31

In the old Google Calendar, I was able to create a new event by clicking on a day and typing both the description and time together in one field, like "Dr. Appointment 10am-11am", and it would parse that out and set the time accordingly. this feature is called Quick Add.

In the new Google Calendar interface (2017), I can't get that to work. If I type the same thing now, the whole string "Dr. Appointment 10am-11am" goes into the description, and it makes it an "all day" event.

Is there still a way to do this, or did Google remove the Quick Add feature?

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14

Quick Add isn't available for/built into the new Calendar, but does work with a Chrome extension called Google Calendar (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-calendar-by-google/gmbgaklkmjakoegficnlkhebmhkjfich?hl=en)

Chrome extension for Calendar quick add

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  • 3
    Thank god for the extension. Ridiculous that you'd need an extension for basic functionality. – R.D. Jan 13 '18 at 6:57
  • But aren't they doing away with extensions in chrome also? digitaltrends.com/computing/… So this won't work either soon? – nealmcb Feb 10 '18 at 17:55
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    @nealmcb they are not killing chrome extensions. They are removing a very specific piece of functionality that almost no one used. – Good Person Jul 15 '18 at 23:01
  • Seems like Google's on a killing spree against all useful functionality from everything ever. – ijoseph Feb 7 '19 at 19:47
  • Quick Add has issues, according to that developer; I'd imagine the fact that it's no longer a feature would mean that any such outstanding bugs will never get fixed. To me, that means that Quick Add is dead and should be avoided. Adding via the Google Search search field, as in this other answer, seems to me the better choice for that reason. – Mathieu K. Apr 28 '19 at 1:51
12

The workaround is to type the event in Google search, e.g.

  • "add to calendar some description tomorrow at 1PM"

then click on Create event.

Source: https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/calendar/CIwo3Ch-aTk/AcAtErUNBQAJ

quick add to Google Calendar

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  • This no longer works. Just searches for events with those words. – Jonathan Cross Sep 23 '19 at 13:45
  • @JonathanCross I've tested and they still work. Are you logged in? – kenorb Sep 23 '19 at 16:17
  • Sorry, my bad, I didn't read carefully. I was trying to add from Google Calendar's search, not Google search. – Jonathan Cross Sep 29 '19 at 18:25
3

Google removed that functionality in the new Calendar.

You can send feedback by clicking the gear icon > 'Send Feedback'.

You can also vote up or comment on the support forum posts here: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/calendar/CIwo3Ch-aTk;context-place=topicsearchin/calendar/quick$20add%7Csort:date

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3
  1. Click the date (top of the column where "all day" events are located) for the specific date that you want to add an event.
  2. Enter time range & event name (i.e. 7:00am-5:30pm Work or Work 7:00am-5:30pm)
  3. Click Save
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  • This is a partial workaround. Still can't click one place no matter where I am and get it to intelligently create an event for a date in the future. That is, now have to navigate to the day/days of the event. Thankfully that's keyboardable, but it still requires clicking the day. Mixed-mode input is okay for games, but not so good for productivity, and not as fast as Quick Add. – Mathieu K. Apr 30 '19 at 12:52
1

Google didn't remove the functionality, it's still there but it doesn't provide interface anymore. It worked fine in the past so I can't imagine why they would shut it down. You still can add quick events but some work around needed. Go create a blank new form in Google Forms. Call it Google Calendar Quick Add and a single question/answer box mobile. Save it and generate public link (shortcut) and bookmark it etc. Now go to that form and create one new entry. It goes to Google Drive Google Sheets. Then go to Zapier to register free account if you don't have. Best create new account because free accounts are limited to 100 tasks per month, meaning success tasks. Create a flow from Google Forms pointing to your Google Sheet. There you have two options - Standard Calendar event entry and Quick Add Event entry. Go through the steps and you get a working version of Quick Add for Google Calendar. The beautiful thing is I have access to this anywhere I am, even a public computer. Actually I prefer use web-based Google Form for many apps over the native Android apps because Google Forms allows me to create simple application interfaces. I am running about a dozen "web-apps" using Google Forms as a front end.

What to use for automation: To make things work I stick with Zapier because it offers decent integration (better than IFTTT) and it's a bit less complicated than Integromat. Zapier free account has limitation in 2 levels max. Integromat gives me unlimited levels (can knock myself out) but only 2 or "flows" per account.

Note, you can sometimes get an error in Zapier log (also error email message) saying "There was an error with Google Calendar: Required field "Describe Event" (text) is missing." That seems to be an issue with Google Drive access for Zapier but if it happens I resolve it by creating a new Google Forms answer sheet.

Hope this helps.

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0

I tried it again today and it worked! It seems Google heard our cries.

For example, clicking a day and typing "something at 5pm" now creates an event called "something" at 5pm in Google Calendar, as it used to do.

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  • Confirming that it worked for me also. I typed in "10pm Do blahblah" and it created event titled "Do blahblah" at 10pm on the day I clicked – Anshul Feb 1 '18 at 22:27
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    This only seems to work only for very simple events on a pre-selected date. – Justas Feb 2 '18 at 17:34
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    Thanks but this is a horribly poor substitute. I used to be able to type "q12/4 13:00 meet jack at 123 main st<enter>" and get an appointment added with a location. Now I have to use my mouse to set the date and time. I can type a single phrase with a date and time and destination far quicker than I can enter them with a mouse. – nealmcb Feb 10 '18 at 17:58
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    With the new system, I am unable to write "Meet with Bob 30 minutes" and have it create a 30 minute appointment in the time slot I selected. That was such a great feature - just gone apparently. – stevemidgley Mar 8 '18 at 16:54
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    This only works on the same day. They really didn't fix it. – Miles Erickson Mar 21 '18 at 16:20
-2

If you type it with time in front, as "10am Dr. Appointment" it still works, but only for a one hour item. Can't seem to get a range of time to work, nor recognition of location by using "at" or "@" which used to work as well.

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  • 3
    I just tried that and it didn't work for me. I typed in "7pm Stuff", and it created an all-day appointment called "7pm Stuff". – JoeMjr2 Jan 25 '18 at 2:48

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