16 Google Calendar Hacks Thatll Make You More Productive

16 Google Calendar Hacks Thatll Make You More Productive16 Google Calendar Hacks Thatll Make You More Productive Some things you think will be simple actually end up getting really complex.Like those DIY fro-yo places. You walk in thinking youll just get a scoop of a single flavor and a spoonful of your favorite topping but you always walk out with a full bowl and at least three toppings - because how could you get Oreo crunch without getting gummy bears, too?Or, ya know, your Google Calendar. Your Google Calendar comes with your personal Gmail address, and you cant believe how simple it is to use and tischset up. Then, you might start at a company that uses Google Apps, and suddenly youve got to figure out how to remember your best friends birthday,find out when your boss is free for that meeting you need to reschedule and set deadlines for that blog post you have coming up - all at the saatkorn time.With the out-of-the-packung features in place, Google Calendar starts to feel a lot less simple.Luckily, there are some cool hacks and under-the-radar features that you can use to make your life in Google Calendar much easier to organize. Below are 16 of our favorites. (Got others to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.)When you first start out on Google Calendar,youre given one calendar to start with - its the one with your name under My calendars. So if you want to use your calendar for multiple things (ex managing your actual schedule, planning periods of heads-down working and scheduling repeating reminders), you only have one place to do it. But when youre only working withone calendar, all of those things get treated equally - meaning you cant quickly and easily pull up the non-repetitive, important tasks you have for the day.To combat this, just create a new calendar for each part of your life youd like to keep track of on your Google Calendar.To create a new calendar, click the little arrow next to My calendars, and you ll see an option to Create new calendar. Select that, chooseyour desired calendar options, and then voil Youve got yourself anothercalendar.Pro Tip You can even color-code each calendar to make it easy for you to spielblttchen out what youve got to do each day.Ever need to schedule a meeting with several people who have busy schedules ? It can be really annoying to try to figure out when youre all free.Thankfully, Google Calendar actually has two features that can do the heavy lifting for you Suggested Times or Find a Time.To use either, make sure youve added everyone to the veranstaltung whoneeds to attend.If youd like Google to suggest a time for you to meet, simply select the Suggested Times link below your names. A pop-up will show up with some times you can meet. (In my experience, these suggested times tend to bevery early in the morning or very late at night, especially if you have busy people on the invite. But some people prefer to use this feature.)Or, you can choose the reiter next to Event details called Find a time to have Google help you find a time. In this option, youll see everyones schedules side-by-side. Find an open spot? Claim it with that blue-dashed box and send off your invite.Side note you can also use a free product like HubSpot Meetings to easily schedule meetings without back-and-forth emails.Need to easily set up a face-to-face remote meeting?Just click the link to Add video call, and Google will set up hangout for your vorstellung attendees to use. ( Learn more about Google Hangouts here .)I dont know about you, butI often find myselfattending meetings that require me to reference a relevant document. Maybe were all working off one Google Doc, or perhapswere pouring over an intricate spreadsheet . Regardless, its best to make sure that all attendees have the materials they need before the meeting begins.Google Calendar can help. Using a feature in Google Calendar Labs, you can actually attach files directly to your event, so peo ple dont have to go hunting in their inbox for relevant info.Heres how you set it upFirst, you have to enable this feature in Google Calendar Labs. Click the Settings sprocket in the top right-hand corner of the main Google Calendar page, then choose Labs.Then, find the feature Event attachments and choose to enable it. Click Save at the top, andyoull have the option to attach files to your event using Google Drive.Do you work with teammates who live around the world? You might find its difficult to figure out what time is appropriate to schedulemeetings with them. Fortunately, you can - byenabling World Clock in Google Calendar Labs.Once its enabled and set up to include your preferred time zones, you can easily see what time it is in other time zones, or click on any event and see what time it will take place in your selectedtime zones.Want to knowwho youre meeting for lunch without having to click into the event?Enable the featureWhos my one-on-one with? in Google Calendar Labs. To set it up, use thesame steps as above.Remember the time you tried to email a large group of people about an event? Maybe you were trying to coordinate a team outing - or just let everyone know they should bring their laptops to the all-hands meeting. Regardless, I bet it was annoying to try to figure out who was actually going to the event and