How to Use Google Calendar – Top Features Explained

Do you want to ease down your work on Google Calendar? Learn about the secret tricks that will help you to organize your work. But are you making use of all the tools? Regarding time management apps, Google Calendar is among the top choices. But do you use all of the tools to their fullest? The features of Google Calendar allow you to schedule a proper timetable, efficiently complete your work, and manage your time.

Top Google Calendar Features

While Google Calendar is a familiar friend, it’s packed with hidden gems waiting to be discovered. This guide unlocks its full potential, transforming you from a novice user to a calendar ninja.

Sync Like a Pro

You have an integrated CRM system if you parallelly run CRM ( Customer Relationship Management) and other programs. With the integration of two systems, you utilize your time and clear out the stress of switching between different windows or systems.

Using a CRM every day? Having to switch between your CRM and Google Calendar is a pain. Alternatively, check the CRM configuration for any integrations with Google Calendar.

Appointment scheduling made easy

If you use Google’s Appointment scheduler, you can block off entire days on your calendar and invite certain others to view them via a private link. Meetings can be scheduled at whatever time you’ve designated when these individuals click the link.

When making reservations for an entire day or week, it’s a good idea to divide your responsibilities and priorities among various meetings, focus blocks, or roadmap objectives. If you want to explore tools for appointment appointments, then click on “More options.” To invite others to an appointment, go to “This calendar’s appointment page” and copy the link.

Keyboard shortcuts for the win

Function	Keyboard Shortcut
1. Create an event	c
2. Event details	e
3.Delete event	Backspace or Delete
4.Undo last (if possible)	Ctrl+Z or z
5. Go to the previous time period	k or p
6.Go to next time period	j or n
7. Refresh the page	r
8. Go to today’s view	t
9. Day view	1 or d
10. Week view	2 or w
11. Month view	3 or m
12. Custom view	4 or x
13. Agenda view	5 or a
14. Search	/
15. Add a calendar	shift += or +
16. Quick add	q
17. Print	ctrl + p or command + p
18.Settings	s
19. Keyboard shortcuts menu	ctrl +? or command + ? or ?

Boost your Time Management

Set a “Default Duration” or a “Default Time”

“Default Duration” is a feature that allows you to set a default meeting time for 15 or 20 minutes. The tool is a savior, especially when long meetings take up your valuable time.

Naturally, 30–60 minutes is required for specific meeting subjects. But if most of your meetings are short one-on-ones or “catch-ups” with coworkers, try to convey the essentials in twenty minutes or less and keep the details for an email to review later.

Color-coding for clarity

Keep yourself organized and on top of your game with the help of color-coded calendars. If you want to see what’s happening throughout the day, week, and month without going through each responsibility individually, color-code your meetings and other obligations.

Out-of-office like a Boss

Set a reminder for your teammates or colleagues in advance and inform them about your absence. You can easily manage your personal and professional life with an effective out-of-office message. It also informs them to contact someone else if the question or assignment cannot be delayed.

Leaving a simple “out of office” note and vacation time might go a long way toward keeping your team informed and productive while you’re away.

Perform an advanced calendar search

Do you ever find yourself confused when you need to review, modify, or update an event but can’t place the exact moment it occurredneeding clarification? (Or the date, if it occurred long ago.)

Using the advanced filters in the Google Calendar Search Bar, you may quickly locate any event, whether past or future, if that’s the case. Calendar, keywords, location, and date are some filter options.

Open the Home page of Google Calendar and click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner. A search bar pops up. Tap on the drop-down arrow. An advanced search filter pops up. Enter information and click on “Search”.

Note Point:

Remember always to pick event titles rich in keywords so you can easily discover them later when you use this option!

Change your Calendar View

Google Calendar offers multiple view options. If you want to change the calendar view, click on the hamburger menu at the top right corner of the calendars home page home screen.

The available options include Day, Week, Month, Year, and Schedule/Agenda. In addition to creating your unique calendar view, you can show or hide weekends.

Create meetings confidentially with privacy settings

You may not want everyone who shares your calendar to be able to see every single appointment you have. Google Calendar makes it easy to change how people can see your events.

From the “Default visibility” drop-down option, select “Private.” You can still see the event and get alerts with this label, but no one else will be able to.

This tool becomes essential when using your calendar for both work and personal commitments.

Embed Google Calendar on your website for easy booking

You can also integrate the Google Calendar with your website to have better communication and boost efficiency. This will allow others outside of your firm to book appointments with you more easily.

