Week 1: Set up mobile devices and customize Gmail & Calendar

During your first week, continue to refine your new work environment

• Add Google Workspace on your mobile devices
• Customize Gmail for how you work
• Customize your calendar

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Add Google Workspace on your mobile device

Mobile devices overview

With Google Workspace apps on your mobile devices, you have the freedom to work securely from anywhere with your phone, laptop, or tablet.

Before you start this checklist, make sure your phone is charged and your operating system (OS) is up to date.

Create a PIN

You can help secure your Android phone or tablet by setting a screen lock. Each time you turn on your device or wake up the screen, you’ll be asked to unlock your device, usually with a PIN, pattern, or password.

Learn more

Download Google Workspace apps

 Gmail: Send professional email

Example: 
Read and send email when you're away from your desk.

Gmail for Android

Gmail for iOS

Gmail in your web browser (mail.google.com)

Calendar: Online calendars designed for teams

Example: 
Running late for a meeting? Use Calendar to reschedule or let people know you’re on your way.

 Calendar for Android 

 Calendar for iOS

 Calendar in your web browser (calendar.google.com)

 Cloud Search: Search for company content across your Google products

Example: 
Find contact information for colleagues.

 Cloud Search for Android 

 Cloud Search for iOS

 Cloud Search in your web browser (cloudsearch.google.com)

 Contacts: Online address book

Example: 
Quickly send messages or calendar invitations to groups of people you contact the most, without entering their addresses individually.

 Contacts for Android

 Gmail in your web browser (mail.google.com)

 Google Chat: Chat directly with a co-worker or communicate with your entire team at once

Example: 

Create a space to brainstorm ideas with your team.

 Google Chat for Android 

 Google Chat for iOS

 Google Chat in your web browser (chat.google.com)

 Google Meet: Hold video meetings with people inside or outside your organization 

Example: 
Quickly join a meeting by clicking the shareable URL.

 Google Meet for Android 

 Google Meet for iOS

 Google Meet in your web browser (meet.google.com)

 Drive: Online file storage

Example: 

Visiting a customer offsite and need a PDF or video? After you store a file in Drive, you can easily pull it up anytime on your mobile device.

 Drive for Android 

 Drive for iOS

 Drive in your web browser (drive.google.com)

Docs: Create & collaborate on documents in your browser

Example: 

Never lose track of talking points for your next meeting. Jot down notes on the way. Or, say your notes and reminders instead.

 Docs for Android 

 Docs for iOS

 Docs in your web browser (docs.google.com)

Forms: Create and analyze surveys and quizzes in your browser

Example: 
Manage event registrations, create quizzes, analyze responses, and more.

 Forms in your web browser (forms.google.com)

 Groups: Manage and participate in online discussions

Example: 
Create mailing lists and share files with team members using one address.

 Groups in your web browser (groups.google.com)

 

Sheets: Create and collaborate on spreadsheets in your browser

Example: 
Did an important deadline or resource change right before a meeting with investors? Update your shared project plan on the go.

 Sheets for Android 

 Sheets for iOS

 Sheets in your web browser (sheets.google.com)

Sites: Create and collaborate on impactful websites

Example: 
Build public sites, internal project hubs, and more—all without IT help.

 Sites in your web browser (sites.google.com)

Slides: Create and collaborate on presentations in your browser

Example: 
Make last-minute changes to your project presentation, even if you don’t have your computer with you.

 Slides for Android 

 Slides for iOS

 Slides in your web browser (slides.google.com)

 Voice: Get a phone number for calling, text messaging, and voicemail — all on one app that syncs across your devices

Example: 

Use your free number to text, call, and check voicemail, and manage and organize all of your conversations from the one app.

 Google Voice for Android 

 Google Voice for iOS

 Voice in your web browser (voice.google.com)

Learn more

Set up mobile notifications for your Google Workspace apps

Get Gmail notifications on your Android device

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. At the top, tap Menu Settings .
3. Select your account and scroll to Notifications.
4. Tap Inbox notifications and select your notification settings.
5. (Optional) To change notification settings for certain labels in your inbox:
   1. Tap Manage labelstap a label, such as Important.
   2. Tap Sync messagesLast 30 days or All. If you don't synchronize messages, you can't turn on notifications for that label.
   3. Choose the notification settings for that label.
   4. Repeat steps for any other labels you want to get notifications for.

Note: Your Android device has other notification settings that are separate from the Gmail app.

