Using Public Calendars

In addition to creating your own calendars, there are many public calendars shared on the Internet. These can include tour dates of your favorite band, public holiday calendars from many countries, sport events, club events, chili cook-offs, and whatever else you can think of.

Adding a public calendar to your list

The simplest way to add a public calendar is to click the + sign next to Other Calendars in the Calendars box on the left. Clicking + launches the Add Other Calendar form, which has four tabs:

• Search Public Calendars

• Friends’ Calendars

• Holiday Calendars

• Public Calendar Address

To find a club, sports team, or other calendar, search for it by clicking Search Public Calendars and typing in the name of the club, team or other search term that might identify a public calendar. When your search results in a list of calendars, click the preview link and the calendar displays on-screen. If you want to include this calendar within your list of calendars, click the Subscribe link at the bottom right of the previewed calendar. You are prompted as to whether you want to add the calendar. If you want to add the calendar to your list, click Yes, add this calendar. To cancel click No, do not add this calendar.

To find a calendar that your friend may be sharing, click the Friends’ Calendars tab and type your friend’s e-mail address. If your friend has allowed you to view the calendar, you can add it to your list.

To view holiday calendars from around the world first click Other Calendars from the left sidebar. This launches the Add Other Calendar page. Scroll down through the calendars listed in the Holiday Calendars: section. Click Add Calendar next to any of these calendars that you want to include. You will never forget a holiday again!

When you know the URL of a calendar available in iCal format, you can type the address in the Public Calendar Address tab. The iCal format (RFC-2445) is an Internet standard way of publishing calendars. Several calendars, including the widely used Microsoft Outlook Calendar, publish calendars using this format.

Creating a public calendar

You can create your own public calendar. Perhaps you are part of a group, a musician, member of a sports team, or you just want to share your busy social life with everyone else. Now you can easily create a calendar that appears when people perform Google searches on topics you may have scheduled in your public calendar.

Creating a public calendar is no different from creating a calendar as shown earlier in this chapter. The key to making your calendar public is to select the Share all information on this calendar with everyone option in the form you used to create a new calendar. You are prompted, more than once, to be certain that you want to share this information with everyone, even people doing Google searches.

Note 

Your new public calendar is available through a Google Calendar search within 24 hours. Google checks to make certain the information you add is within the terms of your Google agreement.

Controlling the shared information

To change the amount of the information from your calendar that is shared with others, you can click the down arrow in the left column next to the appropriate calendar and then select Share this calendar.

Google Calendar offers you three ways to share your calendar:

• Share all information on this calendar with everyone: When you select this option, your calendar - along with all its public events - appears in the search results of Google Calendar. Additionally, others can view the calendar and its public events at the calendar’s address or by adding the calendar to their Calendars list.

• Share only my free / busy information (hide details): If you select this option, your calendar information does not appear in the search results of any Google Calendar search. Additionally, only the free/busy information is visible to those who access your calendar at its address or by adding it to their Calendars list.

• Do not share with everyone: This option offers the most privacy. If you select this option, your calendar does not appear in the search results of any Google Calendar search and no information is accessible via the calendar’s address. The calendar remains private to everyone except the people that you add in the Share with specific people section.