Saturday, April 24, 2010

New Gmail Feature Combines Google Calendar with E-mails

Within the past week, you may or may not have noticed a subtle change when writing e-mails on your Gmail account. I had been sending and receiving e-mails on my Gmail account the day the change was launched, but didn’t notice it until I read about it on Mashable that evening. For those of you who may not have noticed the change, Google has added an “Insert: Invitation” option next to the “Attach a File” option in the message composition window.

When this option is selected, an invitation window pops up on the screen, allowing users to fill out the details of their event and send it to their contacts in the body of an e-mail. The event is added to the user’s Google Calendar once they send the invitation and to their contacts’ Google Calendars once they respond to the invitation. This new feature is a convenient way for Gmail users to schedule events and keep track of them on their Google Calendars.

One of my teaching assistants used the feature to schedule conferences with the students in my class last week. All I had to do was RSVP to her invitation right in the e-mail and it was added to both her calendar and mine. Professionals who use Gmail may find this new feature to save time and help keep them organized.

To read Mashable’s article and see a screen-shot of the invitation, click here.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member, Michelle Voli.

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