Get Gmail notifications on your iOS device

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. At the top, tap Menu Settings.
3. Tap your account.
4. In the Notifications section, tap All new emails.
5. When you see a notification on your device, swipe it to the left to Reply or Archive.

Get Google Chat notifications on your device

1. In the Chat app, tap Menu  Settings.
2. Tap Mobile notifications and choose an option:

• All Messages
• New threads, threads I’m following and direct messages
• Threads I’m following and direct messages
• Only @mentions and direct messages
• Off

Get Drive notifications on your Android device

1. Open the Google Drive app.
2. In the top left, tap Menu Settings.
3. Tap Notification settings.
4. Choose which settings you'd like to change.

Note: If you change these settings in the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps, they will also change for Google Drive.

Get Drive notifications on your iOS device

1. Open the Google Drive app.
2. In the top left, tap Menu .
3. Tap Settings .
4. Tap Notifications.
5. Turn Notifications Enabled on or off.

Get Calendar notifications on your Android and iOS devices

You can change your notifications settings for a single event, or all your events. To learn more about setting up notifications on your mobile devices, see Change or turn off Calendar notifications.

Customize Gmail for how you work

Change the density of email in your inbox

1. Open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings .
3. Under Density, choose an option:
   • Default
   • Comfortable
   • Compact

   Note: If you choose Default, you'll get a preview of your attachments from your inbox.

Add a background theme to your inbox

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings .
3. In the “Quick settings” menu, go to the “Theme” section.
4. Next to "Theme," click View all.
5. In the theme window, select a theme.
   • For the default theme, select Default.
   • For Dark theme, select Dark.
   • For a pre-uploaded theme, select any theme.
6. Optional: If available, at the bottom of the theme window, you can change the theme.
   • To change the text background, click Text background .
   • To make the corners darker, click Vignette .
   • To blur background theme, click Blur .
7. Click Save.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Set up your email out of office settings

Note: To use Vacation responder, your account must be at least 24 hours old.

1. Open Gmail .
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. Scroll down to Vacation responder and select Vacation responder on or Vacation responder off.
4. If you turned on the vacation responder, enter the dates you're away and add a message. Then, select who should get a response.
5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Set up offline mail

Read, respond to, and search Gmail messages when you aren’t connected to the internet. Your messages will be sent when you're back online.

On your computer, make sure you've downloaded Chrome. You can only use Gmail offline in a Chrome browser window, not using Incognito mode.

1. Go to Gmail offline settings.
2. Check "Enable offline mail."
3. Choose your settings, such as how many days of messages you want to sync.
4. Click Save changes.

Enable Gmail offline on each device for which you want offline access.

Use email templates

Tired of typing the same reply every time someone sends you email with a common question? Compose your reply once and save the email as a template. Later, you can open the template and send it again with just a few clicks.

Enable templates

1. Open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. At the top, click Advanced.
4. In the Templates section, select Enable.
5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

Create or change a template

1. Open Gmail and click Compose.
2. In the Compose window, enter your template text.
3. Click More Templates.
4. Choose an option:
   • To create a new template, click Save draft as templateSave as new template.
   • To change a previously saved template, click Save draft as template and under Overwrite Template, choose a template and click Save to overwrite it.
5. (Optional) To send an email, compose your message and click Send.

Insert a template

1. Open Gmail and click Compose.
2. Click More Templates.
3. To insert a template, under Insert template, choose a saved template to insert in your email.
4. Compose the rest of your message and click Send.

Tip: If you're a Workspace Individual subscriber, you can create a branded email and send it to many recipients at once. Learn more at the Gmail Help Center.

Move your chat window in Gmail

You can move the Chat panel to the right or left side of your Gmail inbox.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. At the top, click Chat and Meet.
4. Next to “Chat position,” select Left side of the inbox or Right side of the inbox.
5. Click Save Changes.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Edit a subject in an email reply

1. Next to Type of response , click the Down arrow Edit subject.
2. Enter a new subject.

Create & update email drafts with Gemini

You can use this feature only if your organization supports it. For help, contact your administrator. Gemini for Google Workspace is available when your Google account language is set to an English dialect. Additionally, some features are available in Spanish and Portuguese. Learn more about language availability.

