GMail/Google Calendar Integration

by on May 21, 2009 under Culture

Google, why hast thou forsaken us? A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, GMail had this great feature that was a defining reason in my switch from my previous mail provider (me). That was that if you ever got a message that had any sort of “event” — various combinations of a date, time and place — gmail would detect it and automatically create a link on the right sidebar to “Add to calendar”.

It didn’t always get it 100% right, but even if it didn’t, it was still a convenient shortcut and it would get a majority of the info right. It was also amazingly good at picking “events” out of e-mail — either casual e-mail from a person or automated/invite type messages.

Then one day, it disappeared. Poof. Gone. Has anyone else noticed this? Does it still exist for anyone else out there? Is it unique to traditional gmail versus google apps?

Google, please bring this back, or I swear on the Golden Kraut I’ll have my revenge!

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  • Dan

    Are you using Google Apps with ads turned off? I think that turns the “add to calendar” thing off too.

  • Melissa Mohamed

    Hi Chris,
    The “Add to Calendar” feature seems to only work if the date/calendar info is in the Subject line (for traditional gmail and google apps). Odd that it’s not recognizing the entire email message. I suspect the great google god is planning something wonderful … two steps back – prepping for a giant leap forward ;-)

    Cheers!

  • http://laurajeanette.wordpress.com laurajeanette

    Under “More Actions,” you can select “Create Event,” and it performs a similar action as the link.

  • Louis Joubert

    Hi Chris – I am struggling with the same. This was one of the killer features and it has completely gone for me. Did you learn any more about where it went ? Or alternative options for achieving similar gmail/gcal integration ? Thanks!

  • nethosting25

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