3. Google Calendar

Google Calendar

Google’s Calendar is a relatively new service in comparison to Yahoo Calendar. As is the case with Yahoo, the Google Calendar is linked to a profile that you already have (or can create) in this case with Google.

Google Calendar has the same basic set of configuration options as Yahoo for time zone and default views. Where it differs is that it also offers a custom view option that can show the next two to seven days and the next two to four weeks. You also get the choice of showing weekends or not (which can be really useful if you don’t work weekends).

The default settings window.

Reminders

Again this is another area where Google differs from Yahoo. With Google’s calendar you can set any number of reminders for an event that you want (with Yahoo you only get two). The reminders can be sent via email or sms. However, there was not an option in the version of Google Calendar we tested for event reminders via Google Chat’s instant messaging client. You also have the option of getting an email calendar every day.

Google Calendar: Set up as many advance reminders as you need.

Add Events

All you need to do to add an event in Google Calendar is click in the box (no need to click on the Add button like with Yahoo). What’s interesting though is that you can just click to add an event but the quick view doesn’t offer the choice of selecting a time-which in effect makes the event a day event (or maybe even just a task).

You can, of course, add more details (if you want to, that is) for time start/finish/location and a comment field, all you need to do is click edit. Where the add events detail really shows off its true power is on the right side of the display with the ability to add guests.

Google Calendar detailed event entry.

Sharing

Adding guests to an event is not limited to Google users; you can invite anyone with an email address. The invitation they get will show up inside of Microsoft Outlook as a standard calendar invite (if you’re used to using Outlook with a Microsoft Exchange server back end). That means any Outlook user can accept (or decline) a meeting invitation and then get that invite to show up in their own local Outlook calendar. That is a big difference over what Yahoo offers with its system that will add the only on the host side.

A Google Calendar invite as received by Microsoft Outlook.

Going a step further, Google keeps track of how the guest responds so you have an accurate guest list for an event in your calendar. It’s a powerful feature and one that really makes this calendar a tool for collaboration and scheduling, as opposed to just a flat calendar for tracking when an event is set to occur.

Getting other calendar information into Google Calendar is also very powerful. Whereas Yahoo has its Time Guides for sports, weather and holidays, Google has a very long list of public calendars that can be added in as well. In fact, nearly any calendar that is published in an iCal format can be added to a Google Calendar.

Adding in your friends’ calendar can be done a number of different ways. If they have a public calendar published with the iCal format you can easily add it in as a public calendar. Among Google users you can enable sharing so that your friends can see your calendar (with varying levels of detail and control) and vice versa. Adding in your Google friends’ calendars is a simple matter of typing in their email address and clicking add. If they’ve given you permission, you’ll get the option of seeing their calendar almost instantly. If they haven’t, you get an option to send the user a request for access. Again, that’s a bit different than the Yahoo experience where there was no such facility for directly getting permission for your friend’s calendar.

Once you’ve added whatever other calendars you want (or have access too), Google provides a simple though effective check box to select or deselect which calendars you want to view. This is an infinitely easier and more effective manner of handling multiple calendar views than what Yahoo offers.

Google Calendar: Multiple calendar views.

Though it’s easy to share a calendar, it’s not as easy to synchronize a Microsoft Outlook calendar with Google Calendar. Unlike Yahoo, Google does not offer a direct service for Outlook synchronization. Instead, what Google offers is import/export capabilities so you can manually export data from one calendar and then import it into the other. It’s not an elegant solution, and though it might work for a one-time migration, it isn’t really feasible for something that you’re going to want to maintain on a daily basis.

With all its power, Google Calendar has one particularly annoying flaw. Event titles that are longer than the width of the event cell on the calendar are not wrapped over to the next line by default (as is the case with Yahoo). Instead, what happens is that Google just cuts off the title in the main view (for week or month) after 13 characters if there is a time for the event and approximately 20 characters when no time is present. It would have been great if the calendar cells were easily expandable if needed or if there were an easy way to configure word wrap in cells or a font size to make things fit.