Your first week and Beyond

Note: To use Vacation responder, your account must be at least 24 hours old.

1. Open Gmail .

2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.

3. Scroll down to Vacation responder and select Vacation responder on or Vacation responder off.

4. If you turned on the vacation responder, enter the dates you're away and add a message. Then, select who should get a response.

5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Read, respond to, and search Gmail messages when you aren’t connected to the internet. Your messages will be sent when you're back online.

On your computer, make sure you've downloaded Chrome. You can only use Gmail offline in a Chrome browser window, not using Incognito mode.

1. Go to Gmail offline settings.

2. Check "Enable offline mail."

3. Choose your settings, such as how many days of messages you want to sync.

4. Click Save changes.

Enable Gmail offline on each device for which you want offline access

You can move the Chat panel to the right or left side of your Gmail inbox.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.

2. At the top right, click Settings  See all settings.

3. At the top, click Chat and Meet.

4. Next to “Chat position,” select Left side of the inbox or Right side of the inbox.

5. Click Save Changes.

1. Next to Type of response , click the Down arrow Edit subject.

2. Enter a new subject.

You can choose how many days you see at a time in your calendar view. Select the option that’s best for you at the top of your calendar.

After you choose a new view, it becomes your default view until you change it.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

2. In the top right, choose a view: Day, Week, Month, Year, Schedule, or 4 days

1. Right-click an event.

2. Select a new color.

Note: If you change the color of an event, the original color is represented as a vertical line on the left side of the even

Add world clocks to Calendar

Show the current time in time zones of your choice at the left of your calendar:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings.

3. In "World clock" click Show world clock.

4. Click Add time zone  choose the time zones you want to see. 

Add a time zone to your calendar

Display time zones as columns in your calendar, to help schedule events across time zones.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings.

3. In the "Time Zone" section, click Display secondary time zone.

4. Click Secondary time zone   choose your time zone.

Change the time zone for all your calendars

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings.

3. In "Time Zone," click Primary time zone   choose your time zone.

Set preferences for all your calendars

1. In Calendar, click Settings >  Settings.

2. On the left under General, click Event settings.

3. Click Notifications and select an option:

   • Off

   • Desktop notifications

   • Alerts

4. (Optional) To set up a sound for your incoming notifications, check the Play notification sounds box.

5. (Optional) To manage your notifications, on the left, click your calendar > General notifications.

6. Next to each option, click the Down arrow  and select None or Email.

Customize preferences for one calendar

You can change notification preferences for specific calendars you own.

1. Open Google Calendar. 

2. In the top right, click Settings  > Settings.

3. On the left, under "Settings for my calendars," click the calendar you want to change > Calendar settings.

4. Under "Event notifications" and "All-day event notifications”: 

   • To edit your notifications: Choose if you want to receive a notification or an email. You can change how often you want to get alerts in advance.

   • To add another type of notification: Click Add notification.

   • To remove a notification: Click Remove notification 

Choose the right communication channel for your audience and message.

Communicate with individuals:

• Direct chat message—If you have a quick or time-sensitive question, send a Google Chat message.

• Email—If you need to discuss something more complex or not time-sensitive, send an email with Gmail.

Communicate with groups of people:

• Contact group—For temporary groups, like a short-term project, team, you can create a contact group. Contact groups can be used in both emails and chats. You can't directly share your contact group with others. However, if you send an email to a Contacts group, other people can reply to everyone in your Contacts group or copy your list of addresses

1. On your computer,  open Google Chat or Gmail.

2. At the top, click your status.

3. Select Do not disturb.  

4. To set your preferred duration, select a duration from the list or click "Until a specific time."  

5. Click Set.

Tip: Notifications automatically turn back on after the mute duration expires. To end mute sooner, click your status  Do not disturb  Turn off Do not disturb.

For confirmation emails with dates and times, snooze them until exactly when you need them. Your email will come back to the top of your inbox when you want it to, whether that's tomorrow, next week, or this evening. 

1. On your computer, go to Gmail. 

2. Point to the email.

3. On the right, click Snooze .

4. Choose a later day and time to get the email.

If you're part of a Gmail conversation that's no longer relevant to you, mute the conversation. Muting keeps future responses to that thread out of your inbox so you can focus on important messages.

1. On your computer, go to Gmail .

2. At the top left, click  Compose.

3. Create your email.

4. At the bottom left next to "Send," click the Down arrow .

5. Click Schedule send.

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.

2. Open the conversation you want to forward.

3. At the top of the conversation, click More Forward all.

4. In the To field, add recipients.

5. Type any additional content for the message.

6. At the bottom, click Send. 

1. In Gmail, compose an email.

2. Click More Set up a time to meetCreate an event.

3. Add details to your new event and click Save.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.

2. In the top left, click Create .

3. Add the event title and any other details.

4. Next to "Does not repeat," click the Down arrow .

5. Choose how often you want the event to repeat, and when you want the event that repeats to end.

6. At the top right, click Save.

Guests can propose a new meeting time, which the organizer can then review and optionally accept. 

Propose a new time (as attendee)

1. On your calendar, click the event.

2. Next to "Maybe," click the Up arrow  Propose a new time.

3. Select a different time or day.
   Tip: You can also add a message to your proposed time.

4. Click Send Proposal.

Note: If the event organizer has given you access to modify an event, you can reschedule it directly without proposing a new time.

Review proposed times (as organizer)

1. On your calendar, click an event with a clock icon.

2. Under "Guests," find suggested times.

3. Under the time proposal you want to review, click Review proposed time.

4. To change the event to the proposed time, click Save.

How proposed times work

• Proposals are turned off for large events with more than 200 guests and all-day events. Learn more about large events.

• All guests can propose a new time. Organizers can’t propose a new time.

• On a computer, in Google Calendar settings, if organizers turn on “Event responses,” they receive email notifications for proposals.

Instead of constantly creating new files in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms you can use a shortcut URL.

In your browser, enter one of these URLs:

• docs.new

• sheets.new

• slides.new

• forms.new

A blank file opens and you can start adding your content

Star important files and folders

1. Right-click a file or folder.

2. Select OrganizeAdd to Starred.

3. (Optional) To see all your starred files and folders, in the left sidebar, click Starred.

Color-code a Drive folder

Organize your Drive visually with color-coded folders.

1. Right-click the folder you want to change.

2. Click Change color and choose the color you want.