Using Google Calendar & Notion API to Sync Events/Tasks - Zapier Automations
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- The Notion API already allows for extensive sync between Google Calendar and our Task Database (Action Items). I walk through how to implement this automation using Zapier in your Notion Life OS. This works beautifully with Pillars, Pipelines & Vaults (PPV), or any comprehensive life management system in Notion.
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🚀 Info on the "Notion Life Design" course 🚀: www.NotionLifeDesign.com
Notion Guide to Connecting API: is.gd/hCt1oq
🎬 Related Videos in this Series 🎬
+ Action Items Task Database: • Notion Task Database f...
+ Action Zone Dashboard: • Notion Daily "Action Z...
⌚ Index Timestamps ⌚
0:00 Intro
3:43 Prepping Notion Databases
8:28 Zapier for New Calendar Event
18:13 Update & Change Events
25:42 Canceling & Completing Events
31:35 Notion Initiated Events
33:05 Workflow Summary
More from August Bradley 😎
- Courses + Coaching/Consulting: www.yearzero.io
- Twitter: / augustbradley
- LinkedIn: / augustbradley - Навчання та стиль
Hi, August. This might not be useful to everyone but I thought it might help some of us. Inthe Cancel Event ZAP, I have added in the field "Item" the Summary (from GCal) followed by the word "CANCELLED". This way, the cancelled events in GCal appear in my action database with the word CANCELLED in the "title" (Action Item), making it very easy to sort them out during review. Thanks for a fantastic youtube channel!
great addition!
Excellent idea Jaume, I've now added in my system too. Love it!
@@augustbradley Thank you!
Can you explain this step by step? I'm confused what fields to change!
I also do this, adding [CANCELLED] to the beginning of an action item title.
I don't use the "Done" checkbox to filter items. Instead, I use a formula field, which gives me more flexibility, such as checking for the [CANCELLED] prefix, like this:
prop("Done") or slice(prop("Action Item"), 0, 11) == "[CANCELLED]"
I filter my views based on that formula instead, so anything tagged with [CANCELLED] is automatically hidden.
There's a lot of interesting stuff you can do if you're using a formula. For example, I also don't hide items if they're missing a "Do Date", even if they've been checked off as "Done.", making sure my finished tasks always have a "Do Date."
When August creates a UA-cam video one knows that it is of the highest quality and relevance. Thanks for the great content, inspiration and valuable info.
Finally got my much needed introduction to Zapier; it's time for some experiments.
Thank you August.
I had no idea the complexity of nuance of what I was hoping to do in Notion, this video is amazing and so thorough! and delivered so nicely! Subbed my man, with thanks!
August, this video of a Notion / G Cal sync was my entry point into your world. PPV looks to be the complete system I've wanted without realising, as I've used a scattered sets of apps and tracking tools and post it notes for years! I'm 15 steps into your 50 video playlist, and I'm blown away! Not only for its potential impact into my life, but also as a coach wanting to add value to the world - you show how to give maximum value freely and in a well laid out manner. My deepest thanks and greatest respect!
(and if you can let Notion know at a higher level than we can, that syncing with Garmin Connect is important, and to add an internal graphing solution, that'd be cool too!)
I’ve been waiting for years for calendar integration in motion and this zapier tutorial made it so simple! I’m excited to start scheduling our my…life 😂
Great! Thank you so much for that, August. Best Notion content anyone could find online!
august been enjoying and using your videos since may 2020. thank you for keeping us updated and still adding to your channel!
Hello August. I am so grateful for this knowledge sharing. The level of knowledge is excellent and the quality of the videos is perfect. Thank you so much for your generosity and availability.
@August...since the day you had announced of this integration between the two systems...I have been eagerly waiting for your video on this... Thanks August for doing this finally! :) appreciate your time and efforts for bringing this to us :)
Notion offers dozens of ways to organize and view your data. Thats nice but it is also the problem: What data should be kept in Toggle,List, Database and how to connect all that stuff together without getting lost? These lectures have helped me to find reasonable way to focus on the important topics of my chaotic data stuff. Very smart!
Super thankful for your hard work Sir Bradley. I love the system and now even more.
This is the most helpful video for Notion users! Thank you August!
Awesome August! Love it! Going back to Notion for.our team, definitely! So grateful ♥️🙏🏼
excellent level of detail as expected from you August!
