Is my husband going to be home for dinner? Does that business meeting conflict with basketball practice? Game night, girl's night, date night... keeping everyone's schedules straight in my work and family life is a herculean effort. To manage everyone's coming and going, I need something more than just a place to jot things down (sorry, paper calendar). What I need is a system that truly supports me and helps me get through my day, one commitment at a time.
That's why I can't live without Google Calendar. Let me count the ways I love it: I can use it anywhere (so every device I have gets me where I'm going), it's easy to share schedules, so I can coordinate efforts with co-workers and significant others, aaaand it's free.
Watch this week's Twirl to learn to see why gCal and I have a standing appointment.
55 Comments
Ann B says:
I wonder if you have any concerns about the changes to Google's privacy policy (going into effect in early March), and if this will (or won't!) change the way you use Google?
CKnobloch says:
Ann B— I AM concerned (as we all should be), but Google has me hooked... I'm not sure how I would begin to extract my life from it's software if for some reason I read something in their privacy policy I didn't like. I will continue to read their settings and be smarter about how to keep my information private. Not the greatest answer, but... sigh.
Sarah M says:
Great job CK! I always enjoy your videos and tips. Just out of curiousity, what type of video player do you use on your page to play your twirls? I like the concept of the mini video slides below that scroll and all the menu buttons; email, share, link etc
CKnobloch says:
Sarah M— we use Brightcove: http://www.brightcove.com
Henrietta says:
Hi, I like your digwirls... I am interested why you think Google calendar is better than the apple calender.
Does it have additional features that the apple one doesn't?
Henrietta
CKnobloch says:
Henrietta— Good question. I've been an Apple user for a long time. And I love the simplicity and the effectiveness of all the Apple products. But Google appeals to more people because it just works well everywhere. Because it's web based (and not an "app"), anyone can use it, which means so many more people use it. And the features (like sharing, and inviting, and the "boss's schedule" feature I mention in the video) are a bit more sophisticated than Apple.
Love them both, but have officially made the switch to gCal and find it works better for me.
Jim says:
Do you like google calendars better than the cozi calendar? Do you think there is a need to have both?
CKnobloch says:
Jim— Love love love Cozi. But it's absolutely geared toward families. And while it integrates with Google (and iCal and others, which is nice), to get ALL the benefits of it you really need to use it at Cozi.com, and I'm in Google every day. I also like the simplicity of Google's interface, it just gets the job done. We recommend Cozi for SURE, but we love Google too.
Mridu Parikh says:
Carly, I love your videos. They are so smart and easy to follow. And I am a HUGE google calendar fan. I'm an Organizer so I am always trying to get clients on googlecal. The best thing I learned today was that it integrates with other calendars. I thought they had to start fresh with google calender. That is the best tip ever!! Thank you!!
CKnobloch says:
Mridu— Thanks so much for the compliments! *blush*
Glad I could teach you something new. Here's even more information about syncing with Outlook: http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=89955
Angie says:
I use Google Calendar but I know there is much more I can do with it, so I look forward to seeing what else you share with us. I just set up a reminder for a webinar this week and did an email reminder and a pop up reminder but not sure how to do a text notice.
I have all my daily blog post topics and personal workouts set up on the calendar and want to start adding my client work items to it as well.
I'm definitely looking forward to more videos on how to use it better.
CKnobloch says:
Super! If you go into Calendar settings and click "mobile set up" you'll be able to register your phone. Then, when you're creating reminders, you'll have the option to send yourself a text before events. Give it a try!
Stephanie Pollock says:
Thanks Carley! Love this video.
I finally made the switch from my crazy multi-pronged calendar approach (iCal, paper, sticky notes etc.) to Google Cal and I LOVE it too. I use it for appointments, but I also use it to create calendars for my marketing initiatives, blog editorial calendar and more.
It's my go-to tool now.
CKnobloch says:
Stephanie— I have to admit, I was straddling iCal and Google (plus sticky notes) for a long time, and it sucked. I am a big Apple fan/user so it was hard to switch over. But the truth is, it just WORKS and is more functional, easier to share and collaborate with people, receive invites to events, etc. So glad we're on the same (calendar) page!
Lisa says:
I'm a HUGE Google calendar fan! I had tried Cozi, but just found gCal to be more robust and fit into my life better. I was able to shift my husband from an older hand-held to an iTouch. My son now has his own iTouch and the three of us share a calendar. Often, I'm the one who takes care of inputting the data, but they can and do occasionally.
As we say in this house, if its not on the calendar - it isn't happening!
