Google Labs - Hidden Treasures for Calendar and Gmail

While completing my Google Certified Educator Level 2 Certification (You can read about my experience here), I discovered Labs for Google Calendars and Gmail.  Amazing little things.

Basically, Labs are extra features for Calendars and Gmail that are in trial mode - they could disappear at any time, but many of them become permanent features after some trial use.

My Favorite Labs for Google Calendar:

(Find labs by clicking the settings wheel at the top right of a Calendar and then clicking labs. Then enable the labs you find useful.)

World Clock - 

This lab adds a view to the right of your calendar which shows the current time in several time zones.  By clicking settings on this view, you can add/delete time zones you prefer to see.  I absolutely LOVE this - saves me so much time when signing up for and participating in webinars, meetings, Google Hangouts, Twitter Chats, etc. from different time zones.

                                                                                           

Jump To -

This lab adds a view with a button so you can jump to whatever date you desire.  Simply filling the date needed on the chart and click the "Jump to date" button.  Magic!

                 

My favorite Lab for Gmail:

(Find labs for Gmail by going into the settings and then choosing the Labs tab.  Then enable whichever labs you find useful.)

Canned Response -

This lab allows you to create a "canned" response for email so that you don't have to repeatedly type the same response over and over.  For instance, say you are asking for people interested in serving on a committee for a Listserv Check.  You can create something like, "Thank you for volunteering to serve, we will be notifying people the end of July if they have been chosen for the committee."  That way, whenever someone emails to volunteer, you can put the "canned response".  You can even adjust the settings in canned response to look for email with the words "Listserve check" in the subject and it can automatically send that reply.  After enabling the canned response lab, you can click on the bottom right arrow of an email to either create a new canned response or use an already created response to fill the text of the email with.  Amazing!

There are many more labs available, so check them out and see how you can use them to improve your experiences with Google Calendar and Gmail.