Color and Control

Colors in Google Calendar help you organize your day and track how you spend your time on average (new!). They can also show who owns which meeting. Let's customize your colors to reflect your work life.

This looks childish, but it's special: AI painted it. It is my first image generated with DALL-E.

Step 1: Applying colors - becoming a van Gogh

Coloring an event

All events have your "Calendar color" by default. To give an event its own color, edit it and click the colored circle.

Will guests see my color?

No. Every guest can color the same event the way they please. "Color" is one of those fields that are your guests can do whatever they want with. Also, your color will not be the default when you invite someone - the default will always be their standard calendar color.

The only exception: If you are an EA and your boss has shared their calendar, you see their colors! And you can change them, so you two can speak the same "color" language.

Step 2: Naming your colors

Setting colors

Maybe you have had names for your colors all along (Google has had them: "Flamingo", "Tomato"...). To officially name your colors to express what they mean to you, click the + button in the previous screenshot.

You have 11 colors to choose from. You cannot add, remove or change the colors.

From now on, color names accompany your colors. Here are some ideas of what you can do with that superpower.

Will guests see the names of my colors?

No. Guests will neither see what color you choose, nor what you name your colors.

Step 3: Seeing on which colored meetings you spend your time on

6.8 hours of happiness - a good week ahead.

Visit your Time Insights

Your Time Insights dashboard received an upgrade and now shows how many of your colors you spend in each category.

To access time insights: open the right calendar panel (1), most people keep it open anyway. Then, click on "More insights" (2). You can break down your analysis by color (3). Tip: If you switch your calendar view to month or year, Time Insights will change, too.

Will others be able to see my Time Insights?

No, only you can see it - not even administrators. Note that if you give someone complete access over your calendar (i.e., you delegate it), that person will see time insights. Learn more about its powers here.

Applying colors to your calendar allows you to prioritize when there are conflicts. With the additional power of time insights, you can check if you are living up to your goals and values. Go ahead and set your own colors today - name the ones you had been using, and maybe rethink if they still make sense now that you can put a name to them. Are you spending more or less time on your priorities than you had thought? Thank you for reading!

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#calendarPublished 2018-10-09 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2022-10-16 by Holger Matthies.Republished 2022-10-18 by Holger Matthies.

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