How does the integration with RSpace work?

If your lab uses RSpace as an electronic lab notebook (ELN), you can connect it to Calira to pull booking and equipment data directly into your RSpace documents. This means researchers can reference which instruments they used, when, and for how long, without leaving their notebook.

If you haven't already, make sure to check RSpace's documentation first.

What the integration does

The integration is one-way, with Calira sending booking and equipment information to RSpace. Once connected, RSpace users can:

• View upcoming and completed bookings from Calira
• Insert booking and equipment tables into any RSpace document
• Click through from RSpace directly to the relevant booking or equipment page in Calira
• Filter by maintenance bookings to see service history alongside experiment records

The data stored in RSpace includes links back to Calira, so you can always navigate to the original booking or equipment record.

How to insert Calira data into an RSpace document

Once the integration is connected (see How can I get access to the RSpace integration? for setup), you can insert data in two ways.

Using the toolbar button

In any RSpace document, click the Insert from Calira button in the text editor toolbar. This opens a table showing your bookings and equipment from Calira.

The table has three views:

• Booked: shows upcoming bookings only
• Booked and Completed: shows all bookings, including past ones
• Booked Equipment: shows each piece of equipment along with its most recent completed booking

Using the equipment form

RSpace includes a pre-built form called RSpace_Equipment_Form with fields for equipment name, category, description, operational notes, and bookings. To use it:

1. Go to Manage Forms in the MyRSpace tab and select All forms
2. Find RSpace_Equipment_Form and select it
3. Choose Add to menu
4. Create a new document via Create > From Form and select the equipment form

The form is optional: you can insert Calira data into any RSpace document using the toolbar button.

Filtering for maintenance bookings

Tick the maintenance only checkbox in the Insert from Calira dialog to show only maintenance bookings. This adds a Maintenance notes column showing the notes from the first maintenance note on each booking. This is useful for keeping service records alongside your experimental documentation.

Working with inserted data

When you insert data, a table is added to your RSpace document. A few things to note:

• Booking IDs and equipment names are clickable links that open the corresponding page in Calira
• Links only work after you save the document; they are inactive while the table is in edit mode
• A Notes column is included so you can add your own annotations to each row
• The table data is a snapshot at the time of insertion. It does not update automatically

Authorisation and reconnection

Your RSpace connection to Calira expires periodically. When this happens, you will see an error message (“Invalid Calira user or client token”) when trying to insert data. To reconnect, go to the Apps page in RSpace, click Connect on the Calira app, and re-authenticate. You may not need to re-enter your credentials.

You also need to authorise which labs RSpace can access. Only bookings from authorised labs will appear. If you add a new lab in Calira, you will need to repeat the authorisation step to include it.

For more on Calira’s integrations, visit the integrations page on our website.