Many thanks Andrew!
Thanks for the info, it helped me create a nice automation. By the way, you can combine the first two zaps into one if you select the 'Create if item doesn't exist option' in the third step of the second zap because you update the item anyway in its the fourth step. This can help if you want to simplify things but if you want more control i'd leave them separate.
This was great August. Others have mentioned the multi-step Zaps not being included in the free plan. One other step that caused me issues - I had to go in and share my Action Items DB with Zapier. Notion's help page was pretty easy to follow but it did cause me to stumble for five mins while I figured it out. I had to go Share > Invite and Zapier showed up as I had already done the API integration.
Thanks Cams, appreciate your sharing this note for others working on it. I didn't want to make the video super long with all that setup since it is well documented, and subject to change over time. I appreciate your update here! Nice to have the calendar sync in action isn't it! There will be a lot of Zaps like this that I think will justify $20/month, but of course that's up to each person to decide for themselves.
good to know, this is where i kept getting stuck!
is there any free option for this automation?
The video I've been waiting for, thanks August
Me too!
@@augustbradley Are you going to explore this on automate as well?
@@samleareng6298 I’m going to move on to other integrations, I’ll be focusing on Zapier as it has more connections and I already use it. Would be too redundant to do all of the integrations across multiple intermediaries. But follow the same logic and I’m believe it will be very similar. Hope it helps.
Muchas gracias Sr. Bradley. Ahora es muy fácil para mí para conectar Google Calendar a la Notion después de probar diferentes técnicas con los zaps.
Great video as always August! I tried this out right when the video came out and it works! Another great addition to my version of your PPV system.
One little issue though: Zapier only allows 50 runs per month on the free plan, which is less than 2 a day. Two chances to change, edit or create events in a day. I imagine most users will be hitting that limit in no time even if this is the only thing they do on Zapier. What's worse is that the next step up is 20$ a month for the starter plan, which is simply not worth it for people that use Zapier just for this one integration. I wonder if there are any alternatives available that can achieve the same thing or even faster speeds with a lower price tag.
Ultimately, I am hoping the developers at Google are working on a native integration with Notion, which would eliminate this not-so-elegant step in the middle that is Zapier :\
Thanks Domine! I agree that's stingy on the free plan, but I also think anyone using this zap will find many others to be helpful as well and it will be pretty easy to get more than $20 of value out of it per months. Or Automate.io is less expensive. Completely agree, a direct automation from Notion or Google would be best and is possible.
That new background is fantastic!
Thank you, glad you like it!
Nice!!!
Thank you for your hard work!
Great video, thanks for the info as always :)
Amazing August!
Just ... so amazing. Thanks again.
Thanks Kasia!
Hi August! Thank you for the super detailed walk through, I found your insights very valuable and have many take aways from your video. One question that comes to mind; what are your top use cases for implementing this automation? I'd be curious to learn about the main benefits that you (or a member of the audience) have experienced from this setup and what problems it's help you solve. Appreciate any/all input! Thanks, Nico
thanks ❤️
This is so helpful! Question: The zap to update an action item when the google event changes has more than one action. Doing more than one action would require a paid plan. Is there a recommendation for another way to do it to remain on the free plan?
Yes, switch to Integromat. You can do as many steps as you want in Integromat, even on a free plan. And their Notion integration is superior to Zapier's.
Great video! Thank you for all your work! Question: Is there any special trick to getting recurring Google events (zoom meetings) to show up in Notion?
thank you very much!
Seems like it would work better to have a "gcal description" field or something like that to contain the contents of the Google calendar description. Would that allow you to update the value in notion?
Thank you very much for this tutorial. I was just wondering how would I go about syncing my already existing events in notion. The integration seems to only work for new/updated events, what about the pre-existing ones for the future that I already have? How do I get them to also be integrated? Thanks in advance.
Hi, August! Very much enjoying your channel and your philosophy :) Calendar integration is very important to me and my functioning in the world. I really appreciate your thorough tutorial. My calendar have 3 types of events: New (Integration covered in this video), Reoccurring (Integration covered in the next video) and Pre-planned - events that are either ongoing (but not reoccurring) that span over a period of time eg an upcoming course dates, or any type of events that already exist in my calendar. How do you approach working with pre existing events? What is the most efficient way to integrate these types of events into Notion?
