Do you want to get more organized with Gmail and Google Calendar?
Well, in this video, I'm going to show you all the clever ways you can use these two apps together. This will help you save time and stay on top of your schedule. Be sure to stick around to the very end because I've got a bonus tip you don't want to miss.
Create an Event from Gmail
Let's get started within our Gmail account and see how we can utilize Google Calendar right here from within our inbox.
So let's say, for example, I've opened up this email, and I need to create a meeting with this particular email or something related to it. The first way that we can incorporate Google Calendar is to come up here and select the "more" option and then select "Create an event."
What this is going to do is open up a new tab with a lot of things already pre-populated for us. You can see right away that the email subject line has been put in the title of this event. If we scroll down a little bit further, we can see that the body of the email is now here within the description.
It has also included the email address of the sender, assuming that we are wanting to create a meeting with that individual. Now, of course, you don't have to keep this sender on here.
Maybe I do want to do something with the body of the email, and I'm probably going to come up here and change the title of the event. Maybe I'm going to say something like "Review this special offer" or something along those lines.
But take special note of your guests down below because you may want to remove the sender or other people who've been included on the email. This way of creating an event is best if you're needing to create a meeting not only related to this particular email but perhaps, more importantly, with the other people who are included on this email.
Create an Event from Gmail
Next, let's look at a second way in which we can create an event within Google Calendar. This time, we can do it without even leaving our Gmail application. Instead of coming up here to the "more" option, we are going to come over here to the side panel and select the calendar.
Now, nothing is going to happen just yet. You can see that I've got my email open here on my main Gmail screen, and I've got a preview of my calendar here on the right-hand side. Now, I can move forward to some other date in the future if I want to. But as soon as I take my mouse and click here at 3:00 PM, what it's going to do is bring over the subject of this particular email.
So again, maybe I want to review this email. Maybe there's something related to ChatGPT that I need to do. I can change the subject line, and it's already highlighted here for me at the very top.
But unlike the first method that we saw, you can see that there are two major differences. Number one, it has not automatically added any guests. So no matter who has sent this or who has been included on this email, they are not going to be pre-populated here.
It's also not going to bring over the description as well. So really, this method is not as handy since it's only going to bring over the subject line. But maybe that's enough to trigger what you need to do with this particular email.
When I'm happy with the date selected and any other options I want to make here, I can simply select "Save." Then here, you can see it has been added to my calendar.
Create a Task from Gmail
Now, that naturally brings us to a third way in which we can bring information over from our email to our calendar, and it may be the most effective one yet. The reason being is that it's probably valuable to link directly to this email if you want to come and review it at a later date and put that on your schedule or maybe time block sometime within your Google Calendar.
For that, what we're going to do is say "add to tasks." Now you're probably thinking, "Well, wait a minute, Scott, tasks is not my calendar, or is it?" Let's jump back to our Google Calendar, and you should know that here in the top right-hand corner, we can switch between two different views. The default is, of course, going to be your calendar, or we can jump into our tasks view because this is where all of our Google tasks live.
Now, any of our tasks that have a due date and/or a time will appear here within our calendar, so that's why I'm including it here as a part of this tutorial. Back in Gmail, I'm going to come up here and select "add to tasks." It's going to open up the side panel here on the right-hand side, just like we saw before. It's going to carry over the email subject line here, which of course I can change and edit.
Down below, you can see that it has linked this email message to this particular task. That is very important and can be very helpful when we go to deal with this within our calendar. The one last thing I'm going to do here is select a date. It's going to be today in this example, and I'm going to say 10:00 AM.
Here, you can see the task we just created appears on our calendar, and we are linked directly back to that message. So, no matter if I archive this message, if I send it and give it a label and put it somewhere over here on the left-hand side, we will still have direct access to this particular email.
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Email from Calendar Event
Now that you're familiar with the ways in which we can add things to Google Calendar from within Gmail, how about the opposite? How can we make the most of email here within Google Calendar?
Well, let's get started by taking a look at this event here, "Client Consultation." I'm going to go ahead and click on it, and you'll see here at the top, just to the right of both edit and delete, we have a little email icon. So if we select this icon, it's going to open up a new dialog where we can go ahead and create a brand new email.
Now, not just an email from scratch. Of course, it is going to be related to the event which we just clicked on. Starting from the top, we can choose if we want to send a copy of this email to ourselves or not. By default, this will always be checked, but you can come up here and deselect this if you like.
Now, down below, you can see that nothing has been added to the email line. You can either add an email address, or you can search through your Google Contacts by starting to type in a name. In this particular example, I'm just going to go back to the event itself. I have not invited anyone else; that's why when I choose this option, this is blank and ready for me to add an email address.
