Google Calendar & Scheduling

Overview

Google Calendar is a powerful scheduling and time management tool, particularly within office settings. It offers a user-friendly interface that lets you keep track of appointments, set reminders, schedule meetings, and coordinate with your team, seamlessly syncing across multiple devices.

Starting your Calendar

Setting up a new Calendar:

You can only create new calendars from a browser, not the Google Calendar app. Once the Calendar is created, you can find it on your browser and in the app.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, next to "Other calendars," click Add other calendars Create new Calendar.
3. Add a name and description for your Calendar.
4. Click Create Calendar.
5. If you want to share your Calendar, click on it in the left bar, then select Share with specific people.

Find the calendars you've created:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left side of the page, under "My calendars," there's a list of calendars you created.
3. Click the Calendar's name to show or hide that Calendar's events.
4. To remove a calendar from your list, click Options next to the Calendar's name and click "Hide from the list."

Edit your Calendar's name:

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. On the left side of the page, under "My calendars," find your Calendar.
3. Next to your Calendar, click Options and then click "Settings and Sharing."
4. In the box at the top, choose a new name.

Change your Calendar’s color:

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. On the left side of the page, under "My calendars," find your Calendar.
3. Next to your Calendar, click Options 
4. Pick the color for your Calendar or click Add custom color 

Managing Permissions in Google Calendar

1. Find the correct Calendar with which you want to update permissions and click on the three vertical dots.

   

2. Click on "Settings" underneath "Hide from List"

   

   
   
3. On the left-hand column, find "Access Permissions" and click on it or scroll to the section.
4. If you would like to restrict an individual's access completely from the Calendar, simply click the "X" on the corresponding name.

5. If you would like to alter the permissions of an individual, click the drop-down box to the right of the corresponding name, and a list of options will appear that can be chosen from 

6. If you would like to add permissions to an individual that does not already have access to the Calendar, click the button labeled "Add people."
7. Type in the user's email and click "send"

Sharing your Calendar

1. Go to calendar.google.com and log in.
2. Locate My calendars. You may have to click to expand it.
3. Hover over the Calendar you want to share and click 
4. Click Settings and sharing.
5. Share your Calendar with specific people or with others.
   • To share with specific people, under Share with specific people or groups and click Add people and groups to enter their email addresses. When finished, click Send.
   • Under Access permissions for events, you can make your Calendar public or accessible by your organization by clicking the corresponding checkboxes. You can also click GET SHAREABLE LINK and provide the link to anyone described by those checkboxes.

Fix problems with sharing:

If the person you’ve shared a calendar with is having trouble finding your Calendar:

1. Check that you added the correct email address.
2. Make sure they click the link in the email they received. They should check their Spam folder if they can’t find it.
3. Remove the person from the Calendar’s sharing settings and then add them back.
4. Check if your account is managed through work or school. Your account’s admin may have limited or turned off sharing outside of the organization. Learn how to find your admin.

Share a calendar with everyone in your organization

If you use Google Calendar through your work, school, or other organization, you’ll find the option to make your Calendar available for everyone in your organization under “Access permissions.” Learn more about access permissions.

How this setting works

• People in your organization can find your Calendar.
• People outside your organization won’t be able to find your Calendar.
• If you invite someone outside your organization to a meeting, they can view information about the meeting.
• When you share your Calendar with everyone in your organization, you can choose between "See only free/busy (hide details)" or "See all event details."

Access & Visibility

Choose what others can see:

There are two parts to managing how others interact with your Calendar: Access permissions and sharing with specific people. Each Calendar can have different sharing settings.

1. Locate My calendars. You may have to click to expand it.
2. Hover over the Calendar you want to manage and click 
3. Click Settings and sharing.

Access permissions

• Using Access permission, you can share your Calendar with the public or make it available for users at the Univeristy of Maryland, College Park.
• See all event details allows users to see all the details of an event on your Calendar (except events marked as private).
• See only free/busy (hide details) displays when your Calendar is booked and when it is free, but no other information about the event.

The default setting for your UMD calendar is: Make available for University of Maryland, College Park, and see only free/busy (hide details). The only way to allow people without a Google account to view your Calendar is to make it public.

Share with specific people:

Under Share with specific people, click add people. After you add the emails to share with, you can choose to see all event details, see only free/busy (hide details), make changes and manage settings, or make changes to events from the drop-down menu.

People who can make changes and manage settings can:

• Change sharing settings
• Add and edit events
• See details for all events, including private ones
• See the time zone setting for the Calendar
• Permanently delete the Calendar 
• Restore or permanently delete events from the Calendar's Trash

People who can make changes to events can:

• Add and edit events
• See details for all events, including private ones
• See the time zone setting for the Calendar
• Restore or permanently delete events from the Calendar's Trash 

People who can see all event details can:

• See details for all events except those marked as private
• See the time zone setting for the Calendar

People who can see only free/busy (hide details) can:

• See when your Calendar is booked and when it has free time, but not the names or other details of your events.

Export and Import Google Calendar Events

Export events

1. Open the Calendar app from your UMD account.

2. Click Options for the Calendar you want to move events from.

   

3. Click Settings and sharing for the Calendar.

4. Click Export under Import & export. Next, click Export under the list of your calendars under Export.

   

5. The Calendar will export as a *.zip file in the downloads folder.
6. Unzip the file to expand the folders. 

Import events

1. Click Options for the Calendar you want to import the events into.

   

2. Click Settings and sharing for the Calendar.

3. Click Import under Import & Export, then Select file from your computer.

   

4. Select the *.ics file from the Calendar you wish to import from (this is from the expanded zip file).

   

5. Select the Calendar where the imported events will be transferred.

   

6. Click Import.
7. You will receive the message that the events have been imported.

Google Calendar Appointments

Designate appointment blocks that can be reserved on your Google calendar. This is an organized way for professors to invite students to reserve appointments within office hours. For more information on calendar appointments visit Google Support.

Create an appointment block.

1. Open Google Calendar from your UMD Google account.

   Enter Week view or Day view.

   Click a spot on the Calendar.

   In the pop-up window, click Appointment slots.

   Complete the details.

   

   • Click More options to make further adjustments.

   • To make the event repeat, change the repeat drop-down menu before inviting people to reserve times within the appointment block.

     

2. Click Save.

Generate a URL to Add Events to Google Calendar

When using a form or survey to collect event registration, you can provide respondents with a URL that allows them to directly add a Google Calendar event directly to their own Google Calendar.

To generate the URL:

Open your Google Calendar and select the event you want to share

1. Click the three dots to open the option menu
2. Click “Publish event”
3. Copy the URL and paste the link on any platform you want

The URL can be used in confirmation emails for event registration, in an end-of-survey message, or anywhere you choose.