Google has announced new scheduling features for Gmail, integrating Google Calendar functions directly into the platform. The objective is to simplify and improve the process of scheduling events and sharing users’ availability.
Google Streamlines Scheduling: New Features in Gmail
The latest features can be accessed via a new calendar icon located at the bottom of the email conversation view. Here, users are provided with two options – “Create an event” and “Offer times you’re free.”
By choosing “Create an event,” a Google Calendar event is generated immediately, using the email’s subject line as the event title and the recipients as participants. Furthermore, an event summary is added to the email’s body for easy sharing. Prior to this update, users could only access this feature via Gmail’s three-dot menu.
The second feature, “Offer times you’re free,” gives users the ability to share their available times. By selecting time slots on their sidebar calendar, users can conveniently share these with email recipients. This functionality aims to eliminate the often time-consuming back-and-forth communication during 1:1 meetings scheduling. However, for emails that include multiple recipients, the invite will only be sent to the first person who confirms the suggested time.
The new features are now accessible to all Google Workspace clients as well as personal Google account holders. Although these tools were initially exclusive to premium Workspace subscribers, Google has broadened access to include personal account users. The roll-out of these tools has started with the Rapid Release domains and is anticipated to be available in the Scheduled Release domains by July’s end. Alongside these enhancements, Google recently introduced Google Calendar’s improved working location feature which marks another step towards more efficient productivity and streamlined work processes.
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