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Google Calendar
Managing your schedule in Google Calendar
Managing your schedule in Google Calendar
Getting Started in Google Calendar
Getting Started in Google Calendar
Once you have successfully created a Google account, you can enter the Google Calendar application in different ways. First and foremost, you can use the 3x3 (9-dots) Google Apps Grid or "honeycomb" as shown in Figure 1. It may be difficult to see initially, but once you have started using it, it will become second nature to you.
Figure 1 - Clickable Google Apps Grid
When you click on that honeycomb, you are presented with a lot (but not all of) the Google apps that are available to you and you can run in your Chrome browser. Note that you can arrange these app icons any way that you would like and make the ones you use most frequently near the type. In this case, you will select the Google Calendar icon as shown in Figure 3.
You can also quickly bring up the Google Calendar application by typing in https://calendar.google.com or simply typing calendar.google.com in the browser's address bar. If you want to be really efficient, you can create a "bookmark" and place the Google Calendar application directly on your bookmark bar or place it within the bookmark hierarchical structure.
After selecting the Google Calendar icon, you will be running the Google Calendar application, and you can begin to manage your time by creating events, recurring appointments, reminders, and multiple calendars for various purposes or different people. See Figure 4 for a calendar in "Week" view and Figure 4a for a calendar in "Month" view.
Figure 4 - The Google Calendar Application in Week View
Figure 5 - Google Calendar Top Bar
Google Calendar's top bar shows the current month and year, and when you hover the box “Today” it also returns the date with the day of the week. Beside that, there are two arrows, in which you can see the previous and the next week, respectively. There is a search option, so you can find your events easily, followed by the “Support” button and the “Settings” button. You can also change the calendar’s view, from Week to Day, Month, Year, and others.
Figure 2 - Google Apps
Figure 3 - Google Calendar
Figure 7 - Goggle Calendar Left Side Bar
Another essential part of Google Calendar’s page is the left sidebar, where you can see the current month grid. Below that, there is an entry box to search for people with whom you may have an event. To be searchable, you have to put the person’s email on the event while creating it. Next, there is the list with all your calendars, and also an option to add more of them—everything according to your needs.
You could use it to manage multiple people's schedules. various categories of events, such as business and personal.
Figure 6 - Creating an event (meeting with John Doe)
How to Schedule an Event in Google Calendar
How to Schedule an Event in Google Calendar
One excellent characteristic of Google Calendar is that it is very straightforward to use. Creating an event is easy and intuitive because you just need to click on the date and time you want, and start filling it with all the information you need. Or you can also press the button “+Create” on the left sidebar. For instance, we are going to show you how to create the reminder “Meeting with John Doe."
Creating the event
You just need to click on the day and time you want, and then a popup will open. The first thing you need to do is type the title and then choose from Event or Task. Next, it’s possible to change the time or day of the week by clicking on the date and time, next to the clock icon.
Adding guests
If it is an event with someone you want to receive a reminder as well, type their email on “Add Guests”. Sometimes you just need to start typing the name of the guest, and the email will appear automatically. If you want to allow the guests to make modifications in the event, or even invite more people, just click on Guest permissions and check the boxes you desire.
Don’t’ forget to click on “See guest availability”, to make sure that the time you are setting is not busy for the other person.
Location or conferencing
Click on “Add location” to either put the meeting’s place or “Add conferencing”, if it is a remote meeting.
To add a location, start typing the address, and some suggestions will appear. But if it doesn’t, type the complete address, so you and the other guests know exactly where the place is.
When you choose to add conferencing, Google Calendar creates a Google Hangouts' link for a video conference session between you and your guests. You can also install a third-party program if you don’t want to use Hangouts.
Description and attachments
The next step is to add an event description, and/or if you prefer, add attachments. Just type describing precisely what the event will be in detail, with instructions and useful links. To add an attachment, click the clips symbol, then choose the file you want. After that, just click Select or Upload, and your file will be attached to the event.
Choose a Calendar and More Options
You can choose which calendar you want to save the event to by clicking next to the calendar symbol.
In the link “More Options,” you are taken to an expanded window with more advanced options:
By clicking on “Does not repeat”, you can choose a frequency for the event, for example, “Every Week Day”, or “Every Monday”.
