Google Group Calendar Overview

Written by Tom Litchfield for SEARCH

This overview of Google’s Calendar will give you the basics of how to use this online tool to keep track
of your organization’s events in a group setting. Only basic functionality and features will be highlighted
and explained. Supplemental instruction detailing advanced features will be prepared and distributed if
the group feels this would be helpful.

Google Calendar
calendar.google.com

You should have received the login for the group calendar from an administrator. After signing to
Google Calendar, you will be taken to the main calendar view page.

Monthly view

The default view is for the current month with the current day hilighted in a yellow border (see August
12 above). You may change the view to the a weekly view or daily view using the buttons top of the
calendar to the right.
Weekly view example

Events

Events are shown in different colors spanning the days the event is scheduled for.

Events by month
Calendar Groups

This particular calendar is organized into groups, with each group

having a different color. On the left of the screen is a list of the
groups (referred to as “calendars” in Google Calendar). Clicking on
a group in this list will hide that group’s events from the calendar
view. This feature might be useful if you are interested in seeing a
few group events at a time, you can “hide” some groups to focus
on others.

Please note that these screenshots were taken while the Calendar
was still being developed. Some groups may be missing from the
pictured list, or mislabeled. The information in this calendar is
continually being updated and corrected.

You may notice in the group list an item labeled “Task”. This is not
a group, it is a default Google Calendar feature for managing tasks.
At this time it cannot be removed. However, many Google Calendar
users have complained about this limitation and Google may add
an option that will allow us to remove it.

Viewing and Editing Event Details

Click once on an event in the calendar view will display details about the event. The exact times,
location, and a description (if there is one) will “pop-up” on the screen (see next page).

When clicking an event, make sure your mouse pointer is within the colored area of the event,
otherwise you may get the pop-up box for adding a new event.
Displaying event details

In the event details pop-up box is a link to edit the event:

Close-up of “Edit event details” link

Clicking the Edit event details link takes you to the event editing page:

Event edit page

On this page you may make a number of changes and edits to an event. These inlcude

 Changing times and dates

 Editing the name of the event or description
 Add a map to the event location
 Invite guests
 Set reminders to remind guests via email.
 Assigne the event to diferent group
 Delete the event

When finished making changes, click the Save button at toward the top left or at the bottom left of the
page.
Adding New Events

There are a few different ways to add a new event to the calendar. The easiest way starts by clicking
once on any day cell within the calendar view. Clicking a date will trigger a pop-up box to add a new
event.

Add new event pop-up box

In the pop-up box, enter the title of the event. Then use the drop-down pick list to select the group the
event belongs under (see next page).
Close-up of group pick-list

If this is only a one-day event, you may click the Create event button and the new event will be saved
and viewable on the calendar.

If the event is longer than one day or you would like to add more details, click the Edit event details link
to add more information.

In the edit event details page you may add a description of the event, change dates, invite guests and
more. (This was page was also described in the Viewing and Editing Event Details section of this guide.)
Event edit page

After making any changes to an event be sure to click the Save button on the bottom left of the page.

Printing the Calendar

Use the Print link to make print copies of the calendar.

Close-up of Print link

You may print any of the calendar views, Day, Week, Month, 4 Days or Agenda (list). Clicking the Print
link will launch a pop-up window that provides some printing options.

Print options.

Clicking the Print button at the bottom of the window should send the document to your default printer
for your computer.
Support

At this point you should be able to navigate and use Google Calendar’s basic functions. By using the
calendar you will discover other features not described in this overview. However, if you feel you need
assistance or have questions, please contact me, Tom Litchfield, at notefortom@gmail.com

I have a website support forum where you may ask questions about Google Calendar and other topics
related to websites and the Internet. I prefer people use this forum for questions rather than private
email, as the answers are made public and others may benefit from the information.

To use the forum, go to www.techiediy.net.