New in Google Calendar: Tasks

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 14 May 2009

Google Calendar, the online service provided by the Mountain View search engine giant that a couple of months ago received the same offline browsing capabilities available for Gmail users, has received new functionality: integrated tasks list. According to Google the new feature was long awaited by Calendar users that were not shy at all to make their demands heard.

Software Engineer, Garry Boyer, explains: “Ever since we launched Google Calendar, people in our forum have been pretty vocal about a missing piece -- an integrated task list. "To-do would be tooo-rific," "I really, really, really need to use a to-do list," and my favorite: "I'll join your team to help you get it done!" The rumble turned into a roar a few months ago when we launched Tasks in Gmail Labs. Now we've integrated Tasks into Google Calendar as well.”

In order to access the Tasks feature in Google Calendar, all you have to do is click the “Tasks” link from the left hand side of the screen, upon accessing Calendar of course. If you have used Tasks in Gmail before, you will not be too surprised by what will appear in front of your eyes. This is because Gmail Tasks and Google Calendar Tasks are pretty much the same; there are a few differences though – like the fact that tasks with due dates appear in Calendar automatically.

Creating a task with a due date is as simple as clicking on an empty space in month view or all-day week view and selecting the “Task” option. Adding a due date to a task you’ve already set up isn’t much harder either; just click the right-arrow from the tasks list and click the calendar icon next. If you want to change the due date of a particular task, just drag it to a different date. Once you have completed a task and want to mark it as such in Google Calendar, simply click that task’s checkbox.

One very useful feature that Google Calendar has to offer is a means of keeping track of due dates. Garry Boyer again: “To keep track of due dates before they arrive, there's a nifty new "Sort by due date" feature available in the Actions menu at the bottom of your task list. While sorting by due date, you can reschedule a task by clicking on it in your list, then pressing control and the up or down arrow key.”

If you want to get started with Google Calendar, just click here.


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