I like to get a reminder for most events on my calendar. However, when I create an event, I sometimes forget to add the reminder. The type of reminder and lead time varies by event, but by setting the most common reminder types and intervals as defaults, reminders are never overlooked. My default reminder times and notification methods are:
- 1 day – email (giving me the chance to prepare)
- 12 hr – text (mostly for early morning appointments to make sure the alarm is set)
- 30 min – pop up (lead time I need to get to most appointments)
- 1 min – pop up (primarily for telephone appointments (I will have forgotten if just reminded 30 minutes ago ;-))
Rarely do I want 4 reminders for any single event, but I find with them preset on all new events, it is easier to delete the ones I don’t want than creating new reminders for each event.
Default reminders are set in Google’s calendar by clicking the gear icon and choosing the settings option.
Select the [Calendars] tab and then the Reminders and notifications link next to the desired calendar. The default reminders are setup in the top section of the page. Mine look like this:
Each new event gets the above reminders, with an X next to each, so it is easy to delete the ones I don’t want for that event.