With two kids, a husband, a springer spaniel, and a little video show, managing it all can get a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, Google Calendar has stepped in and become command central for my life. I've talked about GCal in the past, but today I want to dig a little deeper and highlight some of the special features of this powerful calendar that help keep my family on track, and can help you wrangle your schedule too.
42 Comments
Alan Reeves says:
Great video Carley. Setting up SMS in Google Calendar is a great idea that I had never thought of. Using the quick add feature and the SMS at the same time could be a great timesaver.
One issue my wife and I ran into was having a calendar that would remind us both by email. If she would put in an event and invite me, I would have to go in and setup a reminder (could have been how we had it setup). To fix that, I created another calendar and email that forwards all messages to both her's and my normal addresses. Plus, it works great to give out to friends if they want to get in touch with both of us. They can just send an email to AlanandSharon@[mydomain].com and the message gets to both of us. Thanks
Susie E says:
I use the invite feature to remind family members or other people involved in the appointment. When they accept the invitation, it automatically gets added to their calendar and I know they are on board.
Jennifer @Got HarMoney? says:
Thanks so much for sharing those tips. They were definitely very helpful. I have never played around with the different features, I appreciate you bringing them to my attention
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Louise Moed says:
Your 2nd part on maximizing the benefits of using Google calendars was helpful but still left me with a frustration for which I didn't find an answer by googling my question. I can't figure out how to change the default when calendaring a new event from "all day" to a time. I don't like having to uncheck it each time in order to enter the time of the event. Have you found the secret? Thanks. Louise
Coral Bentley says:
Click in the top part where your 'all day' events would show up to create the event. Then, be very careful to not express the time in numbers or 'noon'. I'll often write down 'dentist four and a half' for example. Bit of a nuisance, but it works.
Coral Bentley says:
Sorry, have that backwards. It's what I use when having all-day events instead of time ones.
Paul says:
Hi Louise
Try entering the time of the event in the same field as you enter the event, i.e. "Dentist Appt 2:30pm-3:30pm" That should do it and set the time as specified. Cheers!
Louise Moed says:
The suggestion to put time into the event didn't work. Google calendared it as an all-day event. But people's comments led me to try a different view than my usual "month at a glance." The "week" or "day" view shows time slots and it's easy to click on the time slot for the event in order to create it, thus avoiding the default of "all day" that seems to go along with the "month" view. Problem solved. Thanks.
AWhitcroft says:
I had the same problem and the key is to put in times that Gcal can understand. I have been very successful using the following time period indicators: 2pm-3pm Meeting with Client
Gcal will set the meeting time correctly when I format my entries that way.
Margarita Ibbott ~ @DownshiftingPRO says:
Carley: can you sync a Blackberry Calendar to a Google calendar? Or is there an app. for that? Thanks
Frances says:
Thanks for the tips on using Google cal. I love it on my phone and computer. One of my favourite elements is using different colours for different aspects of my life as well as being able to sink it from phone to computer or visa versa
AWhitcroft says:
Yes, BB can sync with Gcal when using a BIS as a gateway. If you have your BB sync to a BES then I don't know if it will work, probably not.
Tracey Rissik says:
Great tips Carly - all new to me!
I've only fairly recently started using GCal (when I moved my email to Gmail) - and I love that I can create an event in GCal from within an email - when reading an email, click on "More" and then "Create Event" and voilà, you can edit & save & it's in the calendar.
EmilyG says:
My favorites are several of yours: quick add; separate, different-colored calendars (I have about seven?); and REMINDERS for sure.
But I really just wanted to tell you that I had a hair appointment on Oct 19 at 2pm, so that was REALLY weird to watch in your video!! Hahaha.
CKnobloch says:
EmilyG— That's CRAZY!!
Lisa says:
Carly,
God Bless You, for helping us simplify our lives and be in the know of the latest apps, gadgets and more. If there is anything we can do to help you....let me know..I am here to serve.
Have a great blessed day.
Stacy says:
Thank you for sharing this, I thought I was up on all this and I was wrong! One of my absolute favorite things about google calendar is the ability to color code. With a business, family of seven, volunteerism and my personal goals, I can see all or or what I only need to see at that time. I loved the tip to quickly add an appointment with date and time and it would automatically set it up. Thanks!