ensure you didnt forget anyone.Well, this Google Calendar feature will come in handy next time. As long as youve added everyone to the event that needs to go, you can easily email everyone in the group by goinginto the event details and choosing Email Guests, which is locatedabove the attendee list.Then, an email compose box will come up. Simply type in your message and hit sendI wish Id known about thisfeature the last time I got coffee with someone in downtown Boston. We agreed to meet at Starbucks but thanks to the multitude of Starbucks locations in Boston, our conversation went something like thisOkay, so lets meet at the one on State Street, I said.Oh, the one by the Court House? he asked.Well, its kinda by the Court House, but further down State Street, I replied.Oh, you mean the one by Downtown Crossing? he clarified.Logistics can get fuzzy without a specific address. Thankfully, Google Calendar has a feature thatll fix all that.Instead of having the back-and-forth, I couldve just sent my friend a calendar invite with the specific address in the Where box. It integrates with Google Maps so its super easy to figure out where youre meeting and how to get there.As you probably can tell by now, I love Google Calendar but there is one feature I absolutely hate.If youhave your Google Calendar open as atabin your browser whenits 10 minutes before your next event, the 10-minute notification interrupts everything youre doing and takes over your screen. Forget about what you were working on - Google Calendar will suddenly surface its tab with a big pop-up alert coupled with an annoying sound. Its the worst.Luckil y, theres a Google Calendar Lab feature that you can use to make notifications much less annoying its called Gentle Notifications. Instead of interrupting your work, youll just get a satisfying *ping* and the page title of your Google Calendar tab will flash the name of the event. (Ive also got the desktop notification enabled and would highly recommend it.)Ever thought about instigatingoffice hours so otherfolks in your company can book time with you? Or are you apart-timeconsultant with limited hours to book meetings? Or do you want to limit the times your team can book time with you to certain times of day?If you said yes to any of the above, then you should definitely think aboutusing Google Calendar Appointments.Basically, this feature lets you carve out Appointment slots on your calendar and then share the Appointment calendar link with select people. When they click your Appointment calendar link, they can choose from any of your available options. If they find a time they li ke, all they have to do is select it - and voil, its booked right on your private calendar with the information you need for the meeting.To set up your Appointments, click on a slot youd like to carve out, just like youd do for a typical event. But before you start filling out the event details, click Appointment Slots (its next to Event at the very top of the pop-up). New options will appear.If youd like more control over your Appointments, click Edit Details, and youll be taken hereWant more tips on integrating Appointments into your typical workflow? Check out this great post by Likes & Launch .Want to make sure youre keeping track of holidays in other countries, your favorite sportsteams schedule, or just know when the suns going to rise and set each day? Youll find these calendars (and more) by heading over to Interesting Calendars.To do that, click the arrow next to Other calendars, and choose Browse Interesting Calendars. From there, choose the calendars youd like to subscri be to.When you first set up your calendar, youll have the option to view it as aweek, month, the next 4 days or as anagenda.That 4 days option? You can switch that out with something else by heading over to your Settings, and switching your Custom view options.If youre using Google Apps for your company, you can also control who sees your calendar, what they see and whether they have permissions to edit it. (If youhave an assistant , this tip will be very important to remember.)You can also make your calendar public, if you wish.To change your sharing settings, click on the arrow next to the preferredcalendar and choose Share this Calendar.Then, youll be taken to this page. Here, you can choose to do any of the followingWhen youre done, be sure to hit Save.Are you looking to really streamline your Google Calendar efforts? Google Calendars got aton of keyboard shortcuts to use, such asUse a CRM daily? It can be annoying to go back and forth between your Google Calendar and your CRM . Instead, dive into your CRM settings to see iftheres an existing integralrechnung with Google Calendar.HubSpot CRM users , youre in luck - its quick and easy to set up this integration. Learn more here .And if you want to make your Google Calendar align even morewith your marketing activities, you can even integrate it with your marketing software.For HubSpot customers, you can use Zapier to set up some pretty nifty workflows, such as creating a social media message every time an event starts. Check out this page for more on how you can set up that integration , as well as some ideas for ways you can integrate the two.This article was originally published on HubSpot . It is reprinted with permission.All images are courtesy of HubSpot.