Zen computing: simplify with gmail. part 5 of 20

Tip 5: Add the Google Calendar.

The gmail account you've just created (or have had for a while) is a great start, but I just mentioned in my first post in this series that gmail could be considered Outlook 2009. And Outlook manages more than just your Inbox, right?

Of course. It manages tasks, contacts, and your time. In this step, you'll add google calendar functionality to gmail to track appointments, events, birthdays, and so on. It's remarkably easy to get started...

Because you already have a google account (created when you signed up for gmail), all you have to do is visit Google's Calendar homepage. From there, enter your Google Account email and password, and sign in. Easy cheesy.

You can probably take it from there. Among the really great features of the Google Calendar app is that it lets you create multiple calendars, and display each independent of the others if you wish. Have a project with several milestone dates? Make a calendar and share it with project stakeholders. Want to track all kids activities and share them with family? Again, create a seperate calendar.

And naturally, you can get easy access to all of those appointments and events from within the gmail browser interface. Here's how:

1. From gmail, click Settings in the upper right-hand corner, then click the Labs tab.
2. Now, look for the Calendar gadget (will be about 2/3 the way down the page or so) and enable it.
3. Click 'Save Changes' and you're done.

You can then make tweaks to the gmail calendar interface by accessing the gadget's Options, which you'll find in the lower right-had corner of the gadget.

Next up: adding your to-do lists without leaving gmail. Make sure and subscribe to get the latest content delivered each week without having to hunt it down.