An update to Google Calendar has made it harder for your colleagues to hide from office meetings, the company has revealed.
The calendar app announced that it is tweaking the UI currently used to show your workplace.
Previously, indicating whether you worked from home or at the office showed up on Google Calendar as an all-day event, cluttering people’s schedules and often causing confusion.
Google Calendar location change
Google Calendar first introduced the ability to share your work location in August 2021 and hopes the new change will make it much easier to show co-workers where you are.
Going forward, the platform will use a “more compact format” that sits at the top of your daily schedule, distinctly different from invitations to meetings and other events on your calendar.
In a Google Workspace blog post detailing the update, the company notes that the feature will be disabled by default, so end users will need to ensure that their company admins have enabled it to engage properly.
Once activated, the tool will be available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business customers. However, users with personal Google accounts, as well as Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline customers as well as G Suite Basic customers will not be able to access it yet.
This release is the latest in a series of updates and upgrades as the company seeks to ensure users get the most out of Google Calendar when they return to the office in the new era of hybrid working. .
Recently, Google Calendar was also updated to show a range of status options in Google Chat, giving you additional information about what you or your colleagues are up to. Previously limited to just showing when someone was out of the office, Google Chat is now able to show a number of different statuses, including “in a meeting” or “in concentration”.
Google Calendar also recently launched “Focus time”, where users can block time periods where they can avoid meetings and focus on real work.
Setting such a marker in your Google calendar will also allow users to automatically decline meetings, meaning there’s no last-minute rush to get work done.