May 2011 Archives

Recently, the UofM Google administrators made available some features in Google Calendar. These features are created in what Google calls "Labs". The features are currently limited to 14 tools.

Some features that may be of interest are:

• Gentle Reminders - this meets the need of having an audible reminder for meetings.


• Event Attachements - adding documents to meetings/events on your calendar


• Smart Rescheduler - Brings back the feature in UMCal of having the calendar system check all invitees' schedules and list open times.


• Next Meeting - displays one's next meeting in large text with an indicator of how long until it will begin.

"How do I access these features?", you may ask. These features are listed and can be enabled and disabled by navigating to your Google Calendar, selecting the Gear symbol in the upper right corner of the window and choosing "Labs".

Then just read each description and choose 'Enable' for the feature you would like to add to your calendar.

It is helpful for staff to know the names of the calendar to which they have access, where they are located, and other specifics based on the type of resource. Here is how that information can be found:

In your UMN Google Calendar, choose the gear symbol from the upper right of your browser window.

Choose "Calendar Settings" from the list that results

Choose the "Calendars" tab

See the names of all of the calendars. Specific information is available under the calendar name.

Clicking on the name will result in a detail window for that calendar.