Migrating Your Calendar Events

My new Google calendar is empty. How do I get my meetings back on my calendar?

Outlook Tip: You can download Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook to import all calendar events, as well as email and personal contacts, from your old account into Google Apps.

Notes Tip: You'll need to recreate your calendar manually, by:

• Sending new invitations for events you previously scheduled in Outlook
  
• Requesting others to send you new invitations to events to which you were previously invited

Setting Up Your Calendar

How do I set the time zone for my calendar?

To change the default time zone and other settings, follow these steps:

1. Access Google Calendar.
2. In the upper right of the page, click Settings.
3. On the General page, in the Language section, select a language.
4. In the Country and Your current time zone sections, select the appropriate options.
5. In the Date format section, select an option.
6. In the Time format section, select an option.
7. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Does Google Calendar have event reminders?

Yes, by default, Google Calendar displays a pop-up reminder 10 minutes before an event. You change the reminder time by editing the settings for your calendar.

I set up event reminders, but I still don't see them. Why?

To receive event reminders, make sure your Calendar window is open.

Can I change the number of days that appear on my calendar?

Yes, you can specify a custom number of days. Click Settings in the upper-right corner of you Calendar window. On the General tab, select a number of days in the Custom view drop-down list.

Can I view the number of the week in my calendar ?

No, this view isn't available.

Can I show more than one time zone on my calendar?

Yes, you can view two time zones in Google Calendar. To add another time zone to your calendar view, click Settings. On the General tab, under Your current time zone, select another time zone in the Additional time zone list.

Scheduling Meetings

Can I book rooms and resources using Google Calendar?

Yes, we've added all the bookable resources to Google Calendar. In your invitation, click the Check guest and resource availability link. In the Find a Time window that appears, you can search for a resource or browse the list of resources.

Can I book multiple rooms at once?

Yes, you can book more than one room or resource for your event invitation.

Can I invite a mailing list from our corporate directory to a meeting?

No. If you invite a mailing list, the attendees won't see the meeting on their calendars. Therefore you must add each attendee individually to your invitation. Or, you can create your own "contact groups" using your Google Apps contacts picker, as follows:

1. In your invitation, under Add Guests, click Choose from contacts.
   
2. In the contacts picker that appears, start typing the name of one of the employees you want to invite.
   
3. When the name appears, click it to add it to the list below.
   
4. Repeat these steps for each employee you want to invite.
   
5. Then select Save As Group to create a contacts group in your personal contacts.
   
6. Enter a name for the group, and then click OK.
7. Then click Done to invite the group to your meeting.
   

Now you can invite the same group to any meetings you schedule in the future, by clicking Choose from contacts and selecting the group in the drop-down list in the contacts picker and selecting Select all.

Can I invite meeting attendees who are outside of my company?

Yes, you can send meeting invitations to any email address.

Will I get a notification if an attendee accepts my meeting invitation?

By default, notifications are turned off. But you can turn reminders on, and choose whether to receive a pop-up notification or an email notification:

1. Access Google Calendar.
2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Settings.
3. Click the Calendars tab.
4. Under My Calendars, click the Notifications link for your calendar.
5. Choose the settings you want.
6. Click Save.

Can I see a list of attendees who have accepted my invitation?

Yes, open the event details to see who has accepted your invitation.

What's the maximum number of invitees for a meeting?

The maximum number of invitees is 500.

However, if you need to invite more than 500 people to a meeting, contact your Google Apps Admin IT, who can provide you with a tool that allows you to invite more attendees.

Can I set up a recurring meeting?

Yes, Google Calendar fully supports recurring meetings. To set one up, in your meeting invitation, select an option in the Repeats drop-down list.

As the meeting host, can I change the schedule by dragging the meeting to a new time on my calendar?

Yes, if you drag the meeting to another time, Google Calendar will ask you if you want to notify your guests.

Is there a way to invite an optional attendee to a meeting?

Google Calendar currently does not include the option to specify optional attendees. As a workaround, you can indicate which attendees are optional in the Description field.

How long do past events stay on my Google calendar?

Your past events remain on your calendar forever, unless you delete them. If you want to view past events, make sure you wait a few seconds for Google Calendar to retrieve them for the date you select.

Can I create "live" links in my event description?

Yes, but only if you don't let attendees edit the invitation (don't select the Guests can modify event check box). Note that, as the host, you always can edit the invitation, the links won't appear as "live" on your own calendar. However, you'll see the live links in the event confirmation message you receive.

To create a link to a website in the event description, simply type the URL, such as http://www.google.com.