You must access your calendar on a computer, not within the app, to obtain the embed code.

Select “Settings,” then choose the calendar whose name you wish to insert. Select “Customize” after copying the iframe code from the “Integrate calendar” box. Please turn on the calendar access to the public so all website visitors can view it.

Sync your Google Calendar with other Calendar programs

If you want to sync Google Calendar with other calendars, then calendar offers this feature to import and export it. By using this simple technique, you may avoid making duplicate reservations and save time by not having to switch between calendars on separate computers.

Save time with Google Assistant

You’ve always wanted a companion. Get yourself a Google Assistant by setting it up! Add, amend, or delete events from your calendar with the spoken commands.

Utilize your spontaneous thoughts and ideas with ease with the help of Google Assistant, which may greatly enhance your time management skills.

Set “working hours”

You can choose your availability for work and meetings, which is useful if your employer allows you to do so, if your team members are in different time zones, or if you prefer a more transparent schedule. (Remember that this feature is available exclusively to those with a Google Workspace membership.)

Select “General,” then “Working hours” from the “Settings” menu, and then enter your start and end times there. Because of this, you (and anyone else attempting to arrange a meeting with you) will save time initially.

Integrate apps like Slack, Range, and Zapier

For a more streamlined and effective workflow, connect these to your calendar.

Among Google Calendar’s numerous advantages is its compatibility with most well-known business applications, allowing teams to function efficiently. One way to save time is by not switching between apps and returning to your calendar.

Turn on Google Calendar’s offline mode

Google Calendar is also available in the offline mode. You can view upcoming events and past events through Google Chrome.

Just go to the “Settings” menu and turn this function on. Select “General” then “Offline ” to enable the offline calendar.” Go ahead and click “Reload now.” You’ll notice that the calendar starts to sync. Your calendar will display “Ready for offline” once the sync is complete.

Recover and restore deleted meetings

Even if you delete a meeting by mistake or it gets postponed multiple times (everyone does it sometimes), you can easily get it back from the trash.

In Google Calendar, go to the settings and look for the trash can symbol. Click the “Restore” button to restore the deleted meeting.

Everything is kept for 30 days, so don’t be surprised if the meeting disappears from the trash can after 30 days if you delete it.

Enable tasks

You can find the little blue Tasks symbol on the right side of your calendar. Click on that task icon to add a title, event details, date/time, and subtasks.

Once you’ve turned on Tasks, you can arrange these activities chronologically or by due date to better focus on what’s truly important. Once each work is finished, a notification will appear, congratulating you on your accomplishment and informing you that it’s time to recharge.

Add events from Gmail

Are you planning to take a plane on vacation? Would you like to take care of making the reservation at that hip new restaurant that a potential customer has asked about?

When you add these events to the calendar using Gmail, an automatic notification will be sent to you before the event. This way, Google Calendar will automatically schedule your events.

Create follow-up tasks with Asana, Trello, and Gmail

What usually determines a meeting’s effectiveness is the quantity of action performed after it.

You can automate following up on a meeting using these tasks in Trello and Asana. Use this automation to email all attendees about the event if you’d like their support. Setting up a meeting to follow up might be a pain. The following Zoom automation will take care of it for you: it will generate a link to a follow-up meeting that uses the same participants as the first meeting!

Conclusion

By mastering these Google Calendar hacks, you’ll conquer your schedule and unlock a new level of productivity in both your personal and professional life. Start small, experiment with the features that resonate with you, and soon you’ll be a Google Calendar guru!

How to Use Google Calendar – FAQs

How do I maximize productivity in Google Calendar?

• Find out how to make the most of your calendar.
• Arrange events in a calendar.
• Receive a daily schedule straight to your inbox.
• Filters can be used to redirect calendar responses away from your Gmail inbox.
• Establish a schedule for each workday.
• Time slots can be added to the calendar.

How do I make my Google Calendar attractive?

• Theme Selection.
• Enhance Your Events with Images.
• Personalize the View.
• Express Yourself Using Emojis.
• Organize Your Events by Color.

Why is Google Calendar the best?

Google Calendar’s sharing features are among its most appealing features. Anyone can create a Google calendar and share it with others to stay organized for birthdays, appointments, and gatherings. Make a bunch of calendars and choose which ones to distribute, if any.

Is Google Calendar good for time management?

As a first step toward better time management, Google Calendar is useful. This digital calendar has everything you might want—scheduling, sharing, notifications, and more—and it’s free to use.