PulseSigning in and connecting your calendar
Signing in with Google, Microsoft or SSO, and how multi-factor authentication works.
There are three ways to sign in to Pulse: a Google account, a Microsoft account, or single sign-on (SSO). All three take you through to connecting your calendar in one go, and the events on the connected calendar are what Pulse uses to work out when meetings begin and end. This article covers what is common to all three.
Enterprise plan
Signing in and connecting your calendar are done from the desktop app (macOS and Windows). The web version supports viewing and editing notes that already exist; it cannot change sign-in method or connect a calendar. Single sign-on (SSO) is available on the Enterprise plan only.
Choosing a sign-in method
Choose according to the email and calendar environment at your workplace. You can change later.
| Your workplace environment | Sign-in method to choose | Calendar connected |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace or Gmail | Sign in with Google | Google Calendar |
| Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online) | Sign in with Microsoft | The Outlook calendar |
| Centrally managed on an internal identity platform (SAML / OIDC) | Sign in with SSO | Choose Google or Microsoft to connect after signing in |
Pulse can connect to calendars on cloud Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online). It cannot connect to an on-premises Exchange Server run in your own data centre or server room. In a hybrid setup where some users' mailboxes remain on premises, those users may not be able to retrieve their calendar even after signing in with Microsoft.
Signing in with a Google account
These are the steps where you use a Google Workspace or Gmail account. Google Calendar is connected as you sign in.
Choose Sign in with Google
Start Pulse and click Sign in with Google.
Choose the account your calendar is on
On the account selection screen, choose the account whose calendar you normally use. If you have both a work and a personal account, choose the one your meetings are in.
Allow calendar access
Read what the permission screen says and allow it. This permission is needed to read event titles, start and end times and participants, to show notifications around meetings, and to use that as context for your notes.
Once allowed, you are returned to Pulse automatically and are signed in.
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Signing in with a Microsoft account
These are the steps where you use Microsoft 365 and the Outlook calendar.
Choose Sign in with Microsoft
Start Pulse and click Sign in with Microsoft.
Choose your work account
On the account selection screen, choose the account your work calendar is on.
Allow calendar access
Read what the permission screen says and allow it.
Once done, you are returned to Pulse with the Outlook calendar connected.
Where a screen appears partway through saying administrator approval is required, your organisation's tenant settings prevent individual users granting permissions to new apps. The permissions requested, how to ask for approval, an example request to send to your IT department, and what the administrator does are all covered in Signing in with a Microsoft account.
Signing in with SSO (Enterprise plan)
Signing in with single sign-on (SSO) is available on the Enterprise plan. If you are considering it, contact tharada@the-unchain.com. It is configured individually for each organisation.
With SSO, authentication and connecting the calendar are two separate stages.
Start the app and choose SSO
Install and start Pulse and choose Sign in with SSO.
Authenticate on your organisation's screen
Authenticate the same way you normally sign in to internal systems. Depending on your organisation's settings, administrator approval may be required at this point.
Choose your calendar provider
Once authenticated, you move on to the screen for connecting a calendar. Choose whichever your organisation uses, Google Calendar or Microsoft / Outlook calendar.
Allow calendar access
On the chosen provider's screen, allow access to the calendar.
Even where SSO authentication succeeds, skipping the last two steps means no calendar events are pulled in. Where events do not appear in the list, check first whether the calendar connection was completed.
- Today's and the next few events are listed on the home screen
- The email address you signed in with is shown at the bottom left
- Opening an event shows the meeting start time and the participants
How multi-factor authentication (MFA) works
Pulse has no multi-factor authentication mechanism of its own. Authentication itself is delegated to Google, Microsoft or your organisation's SSO platform.
So to apply multi-factor authentication to signing in to Pulse, configure it at the provider. Enabling two-step verification on a Google account, multi-factor authentication in Microsoft Entra ID, or a policy on your SSO platform means the requirement applies when signing in to Pulse too. Conditional access (allowing only from particular networks or managed devices, for example) applies in the same way.
In organisations whose information security rules require multi-factor authentication for SaaS used at work, the requirement is met at the identity platform rather than by Pulse itself. Where evidence is needed for those rules, consider keeping screenshots of the identity platform's settings screen. Adjust this wording to match how UNCHAIN, Inc. provides the service.
Using more than one account
You can register several accounts — work and personal, for example — and switch between them. The arrow icon beside the email address at the bottom left lets you add and switch accounts. Notes and calendars are separate per account, so switching changes what you see.
Where you are moving from a Google account to a Microsoft account, how notes carry over depends on your situation. See Switching to a Microsoft account.
Signing out
- Click your workspace name at the bottom left.
- Settings — open it.
- Scroll the settings sidebar to the bottom and click Sign out.
Signing out does not delete your notes. Signing in again with the same account returns everything to how it was. When you part with a device, or finish using a shared one, sign out and also remove the app itself following Uninstalling and reinstalling.
If something is not working
Q. With a Gmail account it says “join the waiting list”
A. Just press the join the waiting list button shown. There is no actual wait; sign-in completes straight away. It appears while acceptance of personal Gmail addresses is being opened up in stages.
Q. It says “administrator approval required” and will not go further (Microsoft / SSO)
A. Your organisation’s tenant settings prevent users granting permissions to apps themselves. Ask your IT department for approval. Once approved, other users in the same organisation are not asked again. The exact steps for the person approving, and an example request email, are in Signing in with a Microsoft account.
Q. It says “Access blocked: this app must be reviewed by your administrator” (Google)
A. Your Google Workspace administrator restricts third-party app access. Ask them to open Security > Access and data control > API controls > Manage third-party app access in the Google admin console, add Pulse to the allowlist and set it to “trusted”. Once set, try signing in again.
Q. I cannot sign in from the corporate network
A. Your firewall or proxy may be blocking the authentication traffic. Ask your IT department to add HTTPS traffic to the authentication domain (auth.the-unchain.com) to the allowlist. The list of destinations that need allowing, and how to narrow the problem down, are in Network and allowlists.
Q. I signed in but no calendar events appear
A. Where you signed in with SSO, authentication and connecting the calendar are separate steps; check that you completed the calendar connection. Where you signed in with Google or Microsoft, check you did not untick the calendar item on the permissions screen. If they still do not appear, narrow it down using Calendar is not syncing.
Q. I want to change the email address I sign in with
A. Changing the email address tied to an account and moving to a different account are different procedures. See Account and email address changes. To carry notes over to an account on a different email address, use the steps in Moving notes from another account.