This is probably most helpful if I want to share some information about this event. Maybe I want to see if a colleague would be interested in attending this event. More than just the subject line, which I can edit, it has brought over the name of the event, but I can choose to edit this and the message area.
You can see down below that the event information will be included in the message, meaning the title of the event, the time and date, and the details of that event will be included within this message. So maybe I'm going to write something like, "Hey, would you like to attend this meeting as well?" or "How should I best prepare for this meeting?"
Whatever the case may be, that's why you may want to use this option even if you haven't invited anyone else to that event.
Email from Calendar Event
Next, let's go over to this event here, the "Quarterly Budget Review," and you'll notice that I have invited a few people. The first thing you'll see is that we don't have the option here at the top of the dialog. Instead, that email icon has been moved down here next to the guest list.
Now, if we select it, we're going to see a very similar dialog with just a slight change here at the top of the screen. Once again, we have this "send copy to me," which will be checked by default, but we also have a couple of other options. Do I want to send this message to everyone, the people who have said yes, and those I'm still awaiting a response from, or am I only sending it to a particular group?
For example, if I uncheck the "Yes" option automatically, it will remove the people who have responded yes. Maybe I just want to ask this person, "Hey, are you still able to join us for this meeting?" You can see if I click "Yes" once again, this person is added back.
Or maybe I'm thinking the other way around. This time, I'm going to deselect the "Awaiting Response" option, and I'm going to ask this person to perhaps do something particular within this meeting, such as preparing an agenda or if they can speak to a specific point. Whatever the case may be, you can choose this option here.
Regardless of how many people you've invited to this particular meeting, it will properly filter it for you. Now, that also doesn't stop you from adding other email addresses or other people to this email. You're not limited to just the people that you've invited to this meeting.
Below, the subject and the message are the same, and yes, once again, all of the event information will be included within this message.
Copy Email Addresses from Event
Now, I'm going to hit cancel in this case, and you'll notice that there's another option that's available to us here relating to email: the ability to copy guest emails. Instead of perhaps sending them an email directly here from within Google Calendar, maybe I need to add everyone here to a thread, or maybe I just need to paste their email addresses in a spreadsheet or some other application.
Here, I can single-click "Copy Guest Emails," and then, of course, I can take that wherever I like. If I do choose to come back here to Gmail, I can hit paste, and now I've got those email addresses here that I can add to perhaps an existing email thread or to a brand new email or any other application on the web.
Email from Calendar Event
An additional way in which we can email people directly from within Google Calendar is if we hover over any of the attendees. For example, maybe I need to send Vanessa an email. Instead of going this route and unchecking things and removing participants, I'm just going to hover my mouse over her name.
Down below, you can see that there's a "Send Email" option. This will still keep me here within Google Calendar but will open up a new dialog box. Now, this email is completely unrelated to the event, so there is no pre-populated subject line. They are not going to be sent anything related to this particular event.
I was just perhaps thinking of Vanessa, or I want to send some information to her, which is unrelated to this meeting. With this option, I can start a brand new email, add my subject line, add my details, and hit send, all without leaving Google Calendar.
Bonus Tip
Last but not least, I want to leave you with a bonus tip. Here at the very bottom of your event, you can see that there's a down arrow. If we click this, we have the opportunity to add a note to an event. This option to add a note is actually available not only to organizers of meetings but also to attendees as well.
In this case, I'm going to select that "Add Note" button, and I've got the opportunity here to change if I am going or not to this meeting. Down below, we can see we have the yes, no, and maybe options. I'm going to leave that one alone, but I can add a note. For example, maybe I'm going to say, "I will bring the cookies to the meeting," something like that. Everyone loves refreshments. I'm going to hit send now because there is a send button. Most of us probably assume that this sends an email to everyone else within the event, but that's actually not true.
If we go and open up this event again, you can see that it's actually added that note below my name: "I will bring the cookies to the meeting." Whether we're viewing it here within this preview mode or if we open up the full mode, you can see that that note will exist here as well.
Now, you can always go and change your note. You can't add additional notes, but I can either click on this to edit the existing note or I can select the X to remove that note completely. This is where those notes will appear.
If you're wanting even more simple ways to get organized and stay productive with Google Tools, why not join me at Streamline Academy? At Streamline Academy, we talk about how we can get the most out of our days and our work lives using Google tools and other applications that work well with Google. You can get started today with your 30-day free trial and join myself and other Google users who are simplifying their day.
Thank you so much for watching, and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
