Google Calendar…

So far, you can use Google’s Gmail to communicate about meeting up with your friends. Then you can use Google Maps to figure out how to get to the meet up. However, all of that is for naught if you forget what time you need to be at the meet up. Google Calendar has come to your rescue.

First time in your calendar

If you already signed up for a Gmail account, you can use the same username to login to Google Calendar. On your first login, it will ask you some basic questions such as your name and your timezone. The next screen should show you a nice clean calendar only dotted with the occasional US holiday. You can add all kinds of pre-filled calendars such as sports schedules for your favorite teams, local weather, and various holiday calendars.

As you can see, The Digitante is ready for the full swing of football season. In addition to the pre-filled calendars, you can easily add your own appointments to your calendar using the buttons located just above the small calendar on the left.

Each of the three options does something slightly different:

• Create Event – This allows full customization of your event including recurrence (example: repeats the first Tuesday of each month). You can determine the time and length of the appointment. You can invite guests who will receive an invite from your Gmail address. If you include a location, the appoint will include a link to a Google Map of the location. There are tons of other features that you can try out related to custom reminders and privacy settings.
• Quick Add – You can schedule an appoint using what is called “natural language.” An example would be to type ‘Lunch tomorrow at 1p for 2 hours repeats annually.’ This would add an appointment for September 9th at 1:00PM which would last for 2 hours and would occur annually on the 9th of September. After it has been added, you can edit the details. I like this feature but it isn’t the most accurate due to misinterpreting the occasional phrase, but does a decent job and is quick.
• Task – A nice little task manager will pop up along the right side of your calendar. This is more for to-do type of items that don’t necessarily happen on a specific date and time but still need to be done when you can get to them.

I need to remember to check that box!

But I’m on the go

As with all Google applications, you can access them from your phone.

• Text messages – You can get reminders sent to your phone via text message by heading to the Settings menu and accessing the Mobile Setup tab. You must verify it is your phone and I would highly recommend adding a texting plan to your phone if you don’t already have one. Texts are $0.20 for most carriers without a texting plan and most have plans starting at $5 for about 200 messages.
• Mobile browser – You can access your calendar from the browser on your phone (even an entry level flip phone). With mobile access, you can not only view appointments but also add new appointments which will show up on your calendar online. No need to be near a computer!
• Google Sync – The final installment of this series will focus on all the various Google Mobile applications available including Google Maps, Gmail, and Calendar. We’ll skip them here for now.

With both of these, it would be wise to determine how many texts you would use or how much time you will spend on the mobile browser before adding a texting plan or data plan to your account since if you use less than 25 texts per month, you would be better off just paying for them individually.

To determine your needs as far as data or texting are concerned or if you need help setting up and getting started with your Google Calendar, you can contact The Digitante by heading over to the About page.