Google Calendar is a great tool for your events, appointments, reminders and birthdays. But you don’t just have to subscribe to built-in calendars or those you can subscribe to. You can make your own.
For work, school, kids, and more, you can easily add and customize your Google Calendar. Name the calendar you want, color its events to make it pop, and even hide it if it’s a seasonal calendar.
Note: Unfortunately, you can’t create a calendar in the Google Calendar mobile app, so you’ll need access to a desktop computer to follow these instructions.
Related: How to add, hide and delete birthdays in Google Calendar.
Create a new Google Calendar.
Visit the Google Calendar website and sign in. Click the gear icon in the top right to open the settings menu and select “Settings”.
On the left, expand Add Calendar and select “Create New Calendar”.
Give your calendar a name and optional description. Select your time zone from the dropdown box and click “Create Calendar”.
You should then see the name of your new calendar in Settings for My Calendars on the left. This is where you can customize your calendar options.
Adjust your calendar settings.
Select your new calendar to expand my calendars under Settings. You can then go through the settings by selecting each one from the left or scrolling down to the right of the page.
Accept invitations automatically.: Automatically add events to your calendar with invitations you receive, only those that do not conflict with others, or do not display invitations at all.
Access to permission for events.: Make your calendar available for others to view all event details, or only when you’re free or busy.
Share with specific people.: If you want to share your calendar with friends, family or coworkers, you can click “Add People” and adjust the sharing permission.
Event and full day event notifications.: Set default notification times for timed and full day events.
Other information: Choose to receive email notifications for new, changed, or canceled events with event responses and your daily agenda.
Merge calendar.: Here, you have links to publish your calendar or iCal format. You can also use embed code for your website or blog.
Related: How to display Google Calendar in Outlook
Remove calendar.: If you decide to stop using the calendar later, you can go to this place and either subscribe or delete the calendar altogether.
All of the above changes you make to your new calendar are automatically saved.
So when you’re done, click the back and forth arrows in the top left settings to return to the main screen of your Google Calendar. You can return to this area and update your settings or calendar name as needed.
Customize your Google Calendar.
When you visit the Google Calendar homepage, you can access your calendars on the left. If the menu is hidden, click on the main menu (three vertical lines) at the top left to show it.
Show calendar events.
Then, expand my calendars and you’ll see the calendars you’ve created. To display events for this calendar, be sure to check the box. If you want to hide the calendar or its events at any time, just uncheck it.
Color your calendar.
To give your calendar a cool color, click on the three dots on the right to open the options. Select a color or click the plus sign to add a custom color. All events in your calendar will appear in the color you choose.
Hide your calendar.
As mentioned, you can hide the calendar from your list if you wish. This is useful for seasonal, school or sports calendars that you don’t use all year round. Click on the three dots next to the calendar and select “Hide from list”.
To hide the calendar later, go back to the settings where you initially created it. At the bottom left of My Calendars Settings, click the icon to display in the Calendar list.
Tip: You can quickly access the settings by clicking on the three dots next to the calendar and selecting Settings and Sharing.
The new calendars you create in Google Calendar will also be synced with the application on your other devices. This is a great bonus for creating a custom calendar.