How to add Google Calendar to the desktop: a tutorial

Google Calendar is practical and can be used from anywhere in the world and on a wide range of devices, not just smartphones or tablets. In just a few simple steps, you can add Google Calendar to your desktop or pin it to the taskbar.

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What are the advantages of Google Calendar?

Paper pocket calendars are a thing of the past. Most modern calendars are on our smartphones. And calendar apps like Google Calendar offer plenty of practical functions such as daily, weekly, and monthly overviews, reminders, and cloud storage. It’s what makes Google Calendar one of the most important tools for private and business users to efficiently schedule appointments while on the move, regardless of the device they’re using.

When you spend a lot of time working from home or at the office, you’ll want to have access to Google Calendar on your desktop too. Synchronisation with a preinstalled Windows Calendar app is easy enough and you can do so via the browser or the URL https://calendar.google.com. Adding Google Calendar as a shortcut to the desktop is super easy. You could also pin it to the taskbar or use the Windows Calendar app. We will show you how to add Google Calendar to your PC.

Add Google Calendar to your desktop: via shortcuts

Prefer the quick and easy way to add Google Calendar to your desktop without having to launch the browser or enter a URL? A shortcut takes you directly to the calendar’s web address via the Google Calendar URL.

Step 1: Right-click on a free space on your desktop. Go to ‘New’ and then to ‘Shortcut’.

Set up shortcut via the right-click menu on your Windows desktop
Right-click on your desktop, select ‘New’, and then ‘Shortcut’.

Step 2: Now create a shortcut to Google Calendar on the desktop. To do this, enter the URL https://calendar.google.com and name the shortcut.

Create shortcut: Enter the URL of Google Calendar
To add the Google Calendar shortcut to the desktop, enter the URL ‘https://calendar.google.com’.

Step 3: Once you double-click the shortcut, Google Calendar automatically launches in your default browser. Sign into your Google account to use Google’s versatile scheduler.

Adding a desktop shortcut to Google Calendar
A double click on the desktop shortcut is enough to open the Google Calendar.

Pin Google Calendar to Taskbar

If you tend to work with many tabs, browser windows, and applications, returning to the desktop to access the Calendar shortcut won’t be convenient. Add another shortcut by pinning the Google Calendar shortcut to the taskbar.

Step 1: Move the cursor to the Google Calendar desktop shortcut. Drag the shortcut to the taskbar. The ‘Pin to (browser of your choice)’ notification will be displayed. Release the shortcut to pin it to the browser used in the taskbar.

Pinning Google Calendar to the browser by dragging the shortcut to the taskbar
By dragging the shortcut to the taskbar, it will be automatically pinned to the visible browser.

Step 2: The Google Calendar shortcut is pinned to the taskbar by adding it to your browser. Right-click the browser icon in the taskbar and click the Calendar shortcut to open Google Calendar.

Pinned Google Calendar shortcut in right-click menu of browser icon in taskbar
Right-click on the browser icon in the taskbar to find your Google Calendar shortcut.

Add Google Calendar to your desktop: via Windows Calendar app

If you don’t require constant access to Google Calendar in the browser, you can simply download the Google Calendar app from Google Play or the App Store to your smartphone or tablet. On Windows 10, on the other hand, the preinstalled Windows Calendar app is available for this purpose.

Step 1: Open the Windows Calendar app by typing ‘calendar’ in the Windows search bar and click on the app.

Opening the Windows Calendar app using the search bar
Type ‘calendar’ in the Windows search bar and open the Windows Calendar app.

Step 2: In Windows Calendar, head to the gear icon and then ‘Manage Accounts’.

Windows calendar: ‘Settings’, ‘Manage accounts’
Click the gear icon for ‘Settings’ at the bottom and then click ‘Manage accounts’.

Step 3: Select ‘Add account’.

Windows Calendar: ‘Add account’
Now select ‘Add account’ to set up a calendar account.

Step 4: Select ‘Google’ as your calendar account and follow the setup process by logging into Google in the next window. Enable necessary permissions and complete the setup to add Google Calendar to the Windows Calendar app.

Windows Calendar: Add Google as an account
Select ‘Google’ as the account type to add your Google Calendar to the Windows Calendar app.

Step 5: Pin the Windows Calendar app to the taskbar for easy access.

Pin the Windows Calendar app to the taskbar
Access your Google Calendar faster by pinning the Windows Calendar app to the taskbar.

What is the advantage of adding Google Calendar to the desktop?

Digital calendars offer many advantages. People leading busy lives who use several calendar apps at the same time will already be familiar with their benefits. For example, Outlook and Google Calendar can be synchronised, the Outlook Calendar can be shared, and similarly Google Calendar can be shared with others too.

The benefits of adding Google Calendar to your desktop become more apparent when you spend a lot of time on your PC or laptop and don’t constantly need to reach for your smartphone or tablet to check the calendar. If you prefer not needing to synchronise different calendars, you can benefit from Windows Calendar, which supports different calendars at the same time. Simply add the calendar account (e.g. Google Calendar, Outlook, Office 365, or iCloud) to the Windows Calendar app and gain access without having to synchronise various data between calendars.

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