The Ultimate Google Calendar Cheat Sheet!
If you have a Gmail account, you have access to Google Calendar, the most versatile of online calendars; and setting it up for use, to navigate between your personal and work schedule (e.g. online meetings) is simple!
After going through this super dope ultimate guidebook, we do not want you to have any questions about GCal (just kidding, if you’ve got questions please don’t hesitate to ask).
Getting Started!
- Make your calendar available to public! This provides more visibility for your fellow colleagues that are looking to schedule a meeting with you.
- Google calendar will set your calendar to only accept invitation from someone that you know. So, if you are new, you need to watch this video!
- Subscribe to your colleague’s calendar! Do this before you propose a meeting schedule to know the times that they are available to meet.
- Creating an event (meeting). You can simply start by: (1) picking a time; (2) adding the attendees; and (3) adding the extra details / information!
- Setting your own weekly day off!
- Last but not least, generate and share your calendar link so others can subscribe to you one click away! Then input yours in this List of google calendar link to subscribe
The Do’s and Don’ts of Google Calendar
- Do’s:
- If you’re the organizer, put. in. the. details! The description area is there for a reason…use it! Place notes, documents, files, basically anything that adds context to the event. The more information the better as this helps attendees prepare for meetings more effectively.
- Respond to invitations! This one seems super basic but not everyone does it. It just takes one click to respond and it’s good manners as it lets the organizer and other attendees know that you will/won’t/may be coming.
- Don’ts:
- Never assume you are anyone’s highest priority! Always check your team members’ schedule before arranging a meeting as they might have their time blocked or a myriad of other things, so it’s always better and safer to check first!
- Avoid arranging last-minute or sudden meetings! It is easy to miss out on visual cues that a colleague is busy, especially when working remotely. At the very least, try to have the meeting set out minimum 3 hours prior. If it’s inevitable, immediately reach your colleague via Slack to check whether they will be available for the proposed time or not.
Google Calendar Tips
- Not used to having Sundays shown as the start of your week? No biggie! You can show your weeks starting with Mondays and ending with weekends just by opening the “View options” → “Start week on: Monday”!
- Dim past events or meetings for easier viewing and less distraction by opening the “View options” → checking the “Reduce the brightness of past events” checkbox.
- Tired of having to do mental conversions for several different time zones when arranging a meeting? You can choose to show a world time clock to give you a quick glance of the current time in any number of places by opening “Settings” → “World Clock” → pick the targeted time zones and they will all be shown in the left part of the screen.
- Quick hotkeys crib note! Switch your calendar view in an instant by tapping into one of the super-handy hidden shortcuts available:
- Press “1” or “d” for the day view
- Press “2” or “w” for the week view
- Press “3” or “m” for the month view
- Press “4” or “x” for your custom view
- Press “5” or “a” for the agenda view
- Press “6” or “y” for the year view