A cool new calendar power-tool

Time saved. Sanity restored.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Cool Tools, by The Intelligence](#) Brought to you by: [HubSpot logo](=)​ Ahem. I've come to an extremely important and highly scientific revelation: Approximately 47% of my life is spent dealing with piddly little time-wasters — tasks that seem insignificant in the moment but that absolutely add up over time, with 20 seconds here, a minute there, and so on. That's why I'm always so excited when I encounter a new tech tool that's genuinely effective at eliminating annoyances and making life a little easier. It doesn't have to be gunnin' for any grandiose goals, either; in fact, it's typically the tools that tackle one specific, small-seeming thing that end up making the biggest difference. Today's discovery is a perfect example. It takes over the time-sucking task of turning an email thread into a calendar invite for you, and it helps you reclaim precious moments of your life — maybe even multiple times a day. [JR Raphael, Author of Android Intelligence] JR Raphael​ Author of [Android Intelligence]()​ --------------------------------------------------------------- SPONSORED MESSAGE Before we get into the details of that jolly new gem, we've got a special free bonus resource for you that's very much along the same lines of thinking. So real quick, riddle us this: Have you started saving hours of work with AI yet? Email, data analytics, article summaries — you’re not still doing these menial tasks by hand, are you? [Cat typing on keyboard](=)​ The free [AI Task Delegation Playbook](=) by HubSpot teaches you to use AI to automate tasks almost instantly (for free!). Free yourself from the shackles of monotony with… 🛠️ Tools for email, content creation, lead generation, and more 💪 Plug-and-play templates 🗃️ Task organizers to stay nice ‘n’ tidy! ➜ [Download the AI delegation guide and enhance your entire workflow!](=) [SAVE HOURS PER WEEK WITH AI! ➜](=) ​ Your new email-calendar connection So, yeah: We've all played the email-to-calendar virtual ping-pong game, right? You go back and forth a few times in an email to find a time everyone agrees on — for a meeting, a call, an actual ping-pong game, whatever. Then, someone (probably you) has to take the metaphorical ball and go create a calendar invite for yourself and possibly also everyone else. It's a relatively small thing, for sure. But it's an extra moment in your day that's whittled away by piddly busywork and focus-stealing, app-switching distraction. Until now. ➜ A clever new tool called [Fwd2cal]( makes that event-creating monotony a thing of the past. And it's completely free to use. ✅ Fwd2cal does one thing and one thing only — and it does it exceptionally well: - When you're discussing any kind of meeting or appointment within an email, you forward the entire thread to [calendar@fwd2cal.com](. - Fwd2cal uses AI to interpret your messages and determine the appropriate title, date, time, and location for your event as well as the list of people involved. - Seconds later, Fwd2cal writes back to confirm that it's created an event and added it onto your calendar on your behalf. (It works specifically with Google Calendar, as of now.) - And it gives you a single one-click link for sending the invite to everyone else in the conversation, if you're so inclined. [A screenshot showing an email conversation forwarded to Fwd2cal, with a calendar event automatically created at the end] ​ That's it — there's really nothing more to it. Once you've signed up and gotten started with the service, you'll never have to open any websites, rely on any external apps, or anything. You'll just use your email normally, as you always do, and forward messages to that special address whenever you want an invite to be created. Fwd2cal handles all the heavy lifting from there, and the event just magically appears in your calendar with all the pertinent info present. [A screenshot of a calendar event created by Fwd2cal] ​ ⌚ It'll take you roughly 20 seconds to get the service ready, the very first time you use it: - First, you'll forward any email conversation involving an event to [calendar@fwd2cal.com](​, exactly as we described a second ago. - With that very first forwarding, Fwd2cal will respond and ask you to click a button to connect your Google account so it can create calendar events for you. - Once you've established that connection, you'll need to forward back that initial email once more to create the event around it. [A screenshot showing an email from Fwd2cal prompting the user to connect their Google Calendar upon the first use] ​ And from that point forward, it'll be a simple single email forwarding to begin and complete the process, as often as you want — about a second of time, give or take, without any service-hopping or menu-digging required. 📌 You can read more about Fwd2cal [on its website](, but the service operates entirely via email — by way of messages forwarded to that [calendar@fwd2cal.com]( address, no matter what email app or type of device you're using. 💰 It's 100% free to use for now. Its creator says he might start charging on some level if the cost becomes too much to manage. 🕶 Fwd2cal requires only access to your basic Google account info and the ability to connect to your calendar (for obvious reasons!). It [doesn't save any personal info](=) beyond just your email address, it doesn't sell or share any data, and it doesn't allow the use of any personal info for any manner of AI training. 👀 It's also [completely open source](, which means anyone can look directly at the code to confirm exactly how it's working. Now, time to test your calendar-related geek knowledge... ​ This Week's Cool Tools Quiz What year did Google Calendar first become available as a beta service? Remember: NO CHEATING! Anyone can look up info on the web. Stick with the spirit of the game and test your actual knowledge without searching. It's just for fun, anyway! [1999]() [2002]() [2006]() [2012]() Answer correctly before next Wednesday and secure your spot on the [Cool Tools Leaderboard](=)! 👉 Last week's question and answer: Google's AI model is named "Gemini." Why did Google choose this name? Google [says](=) there were numerous reasons (all of the ones mentioned in last week's quiz!). The work on Gemini brought together two AI teams, and the association with NASA’s pivotal Project Gemini was also a factor. Plus, Google says "a key characteristic of the Gemini zodiac sign is a dual-natured personality, capable of adapting quickly, connecting to a wide range of people, and seeing things from multiple perspectives." 🤚 Wait! Before you go: What'd you think of this issue? [Thumbs Up](=) [Thumbs Down]( Hit the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to cast your vote and let us know. ​ Want less email? [Update your reading preferences](=) to opt out of any individual publications or unsubscribe entirely. New here and not yet subscribed? Take two seconds to [sign up for our newsletters](): Cool Tools, Android Intelligence, or Windows Intelligence (or all three!). Hungry for even more? [Learn about becoming an Intelligence Insider,](=) our one-of-a-kind community where you'll have access to power-packed advanced resources, an on-demand help desk, and tons of free apps and services. Independent journalism relies on you. 🤝 An [Intelligence Insider membership](=) is the best way to support our work and keep this newsletter sustainable. Not ready for a membership? You can also support our work by making a [direct one-time contribution](=) (or contribute via [PayPal]( or [Venmo](=)) to ensure we're able to keep writing for you long into the future! # # Published by The Intelligence • 2733 E. Battlefield Rd. #255 • Springfield, MO 65804