10 Google Apps Tips and Tricks for Better Productivity

Want to see your day at a glance before it starts? Google Calendar gives you the option to receive a daily email detailing all your appointments and meetings. Generally, the email is sent to you around 5 a.m. local time.

To receive a daily agenda, click the drop-down menu next to the appropriate calendar and select “Notifications.” Select the Email check box next to “Daily agenda” in the section called “Choose how you would like to be notified.” Then, click “Save.”

If you generally don’t have anything scheduled at 3 a.m. (except for sleep, hopefully), the “Hide morning and night” feature lets you customize your calendar so you see only events within the time range of your choice.

Click the gear icon in your Calendar view, then select “Labs.” Find “Hide morning and night,” click “Enable” next to it, then “Save.”

On your main Calendar view, you’ll notice a gray bar that appears in the column with the hours of the day. Adjust the time range by clicking and dragging the bar at the top to the desired start time, and move the bar at the bottom to the desired end time.

If you forgot to schedule a meeting or you don’t have good Internet service, don’t worry: You can easily add events via your mobile phone in a few quick steps.

From your computer, sign in to your Google Calendar account, click the gear icon at the top right of your screen and choose “Settings.” Then click the “Mobile Setup” tab and enter in your information. Gmail will send a verification code to your mobile phone; enter the code and click “Finish setup.”

Once the setup is complete, send events to your calendar by texting the details of your event (such as, “Dentist appointment 1:00pm April 20) to GVENT (48368). You’ll receive a confirmation text message, and the event will appear in your calendar.

Gmail’s people widget, located on the right-hand side of your messages, shows you contextual information about the people you’re interacting with in Gmail.

Click on the contact’s name to see information such as their name, email address or occupation; recent Google+ posts your contact has made visible to you, which you can +1 directly in Gmail; recent emails your contact has sent you; Google Calendar events if your contact’s Calendar is shared with you; and Google docs, shared with both you and the contact.

To disable the people widget, click the gear icon in the upper right and select “Settings.” On the “General” tab, select “Hide the people widget” button. Then click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.