URL Hack: Force a copy of a Google Calendar event You Can Do

I am constantly learning. And I enjoy it. (Probably a good thing I became a teacher, eh?) 

There are many different reasons why I learn. Sometimes it's because I am told I have to learn something; sometimes it's because I want to learn something; sometimes it's purely by accident; and sometimes it's because I am so intrigued that I am driven to learn something. This final reason is how I am able to write this today. It's going to be short and it has a VERY specific purpose. But, man! Was I GIDDY when I learned this!

I received an email from a group I'm part of announcing an upcoming event. Included in the email was a link to add the event to my calendar; it was not shared directly to me. I take advantage of this every chance I get. My Google Calendar is one of my top used tools and one of my favorite tools. This time, however, I stopped and wondered ... "How does Michael do that?" (Michael being the one who sent the invite.) I couldn't stop thinking about it. No lie. I Googled it ... I looked at the URL he sent ... I looked at calendar events I create ... for a day or so. 

Then I spied it.

Giddy! Seriously. I felt like I had discovered a secret treasure! I quickly sent Michael an email to ask if I had discovered some "Google-magic". His reply told me his process was a bit different and that he wasn't aware of this URL hack I was asking about.

Wait for it.

Ready? Each calendar event has a specific URL, right? I spied "/copy/" in his URL. I tried it & JACKPOT! It is so similar to the force a copy URL hack for other Google Apps that I wondered how I hadn't even thought about it before. 

It's far easier for me to do a quick little video to show you, so here it is:

Thank you Michael for inspiring me & responding to my question!

Did this help? I hope so ... I know I probably won't use this very often, but man! Learning this was exciting! Do you know of other URL hacks that I might be interested in? Please let me know - either below in a comment or reach out on social media - my links are listed below my picture.

Other resources like this you might be interested:

• Tony Vincent's Google Document URL Tricks
  
  
• Keyboard Shortcuts Wakelet collection
  
  
• Google Calendar Wakelet collection

Import Calendar Dates You Can Do

Do you create numerous calendar events? Are you a "calendar" person?

Google Calendar is my lifeline. I depend on it every day. I also see how powerful Google Calendars are for larger purposes ... buildings, staffs, communities, large groups, etc. But the problem is, creating calendar events on a large scale can take large amounts of time. It can open the door for errors.

Awhile back, I searched and searched and found a few helpful resources. I found an article or two, a couple of videos ... but what I really wanted was a template that was ready-to-go and "easy" to use. What I had found was the "theory" behind using a Google Sheet and importing it to Google Calendar. Since I couldn't find a template, I made one and today I want to share that out.

It is a basic, simple, and straight-forward idea. Take a Google Sheet, format it correctly, load in your dates (& as much info as you want to), save as a csv, and upload to the correct Google Calendar. Voilá!

I have used this method for athletic calendars very successfully. I've also recently shared this idea with my district for our yearly calendar. I see this as very helpful. Each building can have its own tab. Tabs can be duplicated - or individual rows can be copied over - for events that need to be on multiple calendars.

To be 100% honest, the first time you create a large number of events, you are not going to "save" a ton of time, but the benefits come in when you have repeating events or you use the same large number of events over and over. For example, a weekly repeating meeting ... create the dates on 2 rows, then use the "magic" of selecting them both & pulling down on the "blue box" to keep that repeating time frame. And if you are like many schools, you probably use "comparable dates" year after year ... and that is where I see a Sheet saving time. [Also, one person can create the district-level events and they be copied over to each building, or use the calendar layering ability to have them all show at the same time.]

Included with the template is a tab for directions. I also tucked in "notes" on each of the column headers to help guide you when you are actually creating your events. I've tried to create this to be something ANYone can do, but if you get stuck or you need help, feel free to reach out!

And finally, at the bottom of the instructions tab, I added a couple of tips on ways you could go further. Interested in an automatic creation of events from your Sheet? Yep - it's possible ... check out the "How to automatically add a schedule from Google Sheets into Calendar" video. Maybe one day, I'll tackle that, too! 

Here is a sneak peak at the template ↬

Link to "template/preview" option (allows for quick copy)

Link to "View only". Please use the "File --> Make a copy" option to make your own copy.

You can also find this on my "Templates for Teachers" website. Feel free to check this one out, along with the 70+ other templates my colleague Beth Kingsley & I have created and shared out.


