Posts Tagged ‘Google Calendar’

Google is rolling out offline mode on all its products using the cool Google Gears technology they developed. The first one to use it was Google Reader if I remember correctly, allowing you to read your feed list offline.

A few days ago they rolled out offline mode for Google Calendar, probably one of the applications most “in need” of such a feature. If you have loads of appointments there is no need to use Outlook as well now, since you can view them offline using Google Calendar just as if you were connected.

There is of course a drawback, or rather a lack of features, you can’t actually modify entries or create new stuff. I’m thinking they will be rolling this out later, but this obviously requires a some more coding. I myself appreciate that they decided to roll this out early on, even the fact that you can view your calendar is a huge help!

Google released a neat tool for syncing Google Calandar and the Outlook Calendar. It works both ways, and this is probably the reason I am going back to Outlook again. I love Google Calendar, but Outlook gives you a whole lot more tools.

Just to be a Google fan I have been using Google Calendar, so now that syncing back and forth is so easy, I can just use both. Syncing secondary calendars is not possible yet, so you will only be able to manage your primary calendar this way, but hope updates are on their way.

With Gmail IMAP support and now the calendar syncing, I think I have everything to make Google and Outlook become my dream application. I’ll start using it right away, and fill you guys in on the details.

I just noticed a nifty shortcut in Google Calendar which allows you to quickly set the duration of an event when entering it. If you don’t just click somewhere and type, but click and drag to the duration you want, you can still enter the details, and the event will be created with the duration you dragged it to be.

Since I hardly ever have a one hour event I find this method really productive and simple, better than setting them one by one anyway.

I’ve already written about how you can use Google calendar as a diary, and how great it is to take notes and do much more than planning meetings and events. Zee from the Creative Thoughts blog took all this one step further and transformed his Calendar into his whole task management and productivity system.

The basis of it all is that you create 5 year goals, then divide those into one year goals and further divide those into 3 month goals. You create a separate calendar for each three month goal, and you take it from there. You can plan, create events and record information, you just have to choose the right calendar when you create them.

This method is pretty unique, but I see great potential in it, it forces you to think in goals and to work to achieve them. Take a look at the original Google Calendar organization article, where all this is written down in much more detail. I think I’m going to give it a go, I’ll keep you posted.

While I am a firm believer in organization, making ourselves more productive and so on, I see so many people forgetting that the emphasis is on productivity, not on organization. If you don’t feel comfortable with a step of GTD, or some other method, just come up with something that works for you.

Many people are set back, because they try too hard to get things out of their heads. When you start a method you have so many things in your head it becomes a bit tedious. Just go a day at a time, and in a few days or weeks, your mind will be free, don’t try to get everything down at once. In addition, I think many people find it counter-productive to always enter a task that comes to mind into some sort of organizer platform

I have come up with a solution for myself using three small paper trays, index cards and Google Calendar. In case your wondering I use A7 index cards and small A7 sized trays I actually mounted on my desk. Here’s how I organize myself, focusing on the collection and filing process, I promise it’s not long and many of you could find it helpful.

Read the rest of this entry »