Google introduced a handy Gemini-powered feature in Gmail last year to help you schedule meetings. The aptly named “Help Me Schedule” feature scans your calendar and the email you respond to, then suggests meeting times that fit your schedule.
This allows you to offer a few options with one click, and once the recipient selects a time, the event automatically appears in both calendars. It’s a small but useful feature that has already saved users countless emails. Now Google is bringing a similar scheduling feature to Google Calendar.
According to a recent post on the Workspace Updates blog, Gemini in Google Calendar can now help you quickly determine optimal meeting times when creating an event, as long as you have access to participants’ calendars. The new Suggested Times feature scans all calendars and highlights the best time slots based on availability, work hours and potential conflicts, eliminating the need to manually review schedules.
Google has also made rescheduling easier. The company explains that if multiple attendees decline your invitation, the event will display a banner with the time when everyone is available, allowing you to update the invitation with a single click.
Availability and restrictions
The Suggested Times feature is rolling out today to Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus users, and accounts with the Google AI Pro for Education add-on. It will be enabled by default and is expected to reach all eligible users in the next few weeks.
A support page for the feature notes that suggested times are not available if you use the Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone, or iPad, for events longer than 8 hours, if there are too many participants, or if the date range is in the past.
