When we were evaluating personal calendar solutions to replace our Netscape Calendar server, one of the products we considered was 30 Boxes. The most distinctive feature of that program is that instead of filling out a form to add events, you enter the event in their "one box". Just type "lunch thursday 1pm" and Pow! there it is on the calendar. You can even add repeating events, such as "staff meeting Tuesday 9-10am repeat weekly" and the event is added every week. Very cool, indeed.
Google Calendar offers a similar feature, called Quick Add. It’s kind of hidden and not quite up to 30 Boxes’ standard, but it works great for simple events, and is definitely worth getting familiar with.
To try it out, click on "Quick Add" in the upper-left part of the calendar page, or simply type "Q" when your calendar is open. A small box will pop up where you enter the event details. The basic format is to enter “what” and "when" (you can also enter “who” and “where”, but that doesn’t work as well as one might hope, in my experience).
Here are some examples:
- Staff meeting Tuesday 9-10am
- Volleyball vs. Lambda Chi Alpha 11/9/06 7-8pm
The "what" becomes the event title, and the "when" indicates the date/time to add the event. If you don’t enter an ending time (e.g. Lunch on Friday 1pm), Google with create a 1-hour event.
Quick Add supports repeating events, but it’s a bit buggy. For example, "Staff meeting 11/13/06 9-10am repeats weekly until 12/31/06" works as expected, but "Staff meeting Monday 9-10am repeats weekly until 12/31/06" also creates an entry on the current day, in addition to every Monday.
The Quick Add can be a great time saver for entering simple, one-time events, but for complex entries, the "Create Event" form is still generally the best bet.
For more examples and tips, see the article on Quick Add in the Google Help Center.
