Google Calendar tips and tricks you must know

One of the biggest challenges in digital life is remembering important dates or key events. Google Calendar is one tool that makes it effortless to remember every date and event. While it is an indispensable tool for managing time, Google Calendar has features that can streamline your schedule. So, whether you’re planning an event, keeping track of deadlines, or coordinating work meetings, here are some tips and tricks to make the most out of Google Calendar.  

Google Calendar: Key tips and tricks to know

Whether you are using G Calendar for personal use or at work, here are some tips and tricks to put Google’s digital planner to the best use.

1. Colour-code events

2. Create multiple calendars

3. Use the “Find a Time” feature

4. Enable desktop notifications

5. Use keyboard shortcuts

6. Set up recurring events

1. Colour-coding events

Google Calendar allows users to organise their calendars by using different colour codes. If you use only one calendar then assigning different colour codes to various categories, such as work, personal, fitness, and family could help you effectively manage each activity. With colour-coding, you can easily glance at an event and understand what type of event is scheduled. To colour-code your G Calendar events, all you need to do is click on the event and select a colour from the options provided.

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2. Create multiple calendars

While colour-coding events based on different categories can simplify your calendar, you can take your productivity to a whole new level with multiple calendars. With multiple calendars, you can look at only one place for each type of activity instead of juggling through different information in the same calendar.

To add a new calendar, click the little plus sign (+) next to “My calendars” and select the “New calendar” option. From this option, you can name your calendar, give it a description and time zone, and start managing different aspects of your life using different calendars on Google.

3. Use the "Find a Time" feature

If you are using Google Calendar at your workplace then this feature will come in handy. While workplace meetings have become common, there is always the hurdle of finding the availability of different people before scheduling the call. With Google Calendar’s “Find a Time” feature, you can create an event and also find a time when all your participants are available.

To do this, go to Google Calendar and create an event, add the participants and click on the ‘Find a time’ tab. This tool will now show everyone’s availability, making it easier to pick a time slot that suits everyone. This feature is particularly useful for teams using Google Calendar to coordinate.

4. Enable desktop notifications

One of the first things you need to do is enable desktop notifications to ensure you don’t lose track of any events. To enable this, go to settings and select Notifications settings from the left-hand panel. Now, select Desktop notifications and choose how far in advance you would like to be alerted about your events.

5. Use keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are one of the effective ways to save time and work like a power user. For Google Calendar users, the important keyboard shortcuts to remember are “C” to create a new event and “T” to go to today’s date. You can enable keyboard shortcuts from your calendar settings.

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6. Set up recurring events

If you are someone who has regular activities like weekly meetings or daily meetings then instead of creating an event for each occurrence, you can create recurring events to save on manual labour. While creating an event, click on “Does not repeat” and then select the frequency – daily, weekly, monthly and you can even customise the calendar to ensure the event does not appear on a particular day or date.

Google Calendar tips and tricks: Some other things to know

In addition to the above-mentioned tips and tricks, you can also use Google Calendar to streamline your work by attaching documents, slides, or meeting agendas directly to your calendar events. If you work with colleagues from different time zones then you can enable “Display secondary time zone” from settings to add another time zone to your calendar.

You can also enhance your G Calendar with add-ons like Zoom, Trello, or Asana to further simplify your workflow. You can also set personal goals like exercising or learning a new language or skill to prioritise personal objectives. All these features make Google Calendar more than an app to keep track of important dates for personal or professional use.