10/19/2007 Internet

Seeing the big picture
With Google Calendar, you can see your friends' and family's schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that you find online. Staying on schedule
You can set up automatic event reminders, including mobile phone notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

Sharing events and calendars
You decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view. Planning an event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too.

Google Calendar gallery
Now you can find fun content to add to your schedule. Browse through a gallery of publicly available calendars like sports schedules, concert listings, and much more.





With Google Calendar, it's easy to keep track of all your life's important events in one place. You can add events and send invitations effortlessly, share your schedule with friends and family, and search for events you might enjoy.

View by day, week, or month
These tabs let you view your calendar by day, week, month, or next four days. The Agenda tab shows your events as a list, and you can customize the Next 4 Days view to suit your needs.

Move forward and backward
These arrows let you move forward and backward through time; you can also use the J and K keyboard shortcuts.

Choose which days to display
You can specify which days to display in your main calendar by highlighting dates of interest on the mini-calendar.

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1. Creating events

Quick Adding events
Click a spot on your calendar where a new event belongs (or use the Quick Add link) and start typing if you'd rather not bother with forms. Google Calendar understands whole phrases like "Brunch with Mom at Java Cafe 11am on Saturday."

Adding events with a form
You can also add events using a regular form. Just click "Create Event" to get started.

Import events from other programs
You can import events from other calendar programs like Yahoo! Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. At the top of the calendar list on the left, click the "Add" down-arrow button and select "Import Calendar."

Gmail integration
Gmail now recognizes when messages mention events, so when you get emailed about an event, you can add it to Google Calendar with just a couple clicks. Look for the Google Calendar links on the right side of your Gmail window.

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2. Invitations and notifications

Sending invitations
You can invite other people to any event on your calendar simply by adding their email addresses in the Guests section of the event.

Guest RSVPs
Guests can RSVP to your invitations by email, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves.

Guest comments
Comments submitted by your guests are displayed for all your invitees to see.

Event reminders
Reminders help you keep track of important events. You can choose to be notified by email, popup window or text messages sent right to your mobile phone.

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3. Managing multiple calendars

Create multiple calendars
You can set up multiple calendars for different areas of your life, like one for your softball team's practices and games. Click the "plus" symbol next to My Calendars to get started.

Subscribe to additional calendars
Click the "plus" symbol next to "Other Calendars" to view shared calendars right alongside your own. You can search for public calendars, ask to view your friends' calendars, and automatically add holidays.

Showing and hiding calendars
These checkboxes let you show and hide events from different calendars to customize what you see.

Changing the color of calendars
You can also change the color of events from different calendars to get just the right look. Click the small triangle next to a calendar's name to pick a new color.

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4. Sharing a calendar

Calendar sharing settings
You can share an entire calendar, which is useful when you're part of a group that has shared events, like a softball team. Click the small triangle next to a calendar's name, then choose "Share this calendar."

Sharing with friends
You control with whom your calendar is shared and what information others can see. Calendars can be shared with individuals that you specify.

Share with the world
You can also choose to make your calendars public and searchable by other users.

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5. Searching for Events

Search by time and location
Searching by location is easy with Google Calendar. Choose the location and time, and Google Calendar will display relevant events.

View Events
You can view events in a traditional list, or as items on a calendar in day, week, and month views.

Event Details
You can see an event's details all together in a simple format. You also have the option to copy the event directly to your Google Calendar.