What syntax should I use to make Google Calendar recognize events I add
November 19, 2016 12:23 AM   Subscribe

I use Google Calendar a lot, and mostly to add events occurring at specific times. I click on the desired day on the monthly calendar, and fill out the field with something like "6am remember to take out trash", but for years I haven't been able to discern a pattern as to whether this will result in creating: 1) A calendar event set for 6am that says "remember to take out trash", or 2) A calendar event set all day (not at 6am) that says "6am remember to take out trash".

I haven't been rigorous about testing it, but it feels like it's hit or miss as to whether that same format produces result #1 or #2. (Screenshot of what I'm doing here.)

Do I need to use some other syntax? 6am vs 6:00AM? Put the time elsewhere in the field? I can't figure this out, and it's a tiny thing but annoying to have to go back into newly added calendar events to fix the time. I know I can go into the "edit" page for an event but I don't want this added step since I add events a lot.

Could someone help me figure out how I need to format Google Calendar events so that they are always set for the time I specify? Thanks!

I did try searching Google help forums, but wasn't successful (wasn't clear on what search terms were specific enough).
posted by rollcredits to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
In general, I think the Calendar Quick Add feature works better when you put the date and time after the event, e.g. "remember to take out the trash 6am". It seems to be even more reliable if you use at or on between the event and the date or time, e.g. "remember to take out the trash at 6am on Friday". I don't think 6am versus 6:00AM matters.

The issue in your particular screenshot might be the word now at the end of the line, which may be interpreted as an event to be added for right away.
posted by ssg at 1:25 AM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


The time goes at the end. There are a few magic words: "at," "with," and "on" are the ones I use. "Dental appointment at Dr. Smits' on Wednesday November XX at 10am." If you think about it how you'd say it to a person, that's what Google's language recognition is aiming for.

I use this mostly on Android, where the "at" location searches Contacts and Google, so you can also enter an address, the web version may do this, too. If you omit the date and just enter a time, it'll create the event at the next possible slot.
posted by rhizome at 2:47 AM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


Rhizome has it. I use the IFTTT DO Note button for this. I can tap in (on my android phone) "Dinner with Bob on Thursday at 7pm" or "Meeting on Monday at 2pm downstairs" and it's consistently shunting it into the right calendar slots so long as I'm consistent about using the right prepositions in the expected ways.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 5:07 AM on November 19, 2016


I just tried every iteration I could think of, and it seems like as long as there is a number with an am/pm designation or a ':00' in there somewhere it will make a time-designated event. The one exception was when I typed "6 call Mike" where it made an all day event. "call Mike at 6" sets a one hour event for 6pm.

From this it seems like if you're not going to use "at" you'll need to either type 6pm, 6 pm, or 6:00 to trigger the set time function.

I'm using Calendar in Chrome, maybe this has something to do with it?
posted by ananci at 1:27 PM on November 19, 2016


All of the following set an event at 6:00 (sometimes am sometimes pm, always am if you use 'am'):
6am event name
event name 6am
6:00 event name
6:00am event name
event name at 6
event name at 6am
event name at 6:00am
6:00 event name
event name 6:00

These two did not set an event at 6:00, instead setting the event as all day:
6 event name
event name 6

So from what I can see, you either need to use am/pm, put "at" before the time, or make it an explicit time format like 6:00.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:55 AM on November 21, 2016


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