Write a new draft with Gemini in Gmail

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top left, click Compose.
   • You can also reply to an email thread.
3. At the bottom left of the window, click Help me write .
4. Enter a prompt. For example:
   • “A thank you letter for my job interview”
   • “A birthday invitation for my 5-year-old”
   • “Ask my friend for restaurant recommendations in Toronto”
5. Click Create.
6. (Optional) After generating your draft, click:
   • Recreate: Generate a new draft based on your prompt. After you create a new version of the draft, you can’t go back to the previous version.
   • Refine: Revise the text in the draft.
     • Formalize: Make the draft more formal.
     • Elaborate: Add additional details to the draft.
     • Shorten: Shorten the draft.
7. If your draft looks good, click Insert.

Tips:

• For better results, include:
  1. Recipient
  2. Topic
  3. Tone you want to express in your prompt

For example, "An apology to my child's teacher for their absence."

• To get a draft you like, it may take a few tries. To submit a different prompt:
  1. At the top right of the draft, tap Close .
  2. Enter a new prompt.

Refine a draft with Gemini in Gmail

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top left, click Compose.
   • You can also reply to an email thread or open an existing draft.
3. Write your message.
4. At the bottom left of the window, click Help me write (Labs) .
5. Choose an option from the menu:
   • Polish: Refine your draft.
   • Formalize: Make the draft more formal.
   • Elaborate: Add additional details to the draft.
   • Shorten: Shorten the draft.
6. (Optional) After refining your draft, click:
   • Recreate: Generate a new draft. After you create a new version of the draft, you can’t go back to the previous version.
   • Refine: Revise the text again.
7. If your draft looks good, click Insert.

Give feedback about a draft

Gemini for Google Workspace is constantly learning and may not be able to support your request.

If the generated draft is inaccurate or looks unsafe, you can let us know by submitting feedback. Your feedback can help improve AI-assisted Workspace features and broader Google efforts in AI.

1. Below the generated text, click Good suggestion or Bad suggestion .
2. To share detailed feedback, click Tell us more.
   • To share general feedback, click Feedback .
3. Click Submit.

Important:

• To send feedback with screenshots, click Help in the top right of Gmail Send feedback to Google. Learn more about sending feedback in Gmail.
• To report a legal issue, create a request.

Customize your calendar

Customize your work week (and other settings)

You can choose how many days you see at a time in your calendar view. Select the option that’s best for you at the top of your calendar.

After you choose a new view, it becomes your default view until you change it.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. In the top right, choose a view: Day, Week, Month, Year, Schedule, or 4 days.

Add speciality calendars, such as for holidays, birthdays, and sports

When you use Google Calendar on your computer, you can add other calendars, like sports calendars. 

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, next to "Other calendars," click Add other calendarsBrowse calendars of interest.
3. Find a sports calendar. To add it to your calendar, check the box next to it.

Change the color of a calendar event

1. Right-click an event.
2. Select a new color.

Note: If you change the color of an event, the original color is represented as a vertical line on the left side of the event.

Schedule events across time zones

Add world clocks to Calendar

Show the current time in time zones of your choice at the left of your calendar:

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. In the top right, click Settings Settings.
3. In "World clock" click Show world clock.
4. Click Add time zone  choose the time zones you want to see. 

Add a time zone to your calendar

Display time zones as columns in your calendar, to help schedule events across time zones.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. In the top right, click Settings Settings.
3. In the "Time Zone" section, click Display secondary time zone.
4. Click Secondary time zone choose your time zone.

Change the time zone for all your calendars

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. In the top right, click Settings Settings.
3. In "Time Zone," click Primary time zone choose your time zone.

Learn more at the Google Calendar Help Center

Customize event notifications in Calendar

Set preferences for all your calendars

1. In Calendar, click Settings Settings.
2. On the left under General, click Notification settings.
3. Click Notifications and select an option:
   • Off
   • Desktop notifications
   • Alerts
4. (Optional) To set up a sound for your incoming notifications, check the Play notification sounds box.
5. (Optional) To manage your notifications, on the left, click your calendarOther notifications.
6. Next to each option, click the Down arrow and select None or Email.

Customize preferences for one calendar

You can change notification preferences for specific calendars you own.

1. Open Google Calendar. 
2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings.
3. On the left, under "Settings for my calendars," click the calendar you want to change Calendar settings.
4. Under "Event notifications" and "All-day event notifications”: 
   • To edit your notifications: Choose if you want to receive a notification or an email. You can change how often you want to get alerts in advance.
   • To add another type of notification: Click Add notification.
   • To remove a notification: Click Remove notification .

Learn more at the Google Calendar Help Center

Next steps

Week 2: Communicate effectively with your team

Want advanced Google Workspace features for your business?

Try Google Workspace today!

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