Google Calendar has been a fantastic way to organize & color code our school, work, extra-curricular and volunteering activities!! Love it! Love it! Love it!
CKnobloch says:
Lisa— So glad I'm preaching to the choir!
Phil Phan says:
I totally agree! Sharelendar is a new and free tool that's worth checking out, especially for larger groups of friends and family. They offer a different service because they are focused on socializing. They use short calendars to communicate which keeps it simple. I personal don't want to share my events on an hourly basis for socializing. The best part is we don't have to label our friends with confusing colors. So we can have many friends and not worry about running out of available colors. Check out Sharelendar if you want a great calendar-based socializing tool for groups over 10.
samantha says:
hi carley!
a few twirls ago you introduced me to cozi - so i got our family all set up over there. but this google calendar looks awesome too! how would you compare the 2 calendar systems? and if i choose to change, can all of my cozi stuff be transferred easily?
thanks for the help - always!
Allison says:
I use Google Calendar on my iPhone, but want to learn how to use all of its features and feel more confident that I have it set up properly. Looking forward to more of your videos. Do you know much about OmniFocus and Pocket Informant? I met both at MacWorld in San Francisco this last weekend, and they look like great options.
Jenni says:
When I discovered calendar sharing with Google calendar, I was hooked. While my husband has a regular 8-5 job, I'm all over the place. Aside from our individual calendars which are shared for viewing only, we have calendars for each kid and a "family" one which we can both edit. Now my husband isn't surprised when—as a family—we have to make an appearance somewhere!
I also like how it works together with Google Maps on my Android phone. If I enter the address of where I'm supposed to be in my calendar, Google Maps on my phone can give me directions right from the entry!
CKnobloch says:
Jenni— Yes! Both great tips!
Sannaliina says:
I used Google Calendar with iCal but after Lion update my calendars went totally messed up. I hope they (Apple+Google) make up soon. While having these problems I started to use iCal+iCloud.
CKnobloch says:
Sannaliina— It's true, they're not as nice to each other as they could be. But things should generally work still. You should pop into an Apple store and have them helpful. I use both, post-Lion, and they're working just fine.
sylrayj says:
Something else I've been considering with Google Calendar is adding other interesting calendars, such as holidays (Canadian and American). Click on the arrow-in-a-box to the right of "Other Calendars" and Browse Interesting Calendars to see Holidays, Sports, and More. It might take the guess-work out of when Easter is coming!
CKnobloch says:
Sylrayj— This is a great idea. Means you have to do less typing in your personal calendar, and you can "turn off" all holidays if you want to have a more streamlined view (I'm turning calendars on and off all the time so I can see the most important events!). FYI— half my family is in Canada, so I subscribe to Canadian AND US Holidays.
David says:
Carly, I really do like your videos and the information they convey. I presently use Yahoo calendar with my yahoo email on my IPhone and PC desktop. Yahoo seems to have the multi-calendar assimilation options that Google does as shown in your video.
Any thoughts on the Yahoo vs. Google calendar or for that matter email differences.
Thank you again.
Make it a great day.
CKnobloch says:
Hi David— Thank you!
I think it's such a personal decision, though the general consensus is that gCal has the most features and is quite simple to use. But if you use YahooMail and find that their calendar integrates better with email, it might make more sense for you to stick with that.
Christine says:
Hi Carly...I just discovered you and love your digitwirls...you are so inspiring and perfectly cute for this site. I'll be sharing with lots of my friends.
I am a new gmail and iPhone user and am too basic with the calendar I now see. A few specific questions:'
1. I had first/still have Outlook on my laptop and when I receive emails in gmail asking if I want to add an appointment to my calendar, it goes to the Outlook calendar...how do reset something to have it go to my Google calendar directly?
2. In sharing with someone else is there a way to see their calendar if they are not using Google calendar?
3. It seems easier to set up an appointment in detail from my phone, but I'd rather do it with the calendar up on my laptop...is there somewhere that has the same details on the laptop (not an Apple)?
4. Suggestions for color mixing and matching...by person, yes...other thoughts?
Thanks so much and I'll look forward to more!
p.s. My daughter invited me to join her on Google Latitude, but I can 't figure out where the "location" button is to turn it on so it won't let me connect???
CKnobloch says:
Christine—
Here are the best answers I can muster, not knowing Outlook that well:
1. Not sure. That might be something you need to look for here: http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=13948&parent=1665163&ctx=topic
2. It depends what system they're using. You can subscribe to other people's calendars in gCal, even if they don't use Google Calendar... I'm not sure if that's answering your question.
3. I'm not understanding this question. Where are you setting up the appointment? There's so much more detail at calendar.google.com and with the keyboard it's easier to type in more information.
