How to: Add events to your calendar directly from email & use the new chat experience in Google Drive

As usual Google has released a number of impressive updates this week to the Google Apps for Business platform. In this post we would like to highlight the two updates we are the most excited about!

• Adding Events to Your Calendar Directly From an Email
• The New Chat Experience in Google Drive

Adding Events to Your Calendar Directly From an Email

The wait is finally over! This feature is now available to domains on the Rapid release track, meaning your organization can experience the newest updates and features immediately. Now you can quickly add events to your calendar from an email message by simply clicking on the lightly underlined event date and time.

Once you've clicked on the event details, you will click the 'Add to Calendar' button.

Next, you will see the event details calendar box. From here you can edit the title, date, and time of the event, as well as see what other activities you have going on that day in the right side pannel. Simply click 'Add to Calendar' and the event will be automatically populated to your calendar. Additionally, you will notice that the calendar event will include a link back to the original email.  They thought of everything!

Utilizing this new feature will help you easily organize your calendar events to work more efficiently!

Note: You have to have English designated as your preferred language to use this feature. 

Using the New Chat Experience in Google Drive

The second new feature we are very jazzed about is the new chat experience for Google Docs & Slides. The new layout looks similar to the Gmail experience and allows users to provide direction to document collaborators quickly which streamlines the creation process. This update is available to those users on the Scheduled release track.

To initiate a chat, simply click on the icon in the top right corner in between the images of the people in the document and the 'Comments' button. 

You will see the chat box pop-up in the bottom right corner of the document. This makes it very easy for you to quickly communicate with all collaborators working in the doc. 

In addition to this update, you will notice that you will now see the Google+ profile image of individuals accessing the document instead of their name. If someone has not imported a Google+ profile photo, their image will be that of a random animal.

Take advantage of these new features to stay organized and increase your productivity! If you have any questions on this feature or any other Google Apps features, we invite you to ask our experts during our weekly Blog Chat, every Thursday from 11-12 est. Visit our website www.ditoweb.com to discover the Google Apps for Business training opportunities available to you and your organization.