You can also create linked text by using HTML tags. For example, to create the link Product Info, you would use HTML code in the format <a href="www.some-url.com">Product Info</a>. If the HTML code is valid, Google Calendar hides the HTML when you save the event (but shows the text "Product Info"). It then creates the link in the invitation that attendees receive.

Can I edit just one instance of a meeting in a recurring meeting?

Yes. Open the instance that you want to edit, make your changes, and click Save. Google Calendar then asks you whether you want to apply your changes to just the selected meeting, all meetings, or all meetings moving forward.

Can I make a meeting private?

Yes, Google Calendar has privacy settings. In the event details, select Private so only others with Make changes to events privileges (or higher) for your calendar can see the event and its details.

File Attachments in Calendar

Can I attach files to a meeting invitation?

At this time, Google Calendar does not support file attachments. To provide a file to meeting invitees, you can use any of the following methods:

Method 1: Schedule the meeting, and then send the attachment in a separate email message.
Method 2: Post the document on the intranet and add a link to a document in your meeting invitation.
Method 3: Create the document in Google Docs add the URL to the document in your meeting invitation. Use this method only if you know that all invitees have been migrated to Google Apps.
Method 4: Schedule the meeting through Google Mail: Compose a new email message addressed to your attendees, add the attachment, and then click Add event invitation. Enter details about your meeting, and then send the message. (If you want to check attendees' and resource availability first, create a new event in Google Calendar, but don't send the invitations. After you send the invitation in the email message, make sure you edit the event details to book the resource you want to use.)

If someone who is using Outlook/Notes sends me an invitation with a file attachment, will I get the attachment?

Yes, you'll still get the attachment in the email invitation you receive. However, the attachment won't appear in the event on your calendar.

Calendar Sharing

I gave another employee access to my Outlook/Notes calendar. Can this employee automatically access my Google Calendar after the migration?

Another employee's access to your calendar does not migrate automatically to your Google calendar. However, you can easily re-establish access by sharing your calendar. For details, see Scheduling and Other Calendar Basics.

What level of access to others have to my calendar? Are my calendar details public?

By default, your calendar is shared with everyone at your company, and they can see your calendar's free/busy information only. However, you can turn off calendar sharing.

If you share your calendar with everyone at your company, you can specify whether they can see only free/busy information or all event details. You can also share your calendar with specific people at your company, and can give them one of the following levels of access:

• See free/busy information only
  
• See all event details
  
• Make changes to your calendar
  
• Make changes and share your calendar with others

If I want to access another employee's calendar, such as my manager, does that person need to give me permission?

Yes, if you want to access another employee's calendar, that person must give you permission, by editing the settings for the calendar.

If someone shares his or her calendar with me, can I receive notifications when attendees accept invitations to that person's events?

Yes, you can set up notifications for a shared calendar. However, by default, notifications are turned off. Here's how to turn them on:

1. Access Google Calendar.
2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Settings.
3. Click the Calendars tab.
4. On the Calendars tab, click the Notifications link for the calendar.
5. Choose the settings you want.
6. Click Save.

If someone shares his or her calendar with me, can I hide the calendar?

Yes, you can hide the calendar by clicking it in your list of calendars on the left of your calendar view.

Meeting Invitations

If I'm invited to a meeting, can I propose a new time for it?

Not directly, as in Outlook/Notes, but there's an easy workaround. First, open the invitation and, under Are You Coming?, select Maybe. Then do one of the following:

• To propose a new time to the host only, enter your proposal in the Add a Note field.
  
• To propose a new time to all the attendees, click the Email guests link in the upper-right corner to send your new proposal in an email message to one or more attendees.

Can I forward an invitation to another employee?

Yes, if the meeting host selected the option to allow guests to invite others. If so, in your meeting invitation, click Add guests, type the address to which you want to forward the invitation, and then click Save. Google Calendar will ask you if you want to send an invitation to the new guest. The new guest will then always receive updates to the meeting from the host. Note that the meeting host is notified by email that you invited another attendee.

If someone outside of our company sends me an invitation from another type of calendar, can I accept the invitation on my Google calendar?

Yes, in most cases, you can. If possible, Google Calendar inserts an Add to Calendar link in the invitation. Simply click the link, and the invitation is added to your Google calendar. Otherwise, if the invitation is in the standard .ics format (such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes invitations), you can download the .ics file and upload it to Google Calendar.

Other Calendar Questions

I don't receive an email notification when an attendee responds to my meeting invitations. Why?

By default, invitation replies are turned off in Google Calendar. You can turn them on by editing your calendar settings. For details, see Scheduling and Other Calendar Basics.