Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more

Sharing is caring!

Last Updated on January 27, 2020

Much like Gmail, Google Reader and Google’s other products, Google Calendar is fast becoming the application of choice for users all over the world. With great functionality and integration with Google’s other products it’s no wonder its popularity is growing. But chances are good that you’re not maxing out all the features of Google Calendar that you could be. Here are a few ways you can try to add to your Google Calendar experience.

Basic Tips

You might already be using Google Calendar, but are you using it to the fullest? Here are a few tips to make the most of the basic features.

Make use of the “other calendars” feature. Have a favorite team that you don’t want to miss a game for? Love astronomy and want to keep track of the phases of the moon? You can add both to your Google Calendar. Click the plus sign next to other calendars. From there you can add reminders on your calendar for everything from holidays to your favorite TV show schedules. Change your view. You aren’t stuck with just the standard view in Google Calendar. Change yours to reflect the format that works best for you. Just go to the Settings page under the General tab and you can change your tabs along the top of the calendar to the time frame that best suits you. You can also change the day your week begins, your date and time format, whether or not to show weekends, and more. Make the most of quick adds. One of the greatest features of Google Calendar is the quick add feature. Simply hit “Q” on your keyboard or click on the “Quick Add” link in the upper right side of your calendar. You don’t even have to type them in formally, plain english works just fine so long as you include the important details. If you don’t specify a time, GCal will schedule your task or event for the current or next day. Additionally, you can invite others by adding an email to the quick add box and even specify that an event should repeat all from a simple entry box. Set up email event reminders. Never forget an important meeting or to pick up your dry cleaning again. With Google Calendar you can have your events emailed, texted, pop-up, or sent as SMS to you directly. Just set up reminders under Settings-Notifications. Add events from Gmail. One of the features of Gmail is that it includes some basic language processing that can recognize event-related information. If it finds some, it will give you an option to add it to your calendar. Simply click on the link and you can edit the event and send it right to your calendar. View the weather. You can see if your weekly events will sync up with the weather or if you’ll need to bring an extra umbrella by integrating the weather report right into your calendar. Go to Settings and General, enter your location and whether you want degrees in Celsius or Fahrenheit, and you’ll have the weather right at your fingertips. Set up repeating events. Most people have at least a few regularly occurring events on their schedules. There’s no need to type them in again and again on your calendar. Use the “repeats” pull-down to select the days your event repeats weekly, monthly, or yearly. Share calendars. You can create and share calendars with others using Google Calendar. Share your kickball team’s schedule, coworkers’ vacations or anything else you want by creating a new calendar and simply clicking on the “share this calendar” link. Share space. Having trouble managing that conference room between different departments or among coworkers? You can use GCal to help you. Use the auto accept invitations that don’t conflict feature. It will accept any invitations to a conference room that don’t conflict with others. Invite your friends. Looking for an alternative to Evite? Give GCal a try instead when you’re arranging your next get together. Though not as colorful or festive, you can send and manage event invitations through your calendar and your friends can even comment and discuss the events just like in Evite.

Scripts

Scripts make it easy for users to customize their Google Calendar experience. Try these to personalize yours and make it easier to use at the same time.

Extensions and Add-ons

Whether you need to integrate your calendar with your blog or your browser, these extensions can help you make the most of your experience.

Hacks and Tricks

Use these tricks and tips to make your Google Calendar better when you’re at home or when you’re away.

Have your schedule sent to you. Google Calendar makes it easy to get your daily agenda sent straight to you. If you’ve got GCal set up to use with your phone, getting your schedule is easy. Simply text “day” to the short code 48368. Access your calendar remotely. Even when you’re on the road and can’t hook up your laptop you can still get your schedule sent to you. Text “next” to 48368 to get your next day’s schedule sent right to your phone. Use keyboard shortcuts. Google Calendar is chock full of keyboard shortcuts that can speed up your appointment making. You can check out a complete list of the shortcuts here. Use keyword access on Firefox. You can make accessing Google Calendar in Firefox as simple as pressing a key. Bookmark GCal and add a short simple keyword that you can type in and bring it up quickly and easily. Make Google Calendar your desktop background. This guide from Lifehacker will tell you how you can make Google Calendar your desktop background in Windows XP. It’s a great digital alternative to the giant paper desktop calendars. Google Calendar for iPhone: Get the official Google Calendar app for your iPhone to check your schedule on the go. Supercharge Google Calendar: 30 Tips, Tricks, Hacks and Add-Ons: Check out this giant list for even more hacks and tricks. Calendar.com’s Google calendar Hacks is worth checking out.

Calendar Syncs

Many people can’t just get down to one calendar. Here are some programs to make using multiple calendars easy.