Creating and Sharing a Google Calendar

Creating and Sharing a Google Calendar

here are many calendar tools out there; we prefer Google Calendar for 3 main reasons:
  • easy-to-use,
  • accessible from anywhere, PC, smart phone, tablet...,
  • great sharing features.
To access this you need a Google account. If you already have an account you can re-use it. However, if you receive event invites by email, you must use that email address as the Google account username.

The Google account username does not have to be Gmail account, it can be an existing email address.

If you already have a Google account you can either:
* create a new one and connect them later (using full sharing) OR
* re-use the existing account, possibly creating a new calendar in that account for sharing

The Decision: Multiple calendars or multiple accounts which share calendars.

To keep it simple: if you receive event/ meeting invites by email, it is best to have a separate account with that email address for those invites. If you just want to share some of your events (but perhaps not all of them) then create a new calendar for those types of events only. You can have multiple calendars, each with different sharing settings. This could be used to keep personal and business appointments separate. You can see both at the same time, coloured differently for ease of use.

Overview

Three simple steps, each of which is explained below:
  1. If you have decided you need a new account for receive invites, first create that account, which will create a calendar for those invites automatically.
  2. If you are going to use a new calendar for sharing some events, you need to create it/ them.
  3. Configure sharing so your partner can view/ edit your calendars.

Creating a Google Account

The steps to create a new Google account are:
  1. Open your browser and log out of Google.
  2. Click on Sign-In , then More Options , then Create Account .
  3. Fill in your details. In the email address section lick on the link below the box ' I prefer to use my current email address '.
  4. Follow the steps to create and verify the account.
Now you can login to Google and open Google Calendar.

Creating a new Calendar

Ensure you are logged into Google as the account who will be the owner of the calendar (this may not be the same as the regular user). Open Google Calendar, usually found by going to open new tab (in Google Chrome) or the Google homepage and clicking on the 9 dots , then clicking on the calendar icon . Under the month calendar on the left hand edge near the top is a heading 'My Calendars', click on the downward triangle in a box at the end of that line and click 'Create new calendar'.

Give it a name, adjust any settings to suit (the defaults are normally fine) and click 'Create Calendar'.

Sharing a Calendar

Two items of information are needed to share a calendar, the Google Account username (an email address) of the person you want to share the calendar with and the amount of power you want them to have over that calendar. The options are:
  • Make changes AND manage sharing - only give this power to yourself - this effectively joins 2 accounts in control of a calendar.
  • Make changes to events - give this power to a business partner or administrator
  • See all event details - give this power to anyone you are happy to see your appointments
  • See only free/busy (hide details) - use this power to hide your personal appointments, but let someone know when you are busy.
If you have to create a new Google Account to receive meeting invites, but do not wish to login to Google as that user, then the new account should give 'Make changes AND manage sharing' to your usual Google Account. This way your normal Google login will be able to manage and accept appointments to the new account.