Can you create a random sequence of letters when creating an item in Notion, and store it along with the event, which you can use as an ID to then identify the event from both sides?
Thanks for the great video, I was able to set this up and it worked great! Do you know if there is a way to select multiple Google accounts for the same Zap? Or would we need to setup these (3) zaps for each of the members on our team?
Do different calendars on your GCal can be related to different Projects? 🙏🏼
ohhhhh myyyyyy goooooood EU TE AMOOOOOOO
This video is amazing, thank you so much!!! I build the Zaps right away, but something strange is happening: The Update Zap gets triggered without me changing anything in the calendar. So an event will get "updated" roughly twice before it starts. The only thing that changes is the "etag". I don't have any idea how this is possible. Does anyone have the same issue or any advice? I don't have any addons or so which could trigger this... Thanks!
What about if you set it to update the 'location' field of google calendar with the notion id. That way you can use that to facilitate forwards and backwards communication with notion and google calendar allowing you to work on either platform instead of just google calendar.
Dear August, its a weird question but, which career would you recommend to someone young who its in love with productivity systems desing and systems thinking?. I would love ideating and making more funcionalities like this
The two that come to mind are teaching or business consulting. What communities are you already a part of that might benefit from this kind of knowledge? Start there! Unless you are a computer programmer, then you might build software tools for it. Many options.
Hello,
Thanks a lot for your explanations
I've a calculated field as DateTime on my Notion but can't see it from Zapier. Do you have any idea how to solve this, please ?
Thanks
Hey August, firstly great video! This is the 3rd one I've watched in your series :) I'm having issues with integrating the do date and end date in Zapier. In your tutorial, you put just the start time and end time but now in Zapier, it wants to add the start and end time to the do date field and the same for the end time field, it only accepts when you add in the start and end time here. Not sure why but it just won't accept the way you've done it. I'm on a paid plan. Any thoughts or ideas on how to fix this? Thanks very much :)
Great Video ! But did I get it right, that the update/change events option is only available with the paid membership of zapier, as I need a 3-step zap which is not available with the free plan ?
August, have you tested this with repeating/recurring gCal events and whether they accurately sync to notion? Is this the lon-awaited solve for recurring events in notion ??
Each new "recurring" calendar entry is a new entry, the thing to be careful of is that if you set up recurring without at end date you just created a massive number of zaps! (one for each indefinitely) Zapier will pause a major surge like this and give you a chance to cancel, but something to be aware of.
@@augustbradley unfortunately this doesn't work for me. I set up a recurring meeting with two instances and only the first showed up in Notion
Solution to this and other recurring issues coming in the next video, probably tomorrow morning. Hold on!
Thank you for this August! Anyone else having the time zone coming in wrong? I have my Google Calendar set to CST but I keep getting the times coming in as MST... anyone else have this issue and figure out a solution?
Hmmm. Are your Notion and gCal settings both on the same time zone? Shouldn't matter, but try that.
Hi, is there anyway that we will be able to sync the events that are already created on gCal to notion? Or it only work with the new events after we turn on zap?
I am following through your update zap using the same gCAL etc but every time I try I get a duplicate in Notion
Just wondering. If you would add the gCal link as a variable of change during the second workflow (update an event), would it add the gCal link to your Notion event after adding it to Notion first (instead of Google first)? Notion event created -> Google Cal -> update Zap is triggered -> gCal link is added to Notion event?
Clever thought, but even if it works that would create a duplication of the event in Notion (with the new one created by the gCal automation). So the first would have to be deleted each time. Can't think of a way to automate that deletion.
Is it possible to use zapier to automate stuff happening inside of notion when something inside of notion changes?
Hello August, On 12:18 you get those options for selecting Database, but I don't get it.
Every date property has a built-in end-date (leverage by the timeline view). Could we use that instead of using a separate date property to represent the completion date?
That end time/date does not work (the end time from the initial Do Date) - Zappier/Google Cal cannot read that as an end time.
You can't do the 3 step zaps like 1. Calendar Updated 2. Find Notion Page 3. Update Notion page --- without a pro plan. Did this change or has it always been that way?
Hi August, the modify event is a 2 step action (find event and update) that requires a paid Zapier account. How would you suggest to do it on a free account if possible?
I was also wondering this. Thanks for asking.
Hello! Could you please tell me where have you found this awesome block with shortcuts? I've checked your templates, but didn't found that. Thanks!
