Imagine yourself in the middle of presenting that amazing slideshow you perfected over the weekend. And then, disaster strikes: a notification pops up on the big screen.
Not the gentle reminder to "pick up the kids from judo," no—it's the cringe-worthy one: "pick up hemorrhoid treatment."
Great vibe, right?
When it comes to managing your reminders with Google Calendar, it's best to know what you're doing to avoid any... awkward surprises.
Don’t worry, we're here to clear it all up! From reminders to pop-ups, tasks, and the (legendary) disappearance of reminders, we’ve got you covered.
By the end of this article, you’ll be the undisputed master of Google reminders. Let’s dive in!
Here’s what you actually need to understand:
- “Reminders” are now handled via Google Tasks, not a separate feature.
- Notifications can be set per event, but don’t sync across calendars.
- You can choose pop-up or email alerts, but setup is manual.
- Each calendar handles reminders independently.
- Without proper configuration, you’ll get missed alerts or duplicate notifications.
A Pinch of Theory to Understand Google Calendar Reminders
Difference Between Reminder and Notification
A reminder prompts you to do something at a specific time and consists of the following elements:
- When to display the reminder (a day before? A few minutes before?)
- The delivery method (pop-up or email).
You can set reminders for entire calendars or for specific events.
💡Reminders are private information! You’re the only person who can access them.
A notification is an alert that provides you with information. In Google Calendar, there are several types of notifications:
- Creation, modification, and cancellation of an event.
- Participant responses.
- Calendar: This is the list of all events sent at the beginning of the day.
Pop-up or Email
The delivery methods offered by Google Calendar for reminders and notifications are:
- Pop-up: A contextual window that appears on your device.
- Email: An email sent by the Google Calendar server to inform you of an event or reminder.
Reminders are only supported by pop-ups.
Event notifications in Google Calendar can be sent via pop-up or email.
💡If you’re working with others, setting up reminders is only part of the job, knowing how to share your Google Calendar properly is just as important.
Tasks and Reminders, the Big Confusion
Google simplified its system by integrating reminders into Google Tasks to unify the management of tasks and reminders under one interface.
In summary, reminders were used for simple, one-time alerts, while tasks are more robust for comprehensive action management.
👉Simply put, you no longer have a distinct "Reminders" function in Google Calendar.
Not very convenient, is it? 😕
How to Configure Reminders with Google Calendar?
Notifications
As you’ve understood, this is the only function accessible directly from Google Calendar.
You can receive notifications on your phone, computer, or by email.
To do this, you need to open Google Calendar in a browser.
To set notifications for all events:
- Open Google Calendar and click on “Notifications Settings.”
- Choose your settings: duration and channel (“desktop notifications” or “email”).
To set notifications for a specific event:
- Open Google Calendar.
- Click on Modify the event.
Did Google Calendar Get Rid of Reminders?
Trick question! Well, as you’ve figured out, this is now done via the Tasks app.
Sync Reminders to Google Calendar
No Feature to Sync Notifications Between Different Calendars
Notifications in Google Calendar are defined individually for each calendar and each specific event. There’s no native feature to automatically sync notifications between different calendars.
Example: If the same event appears in both your personal and work calendars, you need to set notifications separately for each calendar.
💡If you’re using multiple calendars, learning how to sync Google Calendar is essential to avoid missing notifications or duplicating alerts.
The Advantage of SyncThemCalendars
Our solution: A calendar synchronization app that allows you to customize notifications according to the calendar.
Example 1: You’ve synced your personal and work calendars and want notifications to differ depending on the calendar. You can do that with SyncThemCalendars.
Example 2: You’ve synced your personal and work calendars. You have an appointment noted on your personal calendar that also appears on your work calendar. You don’t want to receive the notification; you just want to remember that the slot is occupied. You can do this with SyncThemCalendars.
Three options for configuring "Reminder":
- Don’t override.
- Clear field.
- Keep target default.
Conclusion
To sync your various Google calendars, there’s no native feature available. Nothing beats a third-party tool like SyncThemCalendars.
Check out our free and no-commitment sync tool with a 14-day trial!
Oh, and if you ever need to finely tune synchronizations between a target calendar and a source calendar, we also offer various visibility settings.
FAQ
How do I set a reminder in Google Calendar?
Short answer: you don’t, at least not the old way.
Open Google Calendar.
Create or edit an event.
Add a notification (pop-up or email) → this replaces classic reminders.
OR create a task in Google Tasks (this is the “new reminder”).
Does Google Calendar do reminders?
Not really, at least not like before. Google replaced “Reminders” with Google Tasks. So now:
- If it’s tied to an event → use notifications.
- If it’s a personal reminder (“buy milk”, “call John”) → use Tasks.
So yes, reminders still exist… they’ve just been renamed and moved. Classic Google move 😅
What happened to reminders in Google Calendar?
They didn’t disappear—they got absorbed. Google moved reminders into Google Tasks to simplify things (in theory). So now:
- Old reminders → Tasks with a date/time.
- Event alerts → Notifications inside Calendar.
Result: everything still works, but it’s split across two tools. If you’re lost, it’s normal—Google changed the rules mid-game.
How can I get Google Calendar to alert me of events?
You need to configure notifications—otherwise, nothing will happen.
- Open an event → click Edit.
- Add a notification (e.g. 10 min before).
- Choose pop-up or email.
- Save.
Pro tip: set default notifications in settings so you don’t have to do this every time. Otherwise, you will forget… and your calendar will stay very quiet 😄
