Tag Archives: Google Calendar

Updated Working Hours in Calendar helps colleagues know your schedule

What’s changing 

We’re revamping the feature in Google Calendar that helps you let colleagues know when it’s best to work with you. The updates to the Working Hours feature include:


  • Working hours now show in grid view: When you schedule a meeting with other Calendar users, their working hours will be shown in the calendar grid. 
  • New warning note for event creators: If you try to schedule an event outside the working hours of one more or guests, you’ll now see a notification. 
  • Working hours is ON by default: Working hours will now be turned on for all users by default. Users can turn it off at any point in Calendar’s settings (see more below). 





A new notification will show if an event outside the working hours of guests. 

Who’s impacted 

All end users

Why you’d use it 

The new features will make it easier for your colleagues to see when it’s best to work with you. This can help reduce back and forth when finding the right time for a meeting, and help make sure that meetings are scheduled at convenient and productive times for all participants.

How to get started 


  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users: 
    •  Working Hours will be enabled by default. When it’s first enabled, users will see a dialog (shown below) with an estimate of their working hours, which they can confirm or change. Users can disable the feature by selecting “Settings” in this dialog. 
    • Users can later adjust or disable Working Hours by going to Calendar on the web (calendar.google.com) and clicking Settings > General > Working hours. 


Helpful links 

Help Center: Set your working hours & availability

Availability 

Rollout details 



G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default? 
This feature will be ON by default.

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See when someone is out of office in Gmail and Hangouts Chat

What’s changing

Now, when you have an Out of office (OOO) entry on your calendar, a notice of that OOO status will appear in Gmail and Hangouts Chat when people try to contact you.

In Gmail, we’ll show a banner about the recipient being out of office and when they’ll be back in the email compose window.




In Hangouts Chat, you’ll also see a small notification in the chat compose window alerting you that the person you’re trying to message is out of office.



Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

With this launch, before people even hit “send,” your time out of office is visible in more places across G Suite, meaning you get more uninterrupted time away. As a sender, you’ll also have more confidence that you’re messaging people at an appropriate time.

How to get started

  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users: No action required. These notices will automatically start showing up when anyone whose calendar you have access to has an out of office event scheduled.

Additional details

If you’d like to disable sharing of availability information to other G Suite apps, you can do so in Calendar under Calendar settings > Access permissions. Just deselect “Show calendar info in other Google apps, limited by access permissions.”

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details
Notification in Gmail and setting in Calendar


Notification in Hangouts Chat


G Suite editions

  • Available to all G Suite editions


On/off by default?

  • This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled in your Calendar settings.


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Dark mode available for Calendar and Keep on Android

What’s changing 

Google Calendar and Keep will now support Dark mode on Android.

 

Dark mode for Google Calendar. 

 

Dark mode for Google Keep. 

Who’s impacted 

End users.

Why you’d use it 

Dark mode is a popular feature that’s frequently requested by Calendar and Keep users. It creates a better viewing experience in low-light conditions by reducing brightness.

How to get started 


  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users: 
    • Calendar 
      • Enable Dark mode by going to Settings > General > Theme. 
    •  Keep Enable 
      • Dark mode by going to Settings > Enable Dark Mode.

Additional details 


Both Calendar and Keep apps need to be updated to the latest version of the app to see this feature. 

Calendar 
Dark mode for Calendar will be supported on devices with Android N+ (i.e. Nougat and more recent releases).

Android Q users can set their OS to Dark mode, which means Calendar and all other apps will be in Dark mode by default. If users do not have their OS set to Dark mode, they can enable Dark mode in Calendar’s settings (see above).

For pre-Android-Q devices, users will be able to configure Calendar to go into Dark Mode when the device enters battery saving mode.

Keep 
Dark mode for Keep will be supported on devices with Android L-P. For these devices, Dark mode can be enabled from Keep’s settings (see above).

For Android Q devices, Dark will be on by default if the OS is set to Dark mode. Or, it can be enabled in Keep’s settings (see above).

Availability 

Rollout details 

  • Calendar: 
    • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 16, 2019. 
  •  Keep: 
    • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 20, 2019. G Suite editions Available to all G Suite editions. 
On/off by default? 

  • Calendar: 
    • For Android N - P, Dark mode will be OFF by default and can be enabled in Calendar settings (see above). 
    • For Android Q, this feature will be ON by default when the OS is set to Dark mode or can be enabled in Calendar settings (see above). 
  •  Keep: 
    • For Android L - P, this feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled in Keep settings (see above). 
    • For Android Q, this feature will be ON by default when the OS is set to Dark mode or can be enabled in Keep settings (see above).

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New meeting creation flow for Calendar on Android

Quick launch summary

We recently announced a new event creation flow for Calendar on the web. We’re now making similar improvements to save you time and make it easier to create or edit events on your Android device.

You’ll see several changes when creating/editing a meeting on Android such as:

  • Maintain visual access to calendar grid: Now, you can collapse or expand the creation/edit view, so you can go back and forth between this screen and the Calendar grid. This allows you to interact directly with the Calendar grid by tapping on the desired time slot, drag & dropping vertically to another time in the same day, or horizontally to another day.
  • See guest availability without leaving the create/edit view: Easily see the availability of guests directly on the Calendar grid, as their calendars will load as you add them to the event. Google Calendar may also suggest a title for the meeting. After adding guests, organizers can see schedules of their guests by clicking on "View Schedules" or by dragging down the Creation View.


Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Save time with new scheduling features in Calendar

What’s changing

We’re updating the creation flow for meetings in Calendar to help you save time with an easier way to schedule.
You’ll see several changes when creating a meeting such as:

  • Peek at calendars and automatically add guests: Now, when you add a calendar in the “Search for people” box, you can temporarily view coworkers’ calendars. Creating a new event then automatically adds those people as guests to your meeting and might suggest a title for the meeting.
  • More fields in the creation pop-up dialog: The Guests, Rooms, Location, Conferencing, and Description fields are now editable directly in the meeting creation pop-up dialog. Once you add your coworkers’ calendars, they’ll load right in the background, making it even easier and faster to find an available time for everyone.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

People-first scheduling makes it quick and easy to find time with others. You can add rooms, a location, a video conference and add a meeting description without having to click into “More options.”

How to get started


  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users: No action required. This new creation flow will automatically appear in Calendar on the web.

Helpful links

Help Center: Create an event

Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Avoid double-booking rooms in Calendar

What’s changing

Rooms will no longer accept two Calendar events that overlap in time.

Previously, if an event was created directly on a room’s calendar by someone with manage permissions for the resource, the room would accept this meeting even if another event had already added this room for that same time period.

Now, if the room has already accepted another meeting, creating a new event at the same time directly on the room’s calendar will result in a room decline of this conflicting meeting.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why this matters

This means that you’ll no longer have to scramble to find an alternative room if your meeting room was double-booked.

How to get started


  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users: No action required, this behavior will happen automatically. For situations where you’d like a long room hold (such as an all day event) where you’d like to schedule individual sessions in the same room, we recommend the following work around:
    • Create a long hold booking of the desired room.
    • Create the individual sessions, where you write in the location field or description the room location; for example. “Room A [Separate room hold].”

Manually overwrite the Hangout information for the individual sessions with the Hangout ID of the long hold.

Additional details

This change in behavior only impacts future room bookings. Existing events will not be impacted.

Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

RSVP to Calendar events from forwarded invitations

What’s changing

We're improving how invitation forwarding works in Google Calendar. Now, if guests of a Calendar event have been granted permission to invite others, recipients of forwarded invitation emails can RSVP to the event. This will also then add them to the event as a guest.


Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

With this feature, guests of an event can now simply forward their invitation to allow others to RSVP and be added to the Calendar event. This eliminates the step of having to go into the event in Calendar to invite additional guests.

How to get started

  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users: Simply forward your Calendar invitation to the guest you’d like to add.

Additional details

Please note, for this feature to work, the organizer must have granted permission for guests to add other guests to the event.

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Set start times and import reminders in Tasks

What’s changing

We’re adding three highly-requested features to Tasks. You can now:
  • Set a date and time for your tasks and receive notifications
  • Create repeating tasks
  • Import reminders into Tasks

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

We’ve heard from you that you’d like Tasks to be the one destination to track what you need to do in G Suite. These features will help make sure all of your to-dos are in Tasks, and ensure that you can keep track of the deadlines associated with them. Additionally, importing reminders to Tasks can help your users if your organization is currently transitioning from Inbox to Gmail.

How to get started

  • Admins: No action needed
  • End users - Date/time and repeating tasks:
    • When you create or edit a task, you’ll now see a new “Add date/time” field.
    • After clicking on Add date/time, you can enter the date, time, and recurrence of this task.

  • End users - Import to tasks:
    • When you open Tasks on the web or your mobile app, you’ll see a prompt to copy your existing reminders over to Tasks. You can also trigger this manually by opening the overflow menu in the top right.
    • You’ll be able to select which list in Tasks you’d like to add them to, or create a new list.
    • You can also indicate whether or not you’d like these reminders to be deleted once they are copied.

Additional details

New time features
Every task now has two time-based properties, date and start time, that are available in the edit screen of each task.

These tasks will then show up in Google Calendar on the web at their specific time, as long as you have the “Tasks” calendar enabled on the left-hand side. If you’ve enabled mobile notifications, you'll also get notified for tasks at their scheduled dates and times in the Tasks mobile apps (Android/iOS). For tasks that have a date, but don’t have a time, you’ll get notifications at 9am local time.


If a task wasn’t marked as completed, you’ll get a second notification at 9am the day after a task was due.

Importing reminders into Tasks
This import tool will pull your reminders (from Inbox/Gmail, Calendar, or the Assistant) into Tasks.

When importing reminders into Tasks, we’ll copy over the title, date, time and recurrence of the reminder. Please note, reminders with locations associated will not be imported. Additionally, this is a one-time import and not a constant sync.

Availability

Rollout details
G Suite editions
  • Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
  • Both features will be ON by default.
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View Calendar event creators to easily swap meeting rooms

Quick launch summary

You can now see the creator of a meeting when looking at a “busy” block of time on a resource or room’s schedule in the “Find a time” grid view. Simply hover over the block to see the event creator’s name (even if the event is “Private.”)



We’ve heard from you that being able to see who booked a room for a meeting is crucial in order to easily reach out to the creator to ask if they would be open to swap the room or change the meeting time.

Please note, the information such as the description and title of the event will still be hidden to ensure no sensitive information is shared.

Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions

  • Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

  • This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Google Calendar automatic room suggestions available on mobile

Quick launch summary

Last year, we released automatic room suggestions in Google Calendar on the web. We’re now bringing that feature to Android and iOS devices.

This feature, using Google AI, suggests the rooms for your meetings based on the locations and preferences of the guests.

To enable this feature, structured resource information and users’ work locations are required to be set.


Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions

  • Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

  • This feature is ON by default and immediately visible when resources are structured and user locations are set.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches