New Google Calendar feature takes the back-and-forth out of scheduling

Google Calendar's latest update promises to take a lot of the back-and-forth out of booking appointments. Google announced Friday that users will soon be able to create a "booking page" UI they can send to anyone they want. You present the periods you're willing to have a meeting, and the other user will be able to pick a time.

Workspace users will soon be able to pick the "Appointment Schedule" from the "create" appointment button. This will fire up a UI that can be used to create an appointment webpage. Workspace users highlight the times they would be willing to have a meeting, then enter the appointment duration and location (or a Google Meet room) and add a title and description.

Once everything is filled out, Calendar will generate a Google-hosted "booking page" website, and the creator can send the URL to someone else. The other person can then easily pick a time and add the meeting to a calendar. A similar time slot feature was previously available if both users were inside the same Workspace organization, but you can now show this time-slot UI to anyone you want, even users without a Google account.

The creator of the booking page will need to be using at least the "Business Standard" version of Google Workspace. The lower-level "Business Starter" level is still paid, but it doesn't get access to these sorts of fancy new features. The feature should roll out to everyone by April 9. Once you have it, just load up the web version of Google Calendar, click on the "Create" button, and pick "Appointment Schedule."