4. I color code all my calendars so it's easy for me to create short events and know who they're for. I don't have to type "Doctor's Appointment for Annie", just "Doctor"... because if it's in green I know it's for her.
Hope that's helpful!
Gail says:
I LOVE google calendar, too and have been using it for several years! Now that it is on my phone, too, I'm really loving it! I have set up cals for my husband and sons (I put their items on usually), and use the "invite" feature to send my husband a notice at work since he doesn't have a smart phone.
Something I JUST learned a couple weeks ago is after you set up mobile, you can save "48368" as a contact (Google Event). Then if you don't have time to open the calendar, find the correct date, plug in the time, etc., just TEXT to your default calendar! Send a text to 48368 "Lunch with Mom Wed at 12pm" and it will put it on there for you! How COOL is that?
Also, any "iCal" link can be added to your google calendar to subscribe to calendars like sports or school schedules, groups you belong to, etc.!
CKnobloch says:
Gail— I love this tip about SMSing yourself an event! Thanks! And yes, it's true that you can subscribe to any calendar from iCal in Google Calendar. They make it really easy!
Gabrielle says:
I love google calendar!
I started using it for school carpool several years ago. Make a separate calendar JUST for carpool, then share in the other carpool families. And give them the ability to edit it as well.
It is so easy to schedule everything in, I would do two months at a time (because schedules change with sports, plays etc) and then we did last minute changes by email if needed. You can set each day by using the scheudling function, where you repeat meetings every Monday, or Tuesday, etc, for each driver. Enter in the days with no school as "no school" so everyone can see all the needed details. And one parent added a field that repeated everyday, which had all relevant phone numbers, so you never had to run around looking for them at the last minute. (Okay, that was before we all had great cell phones.)
CKnobloch says:
Gabrielle— I LOVE that. I have a similar set-up for the basketball team families that I set up and invited them to share. But I LOVE the carpool idea!
Dean says:
Carley, did you ever try iCloud's share feature with Calendars? Just curious. It's interesting, but nowhere near what gCal is. I love iCal as the "Hub" for me. Especially those who run Exchange accounts for business, personal accounts for family or life, iCal just mixes it nicely.
I am def a user of Cozi.com Gold. Love it actually. Feeds right into iCal very nicely.
Thoughts?
CKnobloch says:
Dean— Yes, I have used all the possible combinations of iCal and gCal, and for a while, I felt like each of my feet were on two icebergs that were floating away from each other! It does work well if you're a predominant user of one (let's say, iCal) and need to share a calendar with another (gCal) here and there. But, for me, I found people were having trouble sharing my calendars if they weren't MobileMe (or iCloud) users and I wasn't able to accept invites to gCal events as easily. iCloud calendar sharing definitely works, but not in as many cases as gCal. And as for Cozi, there's nothing better for managing family life.
Ladies Holiday says:
Google is also great for keeping track of blog posts! Any tips there?
Thanks for outlining the details of how to optimize Google Calendar...can't wait for more...I'd kinda just been winging it!
CKnobloch says:
Ladies Holiday— Sure! I have a separate calendar that I share with my editorial and production teams that shows all our upcoming episodes, as well as any guest posts or videos we have appearing elsewhere. This way, if there's a spike in traffic, we can track what event might have sparked it. PLUS, when the blog posts are done, you can add a link in the google calendar appointment entry, so it becomes a quick link source for finding your way to old posts. let me know if you can think up ideas that I haven't mentioned!
Gail says:
Carly how well does gCal sync with Outlook? I was using Cozi and it just wasn't working for my husband, who is using a Blackberry and didn't want to log in to Cozi.
I've been a power Outlook user for years and I maintain the 'master calendar' in Outlook and send him everything as appointments. I need easy sharing with minimal effort on his part.
CKnobloch says:
Gail— I know that there's tons of documentation on what you're asking about here: http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=13948&parent=1665163&ctx=topic
I don't use Outlook, so I have no personal experience with this, but I know that it integrates. Perhaps you should try it and see what happens.
Christine says:
I use the calendar that is on our ipads. I have no idea to sync them together or just some items. Maybe I should use this google calendar thing but not sure how to get my info. from my ipad calendar to google. Any suggestions? I also don't use iCloud because my husbands ipad was getting all of my info. and none of his. Not sure how to use that feature. Any help?
CKnobloch says:
Christine— If you were to use Google Calendar, you could add your google account to both your ipad "Calendar" app. Then you would be able to see and edit all your appointments on whatever device you wish. This works really well with iCloud too, but you need to register each device as either "yours" or "his"... otherwise you won't be seeing your own calendar. Hope that's helpful!
