Add Google Calendar to desktop Windows 10

How to Use Your Google Calendar in the Windows 10 Calendar App

• Chris Stobing

  @chrisstobing



• Updated

With the arrival of Windows 10, weve been greeted with a new slew of functionality-based programs and applications. One of these additions is the revamped Calendar app, which isntjust more functional than its predecessor, its actually [dare I say], downright pleasurable to use.But what if you want your classic Google Calendar synced up with Microsofts internal app ecosystem?

Thanks to the integrationof desktop notifications and global compatibility with the rest of Windows 10 services, the process of getting your Google Calendar synced and configured on your Windows login is both simple and highly customizable at the same time.

Sync Your Account

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To start off, youre going to need to get your Google account information linked up in the Windows 10 calendar app.

To do this, navigate to the Start Menu, and select the Calendar app in the top-right corner.

Once the Calendar is up, to add a Google account youll need to find the Settings icon, located in the bottom left-hand corner of the app.

Once youre in the settings menu, click on Accounts, and then choose the option to Add account.

Update: Microsoft has redesigned this app a bit, but the instructions still work almost the same. Click Manage Accounts instead of Accounts here.

From here, youll be greeted with a prompt that has several different choices. You can either add an Outlook.com account, link your Office 365 Exchange, Google account, or iCloud. For the purpose of this tutorial, choose the Google option.

Once you select this, the standard Google login portal will take over.

If your Google account is set to a regular log in, it will immediately link you up and youll be taken to the main Calendar splash screen. However if you have two-step verification activated on the account in order to protect from unauthorized users who may try to access it without your permission, this is where youll be asked to enter the code given to you either through a text or a call from the company.

The last screen youllsee before the sync is complete is the Google permissions runthrough, which will list all of the different apps and services that the Calendar will need to have access to if you want to use the account from your Windows 10 desktop.

Once these are approved, you should be ready to get your Windows 10 Calendar customizedto your specific requirements.

Configure Your Calendar

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Afterthe Calendar is up and running, youll notice there are a number of settings that you can change around which will vary depending on the service you linked [i.e Outlook is different from Google, which itself is different from whats available in POP3].

To get into your settings, click the small clockwork icon located in the bottom left-hand corner of the Calendar app one more time.

From here, enter Calendar Settings, where youll find the following options have been opened up since the Google account was synced.

You can change things around such as which day the Calendar sets as the first day of the week, as well as specifying exactly which hours of the day you work and when youre off so the Calendar doesnt ping you with unnecessary or unwanted notifications.

Modify Sync Settings

Lastly, if you want to alter how often your Calendar communicates with Googles servers for new appointments or notification updates, you can access these menus by first going into settings, and then selecting the option for Accounts.

Once youve opened the Gmail account, click on the Change mailbox sync settings option, and youll be taken to the menu below.

Its here youll have the opportunity to change how often the Calendar pings its host account for updates [every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc], as well as whether or not full descriptions or messages are downloaded each time it finds something new.

Furthermore, you can also change where the Calendar app connects to in order to pull down information from Google, although this isnt recommended unless you have a special configuration lined up on the server side of things.

Keep in mind, once you add your Google account to the Calendar, Windows will automatically sync your attached email up as well.If you prefer to keep these two ecosystems separated, this setting can be turned off in one of two ways.

To access the first, you need to enter your Account settings and switch the sync for email to the Off position. The same can be done for Contacts and the Calendar itself, though if you switch that option, none of the data youve just set up will be accessible by the app to start with.

The second method of de-linking your email and calendar is to go into the Calendar tab in Settings, and switch it off manually after the syncing process is complete using the setting highlighted below:

Leaving behind your old scheduleis hard, but thanks to the dozens of changes made to the Calendar in Windows 10, its become a welcome addition to Microsofts suite of internal apps.