Anyone using Google Calendar on a computer should learn at least some handy Google Calendar keyboard shortcuts. We’ll run through shortcuts that will let you see, navigate, and work with your calendar more efficiently.
We discussed why Google Calendar is the best online calendar service. Since then, we’ve discovered even more ways to integrate Google Calendar into your life, especially if you’re using Google Workspace. For example, if you want to add weather to your calendar, use Gcal notifications to help Atomic Habitsor sync Slack with your Google Calendar, we’ve got you covered. Many iPhone and Mac users find they prefer Google Calendar over iCal.
No matter how you use Google Calendar — whether via Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, or a web browser on a Linux machine — these shortcuts will improve your experience. There aren’t many keyboard shortcuts, so with a little practice you can memorize them all, especially since many of them are standard shortcuts you’ve used in other programs like Microsoft Excel.
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How to enable Shortcuts in Google Calendar
You access Google Calendar via a web browser, so it doesn’t matter if you’re using a Windows PC or an Android or Apple device. Note that the shortcut only works when you are using the computer. These shortcuts won’t work on your iPad.
You have to enable keyboard shortcuts in Google Calendar for them to work, unlike other Google apps like Google Docs or Gmail (or even Microsoft Office), where shortcuts only work automatically.
To enable keyboard shortcuts in Google Calendar, follow these steps.
- Go to Google Calendar in a browser and sign in to your account.
- Choose Setting in the upper right corner.
- Scroll down to the section named Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Make sure the checkbox is labeled Turn on keyboard shortcuts is checked.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save button.
6 Shortcuts to View Your Google Calendar
There are six ways you can view your Google calendar.
- According to common sense. Set custom view in Settings. Choose from 2-7 days or 2-4 weeks.
- View schedule. Some people call this “agenda view” because it shows a list of upcoming events on your calendar.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there are six shortcuts to change the calendar view. If you use keyboard shortcuts, you don’t need to select a view from the drop-down list. Each view has two keyboard shortcuts that you can use.
- Date view: Newspapers first or d
- Watch the week: Newspapers 2 or w
- View month: Click 3 or m
- Custom view: Press 4 or x
- Schedule view: Press 5 or one
- View year: Press 6 or y
Shortcuts for navigating your Google Calendar
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate your calendar.
- Last period: Press P or k. For example, if you’re viewing today’s calendar in Day View and press p or k, Google will display yesterday’s date in Day View. If you’re viewing the current month’s calendar in Month View and you press p or k, that calendar will switch to the previous period — in this case, the previous month.
- Next step: Press WOMEN or j. As you might imagine, this shortcut will display the next time period in any active calendar view. So if you are looking at 2022 in Year View and you press n or j, Google will show the calendar for 2023.
- Today: Press t. We use this all the time. Regardless of the date or date range you’re viewing on the calendar, pressing t will return you to the current date or a range that includes today’s date.
- Go to date: Press g. If you don’t want to select the date with your mouse on the small calendar on the left side of the Google Calendar app, you can press g instead of. A pop-up will appear where you can enter the specific date you want to see.
Shortcuts for your Google Calendar Events
Creating appointments and adding event details in Google Calendar has its own set of shortcuts.
- Create event: Press c.
- Edit event: Press e.
- Delete event: Click backspace or delete Key.
- Undo last action (if possible): Control + z or just z.
- Return to calendar view: Click Exit Key. For example, if you are creating a new event and decide to abandon it, press Exit to return to the calendar.
- Save event: Control + S or just S.
App Shortcuts for Google Calendar
These are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for Google Calendar.
- Search: Press /. This is easy to recall if you remember it is the key that the question mark is on.
- Focus on the Looking for people to meet text box: Change + = or +. Using this shortcut will allow you to quickly search for people to add to the event. After you find the person you want to meet, tap enterand a pop-up will appear where you can schedule the event with the person or people you selected.
- Open the create dialog: Press Change + c or q. This shortcut opens a dialog box where you can create a new event or task.
- Print: Press Control + P.
- Setting: Press S.
- Switch to the side panel: Press Alt + Control + Stage or Alt + Control + comma. This will change the cursor’s focus to a side panel, where you can tab through options like Google Keep, Tasks, Contacts, and Google Maps. Press enter to open the selected application in the side panel. Mac users can use Request + Right to buy + Stage or Request + Right to buy + comma. And if you have a Chromebook?to try on Alt + Change + Stage or Alt + Change + comma. The side panel is almost identical to the side panel you might have used in Google Drive.
- Display person or group information: First, select a person in the Search People field. Then press Alt + Right arrowand their contact card will pop up.
How to see a list of all keyboard shortcuts for Google Calendar
And this is an important bonus shortcut. If you can’t remember a shortcut, you can always press ? keys on your keyboard (Change + /) to enable/disable the list of all the keyboard shortcuts available to you in Google Calendar.