Christine says:
Thank you that was helpful. Where do I get the google calendar from? Also do I download it to my laptop first or do I start out on the iPad?
Brooke says:
As always, your tips are much appreciated!
I currently use http://tungle.me to share my calendar with candidates.
I'm a fan of +Google, do you know if I could have a similar UI with my professional social profile and contact info? https://tungle.me/ brooke.anderson
Audrey says:
Hey Carly, great video! I love gCal and am trying to get it to work on my iPhone but am having problems. Do you have to install a separate app to get to see all the other calanders you have? I can only see the one that's associated with my google account, not any of the shared ones (like my husbands). Thanks!
CKnobloch says:
Audrey— There is a magical website destination that can help you out: http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
Took me forever to figure this out, actually. But once you're there, you can turn on the rest of your calendars and you'll be all set.
Margot Perry says:
Thanks for all the awesome tips and videos. I was wondering if you knew of any good tutorials for getting set up and using google calendar w/ my iphone and/or ipad. Thanks!
Phil Phan says:
Sharelendar is a new and free tool. They offer a different service because they focused on socializing. They use short calendars to communicate which keeps it simple. I personal don't want to share my events on an hourly basis for socializing. The best part is we don't have to label our friends with confusing colors. So we can have many friends and not worry about running out of available colors. Check out Sharelendar if you want a great calendar-based socializing tool.
Kristin Beckman says:
I love following Digitwirl. Thank you for sharing your bright tips with the rest of us. I'm a Google Calendar addict and like many of us, I have lots of calendars, jobs, volunteer things, a husband, three kids, etc, but still cna't find the perfect - is there one - way to handle calendaring.
In our house we have three Google accounts (email, calendar, etc). 1) me, 2) my husband, 3) family. It works well. But we also have three kids who I am now tracking on the calendars. I have a color coded calendar for each of them set up on our family calendar. Great. Here's the challenge - I want to have EVERYTHING on our family calendar and then assign out things to specific calendars from there. Right now for instance, my son Max has a baseball game so I add it to the family calendar, invite my husband and me so it's on ours and now I want it on Max's calendar. I have to copy the original calendar item to his calendar. If I set-up a Google account for him (he's 8 so I wouldn't have him using it yet), I could put it on his calendar in one step by inviting him (instead of going back in to copy) and if I update the item on the family calendar it would update all.
So, do you have all your additional calendars set-up within your Google account or do you have some set-up in their own google account and then give yourself all permissions?
Thanks. Kristin
Lisa says:
Kristin, I set up the separate email accounts. I have full access on all the accounts.
Dee Grimm says:
I've been a long time Outlook user and am switching to Google email and calendar because of the easy access from my android phone, ipad, etc. Even though it's not DIGITAL, sometimes I need to print a week's calendar for hanging on the refrigerator or sharing with my non-PC Mom. I can't find a simple way to print an entire week's (7 days) calendar from 6 am to 10 pm with details on one page. Any suggestions?
Kristin says:
I've used Google Calendar for awhile and seem to always learn something new and want something more. I add some of the same "events" to my individual calendar as well as our family calendar - primarily those things that I want to remember for myself and make sure my husband is aware of! A couple of questions -
1) is there a way to have our family calendar automatically accept these?
2) although I have both my individual and our family calendar on my iPhone, if an event is on both of these calendars, regardless of which calendar created the event, I can't edit it from my iPhone. Any way so I can?
Thanks. Kristin
CKnobloch says:
Kristin—
1) When you're looking at Event's Details page, you should see a pull down menu at the top that says, "More Actions". One of the choices there is to "copy to" one of your other calendars... that should do the trick (though I would imagine it would make your calendar crowded!
2) The iPhone/Google Calendar conversation is a long one. There is a way to make your iPhone see all your Google calendars so you can edit them/add to them on the go (that's what I do), but it's a bit of a process, and there's not one great place to find the information (perhaps a future twirl!). This is a good place to start: http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
Hope that's helpful!
Colleen says:
Can you share your tips on how to view and print different color coded calendar entries? I don't like they way mine is being viewed. Not easy to view and print.
Getting the most out of Google Calendar | Digitwirl says:
[...] 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 [...]
eblim says:
i am sharing my google calendar with my son. i already set him up on my google calendar and sent him an e-mail inviting him. however, if he goes to his google calendar on his pc he can see all the appointments but if he goes to his google calendar on his samsumg galaxy s3 he cannot see it. what i am doing wrong? why he can see it on the pc but not on his phone?
thank you