Any way yet to let Zapier enter data into Notion's Linked Database Fields?
You must connect to the App Google Tasks to be able to import tasks
Hey August - perhaps I missed it, but how did you import all your existing calendar events to Notion initially? It looks like the Zaps you outline will create all new events and handle all updates/cancellations.
However, do you have a trick for importing all existing GCal events into Notion?
Correct! I haven't added my existing ones, over time the new entries will take over. Or you can manually enter the already entered ones. One way to speed it up is duplicate the existing ones, deleting the original (be sure to change the name so you can tell which is the original).
@@augustbradley Thanks for the response! Glad to hear I wasn’t missing anything obvious. I figured I would just edit them in some trivial way to trigger the “updated event” Zap, the duplicate-delete idea is even more elegant.
I tried the cancel function but i didn't do anything. 😅 I wonder what I did wrong with that. The delay in updating the database is also annoying
I Don't know why, but in update, notion is created +1 info and the old remains (is not updating, but creating, even telling zappier to do nothing if search fails.)
Wish he went and said it....
'Now you will witness the power of this fully armed and operational zapier integration!'
- Emperor Bradley
Can You do a video for using notion as a student
It's on my short list of videos to do! After a few on the API.
I think you can use this system even as an alien.
Hey Jeya! Has you seen the entire August Notion series? I adapt all the funcionalities to mi engineering student life, using subjects as proyects and study sessions as actions items. Notion is also great to study doing active recall and space repetition at toggling awnsers from questions. In the start i will define how much sessions aprox a subject examen will take me, then split the sessions in the calendar and make the progression% bar works on the projects database, then i can visualy see how well im going. Also you can split the subject in two or more proyects like: practice and theory, how you prefer :)
for some reason the update part doesnt seem to work anymore... at least for me it automatically turns off every time i publish it, and stays disabled
Hi, I don't know if anybody has had this issue but I cannot find the URL field in zapier. Can anyone help, please?
So annoying my zap dont see my database in setup action, but ive already set zapier permission
Creating a recurring event in Google calendar only creates item in Notion for original event date. Am I doing something wrong? Or is this a limitation>
Hi August, is it possible to automatically create a 'New Day' each day... I find myself being too busy or too depressed to even create the page and sometimes I don't add for days in a row, so with the upcoming automation with Withings or Fitbit related apps, I'm hoping we can automatically have a new day created, with the API integration slowly filtering in the data throughout the day as recorded.
Yes, check out the video released after this one, the last demo in there shows how to automatically have days created for your daily entries. I walk you though it. Good question!
@@augustbradley awesome! somehow missed that video in my stream. i've been using drafts for a long time and I'm super stoked you covered it. Thanks for all you do
So, you could just make a hidden checkbox property for 'Canceled' and filter it out if checked. Then use API to check the box if an event gets removed.
Can we not use the end date function in the do date field? We do this for weeks, so I’m confused why it won’t work here.
Zapier and Google won't read or recognize it. I too wish they could.
I'm having an issue where my Google events show up at the correct time in the calendar view of my Action Items Database, but in the table view they show up in a different time zone. It's "technically" the correct time but it's not useful as it's 9 hours earlier than me. Has anyone else run into this? I couldn't find a way to set a default time zone in Notion.
I have also run into this problem, not sure of the solution.
me too～T.T
Hey August, I've just realised a huge gap in this method and desperately want to know a solution.. Here is Sydney Australia we've just changed our daylight saving time, so now ALL of my scheduled events in Notion are 1 hr early! They didn't change as the events didn't change in Google.. Help please help!!
it cannot search for my id in my notion . iy said The app returned "Could not find page with ID: 24f7dac8-f221-48a5-9e4b-6bf1eb3a8dcf.".
A great work around for recurring meetings was posted in August's Year Zero Collective forums. Zapier basically chokes on recurring meetings because it tries to create thousands until the end of time (or close enough). The work around is to change the Create Zap to trigger based on 'Event Start' and choose something like 5 days out. This will wait to create anything in Notion until the event in question is x days from starting so it handles one-off and recurring tasks automatically as time moves forward. Thanks John Burrows for the idea!
Oh that’s super interesting Paul, thanks for sharing this here!
Does this eliminate the need for the “Event updated” zap?
This is coming in the next video, probably tomorrow.
