Reed College
Reed College

Help Desk

Information Technology

Getting Started with Google Calendar

This page will help you get going with the basics of Google Calendar at Reed. There are so many features in Calendar that we couldn't hope to document them all here. Thankfully, Google provides a comprehensive help site for Calendar. They also have a more specific "Basics guide."

Logging In

Visit calendar.reed.edu and log in with your Kerberos name and password.

Creating Events

To create an event, click on the calendar on the appropriate day. You can edit the details of the event (start and end times, which calendar it is attached to) by clicking Edit event.

Sharing Events with Others

To share events with others, choose Edit event after clicking on an event. On the right, you'll see a box for guests. Add the email addresses of people you'd like to invite and they will receive an email with a link to accept the invitation.

Sharing your Calendar

To share your calendar with other Google Calendar users:

  • In the upper right corner of the Google Calendar interface, click on Settings and choose Calendars.
  • To the right of the calendar you would like to share, click on Edit settings under sharing.
    • If you would like to share the calendar with the world or all Reed users, click the checkbox next to Share this calendar with others.
    • If you would like to share the calendar with a select number of users, enter their email addresses under Share with specific people.
  • Choose your desired level of sharing permissions from the Permission Settings drop down menu to the right of each user.
  • Click Save.

View a video from Google on how to create or change the sharing settings of a calendar:

Finding Shared Calendars

To add some calendars of interest to the Reed community (Academic calendar, etc.), visit https://www.reed.edu/calendaring/.

To find a calendar someone has shared publicly:

  • On the left of the main calendar interface, click the drop-down arrow below the Other Calendars section.
  • Click on Browse interesting calendars.
  • In the page that opens, click on More.
  • In that page you will see some other calendars that have been made public. Click Subscribe to add the calendar to your list of calendars.

To find a calendar someone has shared privately with you:

  • On the left of the main calendar interface, click the drop-down arrow below the Other Calendars section.
  • Click on Add a friend's calendar.
  • In the box that appears, enter the email address of the person sharing the calendar with you and click Add.
  • This user's calendar will appear under My Calendars in the main calendar interface. If they have not explicitly shared their calendar with you, the user will receive a request to share their calendar with you.

You may also receive an invite to a calendar a coworker has published, or also invite your coworkers to see your calendars.

Exporting and Backing up Calendars

Here's how to export (or save for backup) any calendars.  You can also sync Google Calendar with your mobile devices.