You can also mark the box “All Day” if that is the duration of an event.
It’s possible to add a notification as well if you want to be alerted about the event a couple of minutes or one hour in advance.
Choose if you are “Free” or “Busy” during the event, which will allow or prevent other people from inviting you to other events
On the right side, you can manage your event's guests and the permissions you want to give to them.
Save events
After completing all that is required on the event popup, you need to save your event. But as simple as it may be, there are some things that you should know about doing this process.
When you click the Save button, a pop-up will open, asking if you want to send invitation emails to your guests. You can choose between:
Send: If you want to notify the guests via email.
Don’t send: So, the guests won’t receive any notification email for now.
Dismiss: If you want to continue working on the invitation.
Deleting an event
Deleting an event
Notice that when you delete an event, it stays on the trash for about 30 days, and later it’s excluded for good. After 30 days, it’s permanently deleted, with the possibility of being manually deleted permanently if you desire.
To delete an event, just click on it and choose “Delete Event”, represented by the trash can symbol. But if you want to remove it permanently, go to the “Trash” following the same path as before, and check the box of the event, you have deleted. Then just click “Delete”.
In case you need to restore a deleted event, that hasn’t been deleted permanently, go to “Settings”, then “Trash”. Find the deleted event and mark the box next to it. Finally, click on “Restore”.
Customize an event
You can edit and customize your events accordingly to what you need. To do that, click on the event you want to customize, then set your desired color for the event to be displayed on your calendar. For example, you can pick the color red when an event requires more attention than others to signalize its importance.
If you are adding an event in a specific calendar, the color will be the same as the calendar. So be careful not to put the same color in different calendars, so you don’t get confused.
Also, if you want to add an event to a different calendar, just click on its name and choose a different calendar.
Managing Calendars
After learning the basics of how to create events, and manage them, now it’s time to become an expert on managing whole calendars.
How to import a calendar
If you have an existing calendar from any other calendar app, you can import it to Google Calendar. Keep in mind that it must be saved with the extension .ical. At the home page, click on the three dots located next to “Add calendar”, then select the option Import. Choose the desired file, and click “Import” so you can have your previous calendar inside Google Calendar.
How to export a calendar
If you need to export your calendar, it’s simple:
Click on the Settings Menu, represented by the gear symbol, then choose “Settings”.
Then click on Import & Export, on the left. Choose “export”
Your calendars will be all in a ZIP file, all with the ICS format.
How to delete a calendar
Sometimes it’s necessary to delete a calendar, and to do that you can follow these steps:
Click on the “Settings Menu” on the top right of the page, and select “Settings”.
Next, on the left menu bar, select the calendar you want to remove.
Then scroll to the bottom of the page to the section “Remove Calendar”.
You can choose one of these options: Unsubscribe if you want to unfollow calendars that you can only read, not edit, Delete, if you own the calendar.
How to create shared calendars
If you are part of a team or whatever group of people, this feature is quite interesting and still unknown to many people. It’s possible to create a shared calendar to facilitate the tracking of activities, assignments, events, and appointments in the group.
To create your shared calendar, follow these steps:
On the left, search for “Add other calendars”, then click on “create a new calendar”.
Put a name and a description on the calendar.
Select the Time Zone you are at.
Then click on Create calendar. You will be able to see it in the session “My calendars”.
Click on the three dots next to your shared calendar’s name, and choose the option “Settings and sharing”.
Scroll down to the session “Access permissions”. Here you can choose to make your calendar public, get a shareable link, or share with specific people. We recommend you to select the last one.
Click on “Add people”, and type the emails of the group. If you want to skip this manual part, you can share a link, but it may not be so secure. Then you can send this link to the group members.
Figure 8 - Permanently Deleting a Calendar
Calendar keyboard shortcuts
Calendar keyboard shortcuts
Turn on keyboard shortcuts
In Google Calendar, click Settings Settings.
At left, click Keyboard shortcuts.
Check the Enable keyboard shortcuts box.
Click Back to return to Calendar.
Note: To see a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, open Calendar and press Shift + ?.
Use ⌘ for Mac or Ctrl for Windows, Chrome OS.
Table 1 - Google Calendar Keyboard Shortcuts
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