Posted by Vijay Umapathy, Product Manager
(Cross-posted on the Official Gmail Blog.)
Our calendars should help us make the most of our time
— scheduling meetings at work, remembering brunch with friends, and keeping track of all our other commitments. But often our to-do list is elsewhere, separate from the Calendar that organizes our day, and we end up overcommitted or miss something important because we forgot to check our list.
Now there's a single way to manage your day: starting this week, you can create Reminders in Google Calendar to keep track of your to-dos alongside your scheduled events.
Reminders stick around
You might already create calendar entries to remind you to call the doctor or pick up groceries on the way home. But while those entries come and go, Reminders stick with you over time so you can track them until they are actually done. If a Reminder isn't completed, it will appear at the top of your Calendar the next day. And the next. When you do finally call the doctor or pick up those necessities, just swipe the Reminder away ... and you're onto the next to-do.
Reminders help with the details
Another way Reminders are more useful than events is that Calendar adds things like phone numbers and addresses automatically. So if you add a Reminder to make call or run an errand, the number or address will be right there when you need it. Just like
Inbox by Gmail, Calendar uses information from your contacts, as well as Google's knowledge graph to provide this extra bit of help.
Reminders work across Google
You can also create Reminders from Inbox, Keep, and Google Now. This means you can create a Reminder when you're checking your email and it will show up on your calendar right away. Plans change? Just move the Reminder to a better time. Or if your hands are full, you can record your Reminders in Google Now 一 like, "Ok Google, remind me to buy birthday candles" 一 then mark it as done later in Calendar.
Reminders will be rolling out this week with the latest versions of Calendar on
Google Play and the
App Store. And don't worry, we're working on bringing Reminders to the web as well.
