Busy? Google Calendar adds a feature you’ve wanted for years – and it’s not AI

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Google Calendar now features a new tasks option.
• The feature allows you to set aside time to work on something.
• Workplace users can choose to enable Do Not Disturb.

If you use Google Calendar for work, a feature just dropped that fixes one of the tool’s biggest problems.

In a recent post, Google revealed a simple yet valuable new option — the ability to block off time on your calendar to work on a specific task or simply take a moment away. Previously, if you wanted to mark off time on your schedule, you had to schedule a meeting with yourself or use some other workaround. There was no way to simply say, “I need some time to take care of something.” 

Also: Gemini AI is coming to Google Calendar – here’s what it can do and how to try it

How to use Google Calendar’s Task feature

To set aside time for something, just click on an open calendar spot and choose “Task.” You’ll give your task a name and a time, and you can choose a deadline if you want. If you’re a Workspace or Education user, you’ll be able to take things a step further and choose whether to turn on “do not disturb” and automatically reject meeting requests that overlap with your task timeframe.

Also: 3 Android calendar apps that beat Google’s default hands down – and they’re all free

If you’ve been using Google Calendar for any length of time, you’ve likely already developed your own preferred method for accomplishing the same result as this feature, but it’s nice to have it in official form now (and nice to have a new feature that isn’t injected with AI for no good reason). This is a feature that other calendar apps also offer, so it’s good that Google is catching up.

Google says this feature is available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. It started rolling out on November 6, but it might take until the beginning of December to reach all users.