Alexa Roman says:
I love these tips. I'm a huge GCal user and I didn't realize some of these settings. Appreciate it:)
Stephanie says:
Thanks for the tip about adding in sports schedules and other calendars (and the fact that you almost added the Celtics had me at hello!). I am constantly looking up the Boston sports teams schedules and this will be a nice time saver.
nina says:
Thank you for all of your videos, Love them. Great time saving tips.
On GCal, I do not have the "2 weeks" view choice, it it an addition? Where do I get it.
Heather says:
You have to create the 2 weeks view under 'custom'. "Custom" on mine was pre-set to '4 days', but if you check 'custom', it offers the option to define it. I just set mine to two weeks, and it's really a nice option.
Frances says:
I don't have a Blackberry but use the app CalenGoo that works well.
AWhitcroft says:
The power of having multiple Gcalendars for differant topics should not be under estimated. I provides lots of flexibility.
Rachel says:
LOVE the two week view tip! Life changing!
TinaM says:
Just when I thought I knew it all about G-cal, I learn some new tricks! Thanks again
Dona says:
Is there a way to put the Google Calendar on my website for my clients to make their own appointments or to see when I am available?
mike burke says:
yes there is go to the calendar settings make it public then copy the html embed code where you want the calendar to appear on your site
Michele G. says:
I didn't know you could set default reminders. I love that you can do that! Going to set mine up tonight! Thanks!
Lilli says:
I don't like the GCal interface. Do you know of any desktop Gcal clients for a PC?
michael burke says:
outlook is one
Gail says:
I've been using GCal for several years now. My newest favorite is to text TO google calendar (the same one you receive the reminders at) to add appointments! It works VERY slick, the same as the desktop quick add! I would put "Dentist, 8am Oct 18" and receive a reply text that it has been added to my calendar!
I also subscribe to my husband and kids' calendars, so I can add events directly to their calendars (since none of them do it themselves!). Since I can also see theirs on my own, I can also remind them the day before.
michael burke says:
if you have editing rights on their calendars set reminders when you add new events and you wont have to remind them yourself all the time
Amy Sandlin says:
I love G-cal, but what makes it even better for me is an app for my iPhone called Pocket Informant. This app is a calendar and task list plus contacts and notes....everything that I need for my day! It syncs with G-cal so I can access my info online as well as when I'm on the go. Love it!
Jendi says:
I didn't know about the weather! That's pretty neat. Now that my husband and I both have smart phones we are using the G-cal more. I love that it works with my Android and his iOS!
Thanks for the video.
DG says:
Hi Carly,
I've been following your video show for awhile now and have learned so much along the way...thank you! Quick question...I used to use gCal, but I stopped using it about 6 months ago because I was having problems using it along with Apple Calendar on my Mac and Calendar on my iPhone. Often I was getting conflicts about the reminder times. Any tips on integrating gCal with Apple Calendar on the Mac and iPhone?
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide!
April Driggers says:
VERY GOOD STUFF!!! Thanks for this! I love quick, Cliff's Notes versions of helpful tips that not only make things a little easier to work around but that can be applied IMMEDIATELY! You rock!
ccw says:
hmm, just tried the sms and got a text back saying "Sorry, event creation via SMS is no longer supported". Bummer, that's a handy feature. Despite that I know 10x more about gCal than I did before!
Gail says:
Well shucks, I hadn't tried to SMS a calendar item lately since I have an iPhone and it is easy to create an event.
For the question above about the syncing with gcal and mac/iphone/ipad, I had trouble at first, but on my iphone/ipad, I have my google calendar as the default calendar. On my Mac, I don't really use the Mac calendar because I add events on my iphone/ipad or my google calendar online.
Contact syncing was a HUGE problem until I figured out to create the gmail CardDAV account and have that be the default. This allows for instant updates across google contacts, Mac, iPhone and iPad!
Carrie says:
I put all my bills in Google Calendar, and they are set on "recurring" every month. It makes it so much easier to figure the budget and pay on time!
CKnobloch says:
Carrie— love this!
Amy says:
I am new to the Google Calendar...am wondering if there is a way that when I put a reminder in my phone that my husband will automatically be reminded also? He doesn't need to add anything but it is very important that he gets reminders at the same time I do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Michael Burke says:
not sure but i think all guests can set their own reminder preferences