Reminder Messages with Google Calendars

One question that's often asked is about sending calendar event reminders to participants. While Google Calendar doesn't actually do this, you can use the event's notifications to help you out.

When setting up notifications (which only applies to me - they're MY notifications), I create three notifications for important meetings:

1. Notification meeting's starting in 15 minutes
2. Notification meeting's starting 5 hours
3. Notification meeting's starting in two days

The 15 minute notification is for me to get to the meeting; the other two are notices to send reminder messages to the attendees. You can do that in a couple of ways. Using Gmail from your browser, just open the event and right above the guest list you'll see a link to email guests:

The link is also available in Google Calendar:

Once you've clicked on the link, you can quickly send a reminder out:

Using Google Calendar for Time Based To Dos (Reminders)

For me, there are 2 types of ToDos - checklists and reminders. Checklists include things list:

  • books to read
  • movies to see
  • items to pack for a vacation
  • stuff to fix around the house.

Reminders are the things you do at a specific time (like on your way home):

  • pickup milk
  • go to the bank
  • drop off a prescription
  • mail a letter

I like to see these things in my calendar so I can plan around them, but I don't want them to be included in my personal or work calendar. Especially if I'm sharing my calendar with others.

My solution: create a separate calendar called Reminders. When I create a reminder (e.g. pick up milk at 5:30 p.m.) I enter it in my calendar and assign it to Reminders. When the time comes, I'm notified with all the features of a calendar appointment (popup, email, SMS).  Don't worry about the end time of the appointment  — you're only concerned about being notified once it starts.