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Calendar Events

09/01/2023

THE PROBLEM:

You have a large number of people that need to know about lots of event that may be updated after they are notified. These people may also want to have an alert remind them of these events.

SOLUTIONS:

Currently there are text reminders services, or manual emailing, or scheduled emailing as options.

A more simple solution that is easier to understand in scope is calendar events. Puts all the events in one place that removes all the work for the end user.

HOW TO:

To get started first you must understand a few quick principles.

  1. We're going to make a digital calendar for others to subscribe to. They will get real time updates as you make them. No more need to send emails or texts. The user will have to opt into subscribing to the calendar but then it will show up on whatever device they put it on, like their phone.
  2. After making the calendar you'll need to make it Public so other people besides yourself will be able to subscribe and see your events.
  3. You'll be able to either make a new calendar with events or add events to an existing calendar. New calendars are good to start fresh for a new group of users or for a categorized set of events. Adding to existing calendars is best when you have a long term category of events that you already have users subscribed to and rarely getting new subscribers.
  4. For any of these calendars, the Google Account they are associated with should be owned by the business and not a personal account. You do NOT want someone with a personal account leave in middle of a calendar and have to delete the calendar, create a new one and have all subscribers remove the old one and add the new one.

GET MY TEMPLATE:

  1. Go to https://calendar.google.com/ and log into your chosen Google account to maintain the calendar.
  2. In another browser tab open my template Google Sheet.
  3. Click File on the top left and choose to Make Copy.
  4. It will alert you that there is an Apps Script file that will be copied over with the sheet. Its the code that I wrote that will speed things up. You can click the CalCreation link to look at the code in another screen if you like.
  5. Click Make a copy.
  6. Now you are in your own copy of the Template.
  7. The spreadsheet works like this:
    1. Add events in rows. Start and End time of events includes the date and a 24 hour format for time to ensure the time is correct. When you enter the value it will display in a 12 hour format.
    2. Enter desired data for Name, Location (can be addresses that will link to maps or just describe where), description of what the event is for, and if desired the minutes before the event you want to set an alert to go off on the user's phone.
Image: myshop/cal-events-1

GENERATE CALENDAR WITH EVENTS

  1. Once you've filled out the events then you'll see a button next to Help on the Menu buttons. It will say Jared. That's me. It should stand out because it doesn't really seem like it should be there. Click it and select Create Calendar with Events.
  2. It will prompt you for the name of the calendar, and then a description of the calendar. Then it will take a moment to create the calendar and then all the events inside that calendar. When done it will let you know it was successful.
  3. Go back to your previous tab with your Google Calendar, and you may have to refresh to see the new calendar show up on the left. Make sure it is checked so you see its events.

ADD EVENTS TO EXISTING CALENDAR

  1. Add events to the spreadsheet. Remember that any event on the sheet will be created and added to the selected calendar, even if that event already exists in that calendar, so remove duplicates or you'll have to delete them manually, and slowly.
  2. Click the Jared button in the menu and select Add Events to Existing Calendar.
  3. A prompt will show up asking you to select the calendar from the dropdown list of your existing calendars, and then click Add Events.Image: myshop/cal-events-2
  4. The events will be added and you'll see a success prompt when it is done.
  5. Check your calendar and see the events.
  6. Delete the events from the spreadsheet to avoid making duplicates the next time you use the template.

That's how you make the calendar and events quickly, without having to click thru and edit them 1 at a time, though you still can do that and should do that to update events or delete them as needed.

MAKE CALENDAR PUBLIC

Now, even though you have the calendar, you are the only person that can see it. You'll need to make the calendar public, and provide the link or file for other to use to see it or subscribe to it.

  1. While in the Google Calendar, click the 3 dots to the right of the calendar name on the left sidebar, and then selectSettings and sharing.Image: myshop/cal-events-3
  1. Scroll down and look for the section:Access permissions for events where you need to check the box toMake available to public. It will warn you that anyone with the link will be able to view the calendar, which is the point. Click OK.Image: myshop/cal-events-4
  1. Under that you'll see a button to Get shareable link. Click that and send it to those that need it in an email or text message.
  1. If you scroll down further you'll see a section calledIntegrate calendar and in that section are more links to the public calendar orPublic address in iCal format which will allow phones to download and subscribe directly to the calendar. Send that in your email or text as well.Image: myshop/cal-events-5
  1. Test those links out with another person or account that isn't the one you created this calendar with. You're all set!