Calendar 2014

Options to add to a mobile device:

Calendar options:

  • View options:  Week, Month, Day, Agenda
  • Details in your events
  • Moving event - drag and drop
  • Multiple calendars
    • Click the arrow next to My Calendars (left), then Create Calendar.  You can give the calendar its own name, color, and description.  Click which calendars you want on view in the My Calendars panel.
  • Share calendars
    • Two or more people can add or edit events from their own accounts, with the results visible to all of them.  Mouse over the calendar you want to share and open the Edit menu.  Choose share this calendar and enter the email(s) of the people you want to give access to.
  • Gmail integration
    • You can add guests to any event when you create or edit one.  If you put a date and time into a Gmail email, it automatically transforms it into an event link.
  • Special Days
    • As well as showing the weather for the postcode saved in your Google profile, you can find and subscribe to other special calendars.  Go to Settings and choose Settings >Calendars.  You'll find a link labelled "Find interesting calendars" on the right.
  • Other Apps
    • You can view your Google calendars in other apps.  While in your Google Calendar, mouse over the calendar you want to use.  Click the arrow and choose Calendar settings.  Click the XML button. A window with your calendar's private URL will pop up.  Use this link to connect your calendar to other apps.
  • Daily Agenda
    • To receive a daily agenda, click the drop-down menu next to the appropriate calendar and select "Notifications." Select the Email check box next to "Daily agenda" in the section called "Choose how you would like to be notified." Then, click "Save."
  • Accessing your calendar offline
    • If you're traveling and don't have access to an Internet connection, you can still access your calendar on your laptop. To enable Offline, you must download the Google Chrome browser. Click the gear icon and choose "Offline" from the drop-down menu. You'll be prompted to install the Google Calendar Web application from the Chrome Web Store.
    • Once the installation is complete, a new Chrome tab will open and the Google Calendar Web app icon will appear. Click the icon to go to Google Calendar. Next to "Offline," you should see a green icon with a checkmark. This indicates that your calendar is synched and ready to use offline. If your calendar is still syncing, you'll see a green spinning icon.
  • Customizing Calendar times
    • If you generally don't have anything scheduled at 3 a.m. (except for sleep, hopefully), the "Hide morning and night" feature lets you customize your calendar so you see only events within the time range of your choice.
    • Click the gear icon in your Calendar view, then select "Labs." Find "Hide morning and night," click "Enable" next to it, then "Save."
    • On your main Calendar view, you'll notice a gray bar that appears in the column with the hours of the day. Adjust the time range by clicking and dragging the bar at the top to the desired start time, and move the bar at the bottom to the desired end time.

  • How to decline events on your calendar
    • If you'll be away on vacation or know you have a prior commitment, a handy tool in Google Calendar labs is "Automatically declining events." To turn on this feature, click the gear icon at the top right of your screen and select "Labs." Click "Enable" next to it, then "Save" at the bottom of the page.
    • This feature lets you block times in your calendar when you know you'll be unavailable. When someone sends you an invite for an event during this time period, Google Calendar will automatically decline it.

  • Embrace multiple time zones
    • Nowadays, many of us have colleagues who live in different parts of the country or world. Not to fear, though: Google Calendar makes managing multiple time zones easy.
    • Click the gear icon at the top-right of the Web interface and select Labs. Look for the option labeled "World clock," click the button to enable it, and then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. You'll now find a customizable world clock to the right of your calendar. It'll show the current time by default and the time for a specific event when you've clicked an appointment. You can change what time zones are displayed by clicking the Settings link beneath the clock.

  • Get appointments by speaking (My new favorite)
    • Why type when you can talk? If you have an Android device, you can interact with Google Calendar simply by speaking aloud.
    • First, activate Google Voice Search by tapping the microphone icon on your device's home screen. Then say something like "Schedule a meeting with Jim tomorrow at noon" to make a new appointment. You can get spoken info about upcoming events in a variety of ways, too, like asking what your plans are for tomorrow or when your next haircut is.
    • Even if you don't have an Android device, you can access a limited range of Voice Search commands from a desktop PC by clicking the microphone icon on the Google home page.

  • Using the Quick Add feature 
    • Google Calendar has a full-fledged form you can use for creating new events, but you can often save yourself a lot of trouble by using the service's Quick Add feature instead. All you do is click the red arrow next to the Create button on the main Calendar page. Then type in your info in plain English -- telling Google what, with whom, where, and when your appointment is.
    • You might type "meeting with Bill in conference room B tomorrow at 3 p.m.," for instance; from that, Google will put the details in the right fields and create the event for you. You can even have Quick Add send out invitations by including attendees' email addresses in your text.

  • Put your calendar in Chrome
    • If you use Google's Chrome browser, a free extension called Checker Plus for Google Calendar can make Calendar a core part of your Internet experience. It puts a special icon in your browser's toolbar area; hovering over the icon will show you a quick rundown of your next couple appointments, while clicking it will bring up a full interactive pop-up calendar for viewing detailed information about any event and for adding new events.
    • Checker Plus can deliver customizable rich HTML notifications, too -- regardless of whether Google Calendar or even Chrome is actively open -- with the option for event details to be read aloud.

  • Add weather to your calendar
    • You probably look at Google Calendar every morning to see what's on your agenda, so why not get a weather forecast while you're at it? All you have to do is head into Calendar's settings and look for the option labeled "Show weather based on my location." Click on the Fahrenheit option -- or Celsius, if you prefer -- and make sure you've also set your location in the field above it. Then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. Once you refresh Calendar, you'll see small weather icons at the top of each day. You can hover over the icon to get more info or click it to see even more detail.

  • Look at the whole year
    • Sometimes it's helpful to see things in perspective -- to look at an entire year's calendar on a single screen. Google Calendar can help you do it; you just have to enable the setting first. Click the Calendar gear icon, select Labs, then find and enable the option labeled "Year view." When you save and return to your calendar, you'll see a new widget in the right-hand sidebar that lets you enter any year and click Go to see a year-long display. From the year view, you can click on any individual date to jump directly to it and manage its events.

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