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Whilst we love G Suite here at PCM HQ, the calendar function has been somewhat lacking for business users. Recognising that it lagged behind the Outlook calendar experience, and didn’t have the functionality of many dedicated online meeting room solutions, Google Calendar has had an update.

Those clever Googlers have updated the web version of the calendar with additional functionality, to help teams and businesses organise meetings.

So what’s new?

Rich formatting and HTML in calendar invites

No more separate emails to share an agenda or meeting details. Now, you can add HTML links and rich formatting directly into the calendar invite. This centralises the meeting information. No longer will you have to trawl through your inbox to find the associated email. You can even attach documents to the invite so everything is in one place.

Meeting Room Information

If you have several meeting rooms available, your G Suite admin can now add conference room details directly to G Suite including location, room size, seating capacity and the technical capabilities within the room, such as a projector or teleconference phone.  When you hover over the room when booking a meeting you’ll be able to see all of this information and make the right choice when setting up the invite.

Quick Calendar Comparisons

When there are several people that all need to attend your meeting, finding a date and time that works for everyone can often take longer than the meeting itself! If the attendees’ calendars are shared with you, you can quickly view them side by side to find the date and time that works for everyone. Simply choose ‘day’ as the view and then select the people who are attending the meeting to see their calendars next to each other.

Invitation Status

Your appointments will either be solid, feature diagonal lines, be outlined or crossed out depending on the status (accepted, maybe, haven't replied, declined). You can also choose to view declined invitations if you need to see the information.

Better event visibility when hovering

Now when you hover over an event in your calendar you will see much more information including the guest list and their responses, the location, and video call links and attachments. You no longer have to click into the event to see these details.

The new user interface of the Google calendar can be rolled out now by G Suite admins, and personal users can choose to use the new calendar format too.

All images from: https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/time-refresh-introducing-new-look-and-features-google-calendar-web/ 

Date published: 31/10/2017

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