How To Check Someone Else’s Google Calendar

Jamie Read more June 21, 2021

Need to set up a meeting? Have an emergency situation and need help? Deadline suddenly cut in half? Need to check the availability of colleagues quickly? Want to check someone’s availability on Google Calendar? You can do all those things if you have all shared your calendars. This tutorial will show you how.

How To Check Someone Else's Google Calendar

Google Calendar allows you to share a copy of your calendar for your co-workers and friends to see. It allows them to check availability, set reminders and invite you to an event. It’s a neat feature of the app that makes collaborative working a breeze.

It’s fine though. You have to actively grant permission for others to view the calendar and set separate permissions for them to be able to edit it. You can even create a shared calendar separate from your own if you prefer.

Google Calendar sharing

Calendar sharing is a little like Outlook’s Exchange calendar. It can be viewed by people within a group or individuals you grant permissions to. You set specific editing permissions, or not, and can use them to check availability, meetings and so on. Everyone you share with will need to use Google Calendars too otherwise you have to make the entire calendar public which isn’t ideal.

To share an existing calendar do this:

Open your Google Calendar.
Select the calendar you want to share from the left.
Select the three dots next to it and then select Settings and sharing.
Select Add People under Share with specific people to share with individuals.
Check the box next to Make available to public under Access Permissions for sharing with a group. Select the group in the dropdown box.
Select Send once done.

Sharing with a group will only work if you use Google Groups. Otherwise you will need to add members of the group individually.

You can create a new shared calendar instead if you prefer.

Open your Google Calendar.
Select Other calendars then Create new calendar in the left menu to create a new calendar.
Name it and select Create calendar.
Follow the steps above to allow access to individuals or groups.

See someone else’s Google Calendar

If you’re already using calendar sharing and want to view someone else’s Google Calendar, that’s very straightforward too.

Open Google Calendars.
Select the empty box where it says Search for people.
Type the name or Gmail address of the person you want to see.
Select them from the list as they appear.

The name will only appear if they have already shared a calendar with a group or individuals. You will then see their calendar in the list on the left under My Calendars.

See if someone is free with Google Calendar

If you’re trying to set up a meeting or event, you can check people are free using your own calendar once you have linked theirs or have access to shared calendars.

Open your Google Calendar.
Select Create on the left to create an event.
Give it a title, decide if it’s an event or reminder.
Set a date and time.
Select More Options at the bottom of the window.
Select Add Guests under Guests on the right.
Select the Find a Time tab on the left.
Make sure All Guests are selected in the box and look for times on the day selected.
Create the event, give it a title and hit Save at the top.

If someone is busy, the timeslot will be colored or the word Busy will appear. You will not be able to invite them if they are marked as busy on their calendar. Once you hit Save, each invitee will be emailed an invite and the event added to their respective calendars.

Create a public Google Calendar

For some, making their own calendar accessible to others doesn’t sit well and in some industries, that’s a no go. In those situations creating a separate group calendar for the department or team is better.

Open Google Calendar.
Select Other calendars then Create new calendar in the left menu to create a new calendar
Name it and select Create Calendar.
Select the cog icon in the calendar window to select Settings.
Select the calendar you just created and select Access Permissions.
Check the box next to Make available to the public.

When it says ‘public’, it doesn’t necessarily mean the whole world, but those within your G Suite domain. If you don’t use G Suite, anyone who gets hold of the calendar URL will be able to see what’s going on so keep it between yourselves.