Gmail's new tools make it even easier to set up a meeting

Somehow it still feels complicated to schedule a meeting with someone over email, whether it will take place in person or online. It typically requires using a third-party system like Calendly or sending random times back and forth until you finally narrow it down. Well, Google is attempting to integrate an easier system into Gmail (and save us all a headache) with the addition of a calendar icon right in your outgoing message toolbar at the bottom of your draft.

Google

Two options will appear when you click on the calendar: "Offer times you're free" and "Create an event." The first feature is entirely new and allows you to select and share specific times you're available to meet. When you click the option in your toolbar, Google will open your calendar on the right-hand side without closing out of your draft. You can then highlight specific times and days that work for you and send them right in your message. The recipient can choose one right from the email you sent, and then you'll both receive a calendar invite.

The option to create an event is a smaller but potentially significant organizational change, with Google moving the prompt to generate an event from the three dot menu at the top right to directly in the main toolbar. Creating an event while drafting an email will autofill with the recipient's information and produce a summary in the body.

Google is rolling out these calendar updates for Rapid Release domains over the next two weeks and to Scheduled Release domains over the first half of August. Initially, you'll only be able to utilize the "Offer times you're free" feature for your primary calendar, and if you send the blocks of time to multiple people, Google will only add the event to your first respondent's calendar.

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