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

Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school? Sign up for a free Google Workspace trial

Welcome to Google Workspace. To get started on your first week, complete the tasks below.

1. Add Google Workspace on your mobile devices

2. Customize Gmail

3. Customize Calendar

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1. Add Google Workspace on your mobile devices

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.

Add your Google Workspace account to your phone

See Mobile training and help to get you started.

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 and 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)

 Currents: Online communities designed for businesses 

Example: 
Create communities for your project teams or for colleagues with common interests.

 Currents for Android 

 Currents for iOS

 Currents in your web browser (currents.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:

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.

2. Customize Gmail

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.

Learn more

Add a theme to your inbox

1. Open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings .
3. Go to Theme and select a theme.
4. (Optional) To change themes, click View all and choose a theme.
5. (Optional) To add a background image as a theme, click My photosthe image you wantSave.

Learn more

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

Customize how you send email

Automatically archive email after you send it:

1. Open Gmail .
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. Scroll to the Send and Archive section and select Show "Send & Archive" button in reply.
4. Click Save Changes.
5. Open an email you want to respond to and click Reply.
6. Compose your message and click Send+.

Schedule a time to send an email:

Note: You can have up to 100 scheduled emails.

1. Open Gmail, click Compose and enter your message.
2. Next to Send, click the Down arrow iconSchedule send.
3. Select a default time, or choose another date and time.

(Optional) Turn on 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.

1. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
2. On the Offline tab, check the Enable offline mail box.
3. (Optional) To choose how many days of email you want to store offline, next to Sync settings, select the number of days. You can also choose whether to download attachments.
4. Choose whether to keep or remove offline data on your device.
5. At the bottom, click Save Changes.

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.

1. In Gmail, click Compose.
2. In the New message window, enter your signature and format it.
3. Click More TemplatesSave draft as templateSave as new template.
4. Enter a name for the template signature and click Save.
5. Continue composing and send your message, or close the Compose window to use your signature another time.

Learn more

Add stars and importance markers to flag important emails

Star important email:

In Gmail, click Star next to an email in your inbox or an email within a conversation. To see all your starred email, in the left sidebar, click Starred.

Add different color stars:

1. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
2. Scroll down to the Stars section.
3. Drag stars between Not in use and In use.
4. Click Save Changes.

Use importance markers:

Click Important next to an email in your inbox to mark an important message.

To find all your important email, in the left sidebar, click Important .

Learn more

Move your chat window in Gmail

1. Open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. Click Chat.
4. In the Position section, select Right side of the inbox.
5. Click Save Changes.

Learn more

Set your default mail client to Gmail

1. Open Chrome Browser and click More Settings.
2. Go to the Privacy and security section.
3. Next to Site Settings, click the Right arrow
4. Scroll down to Additional permissions and click Expand .
5. Next to Handlers, click the Right arrow .
6. At the top, make sure Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols (recommended) is turned on.

   Note: Scroll down to the Blocked section and make sure that mail.google.com doesn't appear in this list.

7. In your Chrome Browser's address bar, enter mail.google.com.
8. Click Service handler .
9. Click AllowDone.

Learn more

Edit a subject in an email reply

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

Learn more

3. Customize Calendar

Customize your calendar view

1. At the top right in the calendar view box, click the Down arrow and choose an option:

   • View a calendar by day, week, month, or year
   • View your schedule
   • Hide or show weekends
   • Hide or show declined events

2. To view multiple calendars side-by-side in day view—select Day view and check the boxes next to the calendars you want to see.
3. To view the next or previous day’s calendar—next to Today, click Next  or Previous .

Learn more

Add interesting calendars, such as holidays, birthdays, and sports

1. Open Calendar.
2. On the left, next to Other calendars, click Add Browse calendars of interest.
3. Find a holiday calendar and check or uncheck the box next to it to remove.

Learn more

Add colors to calendar events

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.

Learn more

Schedule events across time zones

Add world clocks to Calendar:

1. In Google Calendar, go to Settings Settings.
2. Scroll to World Clock and check the Show world clock box.
3. Click Add Time Zone to show your current time zone.
4. Click Add Time Zone again to add more time zones.

Add a time zone to your calendar:

1. At the top, click Settings Settings.
2. On the left, click Time zone and check the Display secondary time zone box. (The primary time zone is where you live.)
3. Click the Secondary time zone field and select another time zone.
4. (Optional) To identify the time zone, add a label, such as Europe.

Learn more

Set up your Calendar out-of-office settings

1. In your calendar grid, click the first day that you're away from work.
2. Click Out of office and select a time period.
3. (Optional) To explain you're away from work, enter a message in the Decline message section.
4. In the Visibility section, choose an option:

   • Public
   • Default visibility
   • Private

5. Click Save. Any new and existing meetings during this time will be automatically declined.

Learn more

Customize notifications in Calendar

Manage event notifications:

1. In Calendar, click Settings Settings.
2. On the left under General, click Event 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 calendarGeneral notifications.
6. Next to each option, click the Down arrow and select None or Email.

Set event-specific notifications:

1. When you're creating your event, at the bottom, click More options.
2. Click Add notification.
3. Select a time period for notifications.
4. (Optional) To add another notification, click Add notification and repeat steps 2-3.

Learn more

Next steps

Want to get a jump start on becoming productive on Google Workspace? See the Week 2 checklist.