known room names and adds the proper CalDAV attendee transparently.
Which calendar apps work best?¶
| Client | Notes |
|---|---|
| Nextcloud Calendar (with patch) | Best experience — visual room browser, real-time availability, multi-filter |
| Nextcloud Calendar (standard) | Works fully, more basic resource picker |
| Apple Calendar (macOS, iOS) | Full support |
| Outlook (CalDAV) | Full support |
| Thunderbird | Full support |
| eM Client | Full support |
See Tips for client-specific tricks.