Ask Dr. Google Calendar

[penk]

So I adore Google Calendar. The problem is now I have an over-love. Too many calendars!

Let me 'splain...

I have my personal calendar. I add things to it that are specific to me (say, a volleyball practice).

I also have a second calendar that catya and Zach and I share that holds things that are specific to Zach - for example a party or game he wants to go to, etc. Many of these events involve me, and therefore, I'm going to be busy - but many do not, so I don't need to see them on 'my' calendar.

I would like to share 'my' calendar to others, and let them know if I'm free or busy - based on items on these other calendars.

Something like "Show this on my calendar as 'busy'".

So far, I've found no way to do this. The shortest version is to 'copy to my calendar', but then my calendar view looks very cluttered (as I'll see multiple entries for the same thing). Also, changes to the initial item won't reflect in the 'copy' on my calendar.

I see some postings on the net about this, particularly here, with many "ohh me too!" responses, but no answers.

Any ideas?

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

This is a bit of a pain in the ass but it might work.

You could make a third calendar, and invite it to these events. Then, share that calendar with other people at the "see my free/busy" level?

[penk.livejournal.com]

That's... an interesting approach. And might be workable - do invites have to be acknowledged?

Also, you can't invite a 'calendar', can you? You can invite a 'person'. I don't want to make another user in google. :(

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I think events stay tentative until you confirm, and I don't know how "tentative" looks to free/busy observers.

And yeah, it's a pain re: inviting calendars. (I run into this all the time, because my default calendar is my "Tentative" calendar--I have a separate calendar for "Confirmed" events so they show up in a different color.) But a synthetic user for just this purpose might make things apparent.

You could call it "shayde's secretary". "Let me check with my secretary to see if I'm free..." ;)

[ghislaine.livejournal.com]

I have a similar setup on my google calendar. I have my calendar and the kids have a calendar (that Dwight and I post to and have admin rights). When I want something from the kids' calendar to show up on mine, I invite MY calendar to attend the event on the kids' calendar. This way when there is a change to the kids' calendar it *does* change my calendar. Yes, it will show the same event twice when you're looking at both yours and Z's, but you don't have to look at both calendars if you've got his stuff that you're responsible for also showing on yours.

And yeah - when you invite people to see your calendar, there is the option to have them only see free/busy vs. details. At least there was the last time I shared a calendar with someone!

[buddhagrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for describing this. Sounds like a good solution!

[ghislaine.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should also say that this method is very convenient for things that I'm scheduling, but Dwight is responsible for.

Ex: Dentist appt on Tuesday at 10am on a day Dwight is responsible for them. I'll post the even on the kids' calendar and invite him to the event. That way it shows up on the boys' AND Dwight's calendar and he knows it's his thing to take care of. (We do this the other way around too, of course...)

[catya.livejournal.com]

Yep. I don't bother, especially because it ALSO requires seeing the mosaic calendars!

I do share Z's calendar with some people though.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I agree that invitation is probably the way to go, although if you want it only to show as free/busy, you'll have to change the privacy settings on each individual event.