How To Use Google Calendar Top Ten most wanted Tips. When most people use Google Calendar, they use it in the easiest way. They create events, reminders, and maybe even schedule appointments with Google Meet.
How To Use Google Calendar Top Ten most wanted Tips
But Google Calendar is much more than meets the eye. There are functions hidden inside submenus and integrations that few people know about until you stumble upon them.
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In this article, you will learn some of the best professional tips on how to use Google Calendar to make it so much more useful. Master them and you will be even more productive than you are now.
Add calendars
Many people use Google Calendar with one calendar in their Google account. Most people don’t realize that you can actually create layered calendars for different areas of your life.
Here are some examples of what you might want to create a separate calendar for.
- Your work calendar.
- General calendar of your family.
- A calendar for your home renovation.
- Calendar dedicated to your extra business.
You can distinguish all of your calendars with color-coding. Let’s take a look at how to use this in Google Calendar.
Add multiple calendars
To create a new calendar, select the + symbol to the right of other calendars in the left navigation bar. Select “Create New Calendar” from the drop-down menu.
In the next window, give your new calendar a name, description (optional), set the correct time zone in which you are doing this job, and select Create Calendar.
You will see the new calendar appear in the left navigation bar under My Calendars. Select the checkbox to the left of the new calendar and choose to create a new event in the calendar.
In the window that opens, enter the name of the event, configure other parameters and be sure to replace the calendar at the bottom of the window with a new one.
By choosing Save, you will see the event appear in your calendar, but it will be color-coded so you know which calendar the event is stored in.
You can add as many calendars as you like under your Google account. Enable or disable the calendar layer that you do not want to see by checking or unchecking the box for each calendar.
Subscribing to useful calendars
There are also free public calendars that you can subscribe to. They look the same as personal calendars that you add yourself using the process above.
To access them, select the + symbol next to “Other Calendars” as above, but this time select “Browse Calendars of Interest” from the drop-down list.
You will see a list of calendars that you can choose from. These include various types of holidays, many sports, and the “Other” section, which currently only includes the phases of the moon.
After you add them and return to your calendar, you will see that they are included in the Other Calendars list.
You will also see that events from this calendar will appear in your Google Calendar. Events in the public calendar usually appear as all-day events, listed at the top of the corresponding day.
Include interesting and informative calendars by URL
You can also add public calendars by URL. These public calendars are scattered all over the internet and are not always easy to find.
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Here are some examples:
- FirstShowing: Select the Google Calendar link to get up-to-date films in a year. Every year a new tab for the current year appears on the site.
- JamBase: Select to see the live streaming calendar at the top of the window to see upcoming concerts.
- iCalShare: View or search this huge list of holiday and sports calendars to which you can add your Google Calendar account.
- NASA launch schedule. This calendar is updated by NASA with all upcoming NASA launches as well as NASA’s historic launches.
To add one of these calendars, copy the URL from any public calendar. Then, in your Google Calendar account, click the + icon to the right of other calendars. Select From URL from the dropdown list.
On the following Windows, paste the calendar URL in the Calendar URL box, then click the Add Calendar button.
Now when you go back to your own calendar, if you enable the added calendar, you will see these events displayed in their own color-coding.
Helpful tips when using Google Calendar
Aside from simply adding events to your calendar, there are a number of things you can do to make it more efficient.
Color code for your work
Whenever you create events to remind yourself to do something or to meet, consider highlighting specific areas of your life.
For example, you can make all health events yellow, work events blue, and family events orange.
To do this, simply select a calendar to make an event. After giving the event a name, select More Options at the bottom of the window. On the next page, select a color code for this event next to the calendar selection.
This option overrides the default calendar setting with your custom color code.
Use correct time zones when traveling
If you have an event that starts in one time zone and ends in another, it’s important to consider the difference in those time zones.
If you’re not sure why this matters, consider that you want to get started on school paper when you board your flight to the US East Coast. You know you will probably finish your job when you land in California.
The problem is, California is four hours ago in time. Google Calendar can help you account for this time zone shift.
To do this, in Google Calendar, click on the calendar to create an event when it starts. Immediately below the date and time of the event, select a Time Zone.
Next to the All day check box, select Time Zone again. You will see a window where you can specify a different time zone for the start and end of the event. Check the box and then set each time zone.
Click OK when finished.
Be careful when setting the end time for an event because the calendar will set it to the new time zone. So if you said that from 3 pm to 4 pm ET you will write your talk and change the time zone to Los Angeles, the calendar will show the end time at 7 pm.
Set the start and end times to the correct time in the time zone you specified.
Automatically end appointments earlier
Another useful feature if you want people to like you is to automatically end your appointments 5 minutes early for 30-minute appointments and 10 minutes earlier for 60-minute appointments.
You can set this by opening your Google Calendar settings, selecting Event Settings from the left menu, and checking the Quick Appointments box.
This will give your meeting attendees time to get to the next meeting if they need it.
Integrate with your ToDo app
You also don’t have to manually manage your calendar if you use most of the popular cloud-based to-do apps available today.
ToDoist, for example, allows direct integration with Google Calendar. Just go to ToDoist‘s settings, select Integrations from the left menu and select Connect Calendar under Google Calendar.
Now, whenever you create a new task reminder in ToDoist, it is automatically added to your Google Calendar.
Most other business apps have similar integration with Google Calendar, or you can use apps like IFTTT or Zapier to integrate them with services.
Use the Google Calendar app
It also doesn’t make sense to stay on your desktop or laptop while you’re using the calendar. Therefore, it makes sense to install the Google Calendar app on your iPhone or Android device
The app syncs with all other devices on which you use Google Calendar, so you’re always close to your schedule, appointments, and reminders.
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Create events from Gmail
Google Calendar is also directly integrated with Gmail, and you don’t even need to do anything to turn it on.
To use this built-in Google Calendar integration, whenever you have an email open in Gmail, simply select the three dots to the right of the top icon menu. Select “Create Event” from the dropdown menu.
This will automatically create an event in your Google Calendar using the information from that email in the event details.
It’s a useful way to make an appointment or reminder right away whenever you receive an important email you want to write about.
View your calendar from Google Docs
You might be surprised to know that even Google Docs is integrated with Google Calendar. Keep track of upcoming appointments while working on documents by selecting the calendar icon on the right side of the Google Docs window.
This displays today’s agenda in a small, narrow window on the right. It’s a great way to keep the events of the day in front of your eyes, even when you’re busy with work.
Google Calendar is about more than just creating events and reminders. Between integrations, shared calendars, and all other features – Google Calendar is one of the most useful cloud calendars available to you today. And best of all, it’s free.
The Use Google Calendar Top Ten most wanted Tips
How To Use Google Calendar Top Ten most wanted Tips.