If the tiles in your Google Calendar resemble a brick wall, at some point you may have overlooked an appointment or two. Next thing you know, you’re getting Slack messages from a concerned coworker or you’ve dropped the ball on an important deadline.

So, what can you do to prevent this from happening? you’re able to color-code your events in Google Calendar to help them stand out.

Calendar settings menu in Google Calendar

In this article, we’ll go over two methods you can use to do just that, step by step.

How to Add Color to Your Google Calendar

With Google Calendar, there are two ways you can color-code events. You can use them together, so it’s worth knowing both.

1. Color-Coding Using Additional Calendars for Your Categories

The first method is creating a new calendar for each category. For instance, you could keep separate calendars for appointments, planning, and time blocking and differentiate them using color.

To color-code your Google calendar with this method:

The benefit of color-coding your Google Calendar this way is that your hue is consistent every time. There’s no need to choose between them or remember which one you use for each category. This method is especially handy if you go beyond typical appointments and reminders anduse Google Calendar to plan your week.

To swap your calendar when creating a new entry, click its name at the bottom of the event panel, where you’ll find a list of options.

Event menu in Google Calendar with colour options

2. Color-Coding Events in Your Calendar Per Entry

The second method of color-coding in Google Calendar is to swap out your hue per event. To do this:

You’ll notice a line of your calendar’s default color will stay behind when you change its hue. That’s helpful in telling your calendars apart if you want to use both color-coding methods in this article together. For example, you keep a blue study calendar and a purple work calendar and use green totime-block communication-related tasksfor both.

Colour coded events in Google Calendar

Not all the events on your calendar are top priority. The benefit of color-coding individual items is that you can highlight the most important events using stand-out colors like yellow, red, or orange.

Adding Custom Colors to Your Google Calendar

Google gives you many options when choosing a default color for your calendar. Still, if you don’t see the one you want, you can add a custom hue to help it stand out. To do so:

Stay Organized With Color-Coding in Google Calendar

With Google Calendar’s color-coding features, you can quickly categorize and identify the types of tasks you’ve planned out. Plus, you can use color to emphasize important items. That makes it less likely you’ll overlook them.

While it may be tempting to create a calendar for each color of the rainbow, keep in mind, less is more. Start with a few main categories and work your way out if you need to, rather than mapping them all out in one planning session.

Custom colour picker for colour-coding in Google Calendar