How to Organize Your Whole Family with Google Calendar

Put everyone's activities into Google Calendar.

Using a wall calendar may be a good way for some families to keep their schedules straight, but if you are often away from home and need to see your calendar, a Google calendar can be a tremendous help. You can share your calendar with anyone you want so that your whole family can collaborate on one calendar. Even if you turn out to be the only one in the family who keeps up with the Google Calendar, it will pay off -- you'll be the one keeping the family on schedule.

Things You'll Need

• Google account for each family member.

Instructions

1. Launch a Web browser and type www.google.com/calendar in the address bar. Sign in to your Google account or create one if you do not have one already.

2. Your new blank calendar opens up. You can rename and change the color of this calendar it is your calendar as you see fit. Create additional calendars for each member of your family by clicking on "Create" and giving the calendar a name.

3. Share your calendars with each family member by clicking the down-pointing arrow to the right of each individual calendar and then "Share this Calendar" for each calendar you want to share. Enter the email address of each family member you want to share the calendar with. Each will receive email notification about the calendar, and the Web link to access it.

4. Add events whenever necessary by either clicking on the day of the event or choosing "Create Event" on the upper left. Fill in the details, following onscreen instructions to choose the appropriate calendar. Repeat for all events in your family.

5. To hide any of these calendars, click on the calendar title on the left-hand part of the screen. Only the highlighted calendars will be displayed on the page.

6. Add special calendars, such as Holidays. Click the Add link under "Other Calendars" and choose "Add A Public Calendar." Here you will find calendars for holidays, events, phases of the moon and more.

7. Access the calendar anywhere you have Internet access.

Tips & Warnings

• You can optionally create a separate calendar associated with each family member's Google account, and then share the calendars with one another. Set permissions so that you can add events to your children's account without being logged into their Google accounts.

• You can make your calendars public, but then everyone can see your business. It's best to keep it private

• Each person you share with will need a Google Account

References

• Google: Calendar