Looking for Sheets or Calendar ideas/tips/tricks? Check out my Wakelet collections: 

Google Sheets Wakelet

Google Calendar Wakelet

          

And, as always, have a question or comment? I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out - all my links are found below my photos in the upper right corner.

Google Calendar (part 2) You Can Do

This time of year is incredibly busy for me. This year is proving to be even busier! The school year is well underway, my own girls are back in school, all 3 play soccer, the 8th grade DC trip I co-coordinate is really starting to amp up, AND on top of it all, I'll be heading to NYC in a couple days to continue on my Google Innovator path! 

I planned to get this out last week, but it didn't happen. I hope the wait was worth it.

Two weeks ago, I shared many things that I love and use in Google Calendar. I really cannot go a day without using my calendar. Today I want to focus on my main calendar. I have 2 - for the same purpose - but one is for home and one for school. I simply cannot go without them. They are my lifeline. They help keep me organized. They help keep me sane.

The major reason I rely heavily on these to calendars is because I can share them. (But in 2 very different ways.)

At home, our Family Calendar is not only on my phone, it's on my husband's phone and all of my daughters' phones. Now, the 5 of us can stay "in sync". Sports practices & games, doctor appointments, after-school activities, field trips, parties, events, etc. If it doesn't get on our shared calendar, I'll probably forget about it. All of us can easily open our chosen calendar app and see what is coming up or happening.

How To ... Share Google Calendar

Once you are on Google Calendar (on your computer), look to the far left, under "My Calendars". Find the calendar you want to share. Hover over the name and look for the "world's skinniest snowman" to the right of the name. [For those of you unfamiliar with that term, it's the vertically stacked 3 dots ... I like "world's skinniest snowman" better.] Click on the snowman.

*** Bonus: this is also where you can change the color for the events on your calendar! *** 

Back to sharing ... select "Settings and Sharing". 

On the next screen, scroll down to "Share with specific people". And then "+ Add people".

Type their email addresses & then you will have 4 options for sharing. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!  You do not need to give everyone the ability to edit - this could be disastrous.

Select the option that fits the person the best. If you just need them to know when you are free or busy, "See only free/busy" is best. If they need to be able to see the event & the details about the event, "See all event details", is perfect. If you want them to be able to add events, but not add people, "Make changes to events", is perfect. And finally, if you want them to be able to add events AND manage who can add people, "Make changes and manage sharing", is the option you want.

Now, how about for school? Same concepts apply, only this time, I am part of a domain. We have shared calendars for our building (one restricted to JUST staff; and one that is publicly available for parents & community members to see); shared calendars for teachers to sign up for our labs; and one for signing up for conferences room in order to have meetings. But all of us have our own calendar that comes with our Google account. This calendar - I call is "Sarah @ school" - is where I add any event that is connected with me at school. I put meetings, classroom appointments, conferences, etc., on here. I do this so I know where I'm already booked. Since 99% of the time I have my phone on me, I can easily reference my calendar as well as create events.


How To ... "Find a time" in Google Calendar
But instead, we stumbled on "Find a time". 💥 Mind. Blown!!! 💥

As you are creating your event, add your guests, and their calendars will show up, too!!! Check out the screenshot below. I am in my school account, and I added 3 colleagues to this event I'm trying to create. Do you see all of them??? I can then literally find a time for the 4 of us to meet with as little conflict as possible! I mean seriously ... can it get better???

This is seriously such an awesome find! You can see that my red covers the whole day. (I'll be in NYC for the Google Innovator Academy!!!) I have shown this to several people and they all react the same ... a little weirded out, at first, and then they realize the convenience this can allow.  I helped a counselor in one building target a good time for her, the principal, school psychologist, and myself to get together. Likewise, if teachers want me to come into their classroom ... "Find a time" & send me an invite. Love it!

It does work outside of a domain, but you have to have been shared on someone's calendar. For example, I began to create an event in my personal account, and I added my school account and Google Trainer account, and I could see all 3 calendars. I previously shared both of these calendars to my personal account. 

Finally, the final idea I'd like to share about Google Calendar is my new found dedication to using icons at the beginning of many of events I create. These help me quickly see what type of activities I have going on. Right now, I'm regularly using:

👩‍💻 ↬ classroom appointments

🤖 ↬ for a committee I am on in one building

👥 ↬ meetings

⚽ ↬ my daughter's soccer practices & games

💡 ↬ my #NYC19 Google Innovator dates

I hope I've shared a tip or two that can help you stay better organized or utilize Calendar a bit better. 

Google Calendar Wakelet collection

I've started using Wakelet to collect resources and I created one for Google Calendar. Check it out for help tips and other hacks for calendar. The link is below the image on the left. I'll keep adding to this as I find more ... so feel free to come back and check for more.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. It is delivered right to your inbox. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Google Calendar (part 1) You Can Do

Google Calendar was probably the first Google App I was introduced to. At the time, I was firmly holding on to my paper agenda and was NOT looking to let it go. I clearly remember one meeting, where my principal, Chris, said he would be putting events onto the school Google Calendar. I remember feeling unsettled ... but not for long! 

Today I'm focusing on the Calendar App ↬ there's too much to share in one article, so I'll be back next week with more.

We know dates and times change. And when I realized how incredible it was that one person could enter ... and adjust ... dates/times for school functions and I didn't have to lift a finger??? 💥WOW💥

Google Calendar has become a complete necessity for me. I do not go a day without consulting my calendar, creating events, looking up/adjusting an event, being reminded of an event via a notification, and so much more.

Why Use ... Google Calendar

Before we get into "how to" and specifics, how about a little "why"? We live in a world where we juggle so many different "hats" and having a tool that can help us stay organized is a blessing. Google Calendar is accessible on computers and mobile and it syncs so if you make changes in one place, it is reflected in other places. Calendars can be shared with others. They can either just view the calendar or you can allow them to manage it, too. The power of this comes into play when you are comfortable with Calendars.

How To ... Find Google Calendar

Let's start with the basics ↬ go to calendar.google.com ... each Google account comes with a calendar. You will notice 2 sections: "My Calendars" and "Other Calendars". 

"My Calendars" is where you find the calendars YOU create & can manage. 

"Other Calendars" is where you find calendars you have been given viewing access or that you've subscribed to.

How To ... Create a Google Calendar

Now that you are on the Google Calendar website (sorry - I've not seen a way to create a calendar via my phone), creating a new Calendar is SUPER easy! Next to "Other Calendars", click the plus sign, then choose "Create New Calendar". Give it a name, description, timezone, and ... bam! Done!

How To ... Subscribe to a Google Calendar

How Do I Use ... Google Calendar

It might also help if I provide some of the ways I use Google Calendar. I HEAVILY use Google Calendar. But I didn't start off that way. I started off simply using the shared calendar from my principal. I think I even just used it to write down the dates into my own planner ... until I got tired of crossing out & rewriting them!

Fast-forward, I use Calendar for work, school, my family, and pretty much anything else that has dates 😄. You might think I go over board ... it's ok. It works for me. That's all that matters. That it works for YOU. (I even have my calendar set up on my watch so I can see my calendar & receive reminders.)

Even more ...

I have it on both my personal and school calendars, I have them attached to my phone and I also have it syncing to my watch.

Google Calendar Wakelet collection

Now you might think, how can there possibly be more??? Well, there is and I can't hope to get it all in one blog. I've started using Wakelet to collect resources and I created one for Google Calendar. Check it out for help tips and other hacks for calendar. The link is below the image on the left. I'll keep adding to this as I find more ... so feel free to come back and check for more.

Next week, I'll be back with some other things you can do with Calendar.

Calendar CAN work for you! But don't worry, while I love Calendar and don't go a day without using it, I still have a small paper one, because there are times where I need to jot things down, track things, or keep paper notes handy. You have to find what works for you.

Have a question or comment? Feel free to comment below, or reach out to me via my contacts in the upper right, just below my photo.

2 *MUST HAVE* Google Apps You Can Do

Trip planning is a daunting task but Google is here to help, yet again! The focus of this article - the 3rd in a 6 part series - is how to utilize the Google Drive app and Google Calendar (also an app, but can easily be synced to your preferred calendar app).

In this article for Nations Classroom, a student tour company, I highlight how beneficial using the Google Drive & Calendar App can be for trip coordinators. Easy & regular access are at the top of my list!

But don't think they only work for trip planning! 

I use Google Drive & Calendar numerous times a day & since I have them on my phone for my school work, for my home life, and for the various other activities I'm involved in. Google Calendar's allow me to manage my daughters' school activities, doctor appointments, my husband's word schedule, sporting events, and everything else! 

6 Ways Google Can Make Planning Easier For a School Trip Leader: Part 3 - The Google Drive App and Google Calendar

Check out Nations Classroom if you are interested in planning a trip.

• website (www.nationsclassroomtours.com)
• Twitter (@NationsClassrm)