Here is that and other solutions for automated recurring tasks: ua-cam.com/video/29igBrk_q3Y/v-deo.html
@@augustbradley excellent work August!
Lovely! However, I am running into an issue with the Zapier free plan only allowing me to turn on single step zaps. Is anyone else experiencing this?
The free plan is is limited to single actions, but I don't think the "lookup/search" element counts - or does it?
@@augustbradley Hi! First, thank you for all your wonderful videos! Second, I think the search step is being counted as a separate step. Zapier wouldn't let me turn it on.
@@KatJohnson_108 Ah, that's unfortunate. Automate.io has more free and lower priced options. Though if you find enough automation you want, might be worth the price of the lowest paid plan on Zapier. Good to have options.
@@augustbradley It looks like it does. The note I got was that only single step zaps are allowed on the free plan.
@@augustbradley First of all, thank you very much for another clear & detailed video. As I am on a zapier free plan, the multi step zaps can't be turned on, & $20 - even though it could totally be worth it - is unfortunately way too expensive for this currently on sick leave gal. So thanks for suggesting Automate.io !
Congrats, i found some issues but i managed them.
Is anyone else not finding the "Item" option at this time stamp: ua-cam.com/video/EFd6MQUuJzY/v-deo.html ? I have nowhere to enter the Notion ID. I only have one field that is marked "(required)" and that's the Database selection at the top.
Can zapier be trusted ?
Do you record your videos with Loom?
No, I was recording them in vMix (the first half of the videos) but now record them in-camera.
Great video!!!
I would prefer a workflow where I plan what needs to get done in Notion and then add everything to google calander, problem is I want the event to be linked to all of the information I have on Notion... any ideas?
Same...
I have tried this every way possible and nothing shows up in Notion. I give up.
I know this is a bit offtopic - but how do you guys deal with wanting to separate private and work-related tasks?
Example:
I do have a task and project database for my personal life.
I do have a task and project database for my employed-status.
I do have a task and project database for my own business.
How could I somehow get all action items and projects in one connected overview?
The thing is - would like to be able to share the task and project databases for my employed-status with my colleagues and the one for my own business with my employees. Each one should not be able to see my private tasks or the task from one or the other database.
Add a selector to your Task database with options for Work, Personal and whatever else you want. Create filtered views for work and for personal. In the Action Zone, have "Today" toggles for each: Today Work, Today Personal with the respective filtered views. Access what you want when you want it. Hope that helps!
Oh sorry, I think I misread the question. If it is about privacy and sharing, you can't share a single database without giving access to all of it, so need a separate private and work DB if sharing one with work colleagues. Then have a personal dashboard that has both stacked together.
Multi step zaps are not available on the free plan. This means we can't update events to Notion automatically
That's disappointing. Worth considering all the Zaps possible and decide if it's worth it. Zapier does an awful lot, more and more with Notion alone. Up to each person to decide for themselves. Wish they had a better free plan.
@@augustbradley The Automate.io free plan may better if it had a better intermediate search step where it can locate the G. Calendar HTML using the Notion G. Cal link property. Right now it only supports the notion page ID or title.
I loved your life os series, but don’t you think there is too much friction with this system? At the end is not better to use only a simple reminder app?
Everyone has different tolerances to friction in a system, and everyone has different work flows that work for them and their way of thinking.
I'm perfectly fine using a calendar in notion, as time-blocking is not important to my daily workflow.
The friction is in the initial build, I find using the system once it's set up greatly reduces friction, increases clarity, and guides my actions. Life is much easier with the system (once built) than it ever was before. Now the API is further reducing friction.
Completly true, its not easy to build the system, but when is ''finished'' and you know how everything works, is just amazing.
I know exactly why you say this because I had the same reservations. However, most improvement requires a slow down before you can speed up, this system included. However the difference here is that the improvement is so dramatic that the setup/habit-building work quickly breaks even. Having everything from notes to quotes to projects to aspirations to tasks with the review structure to keep it all straight provides massive clarity that I frankly haven't experienced before.
Yo, August, when will the Notion API not be beta anymore?
For some reason, this API is as disappointing as the release of CP 2077. Very hyped before release, but after release, highly disappointed.
Ahhh but it's google.... is there a Caldav integration?
I'm not familiar with Caldav, just checked and Zapier does not have integrations for it so I don't see a path for it unless someone does a custom build.
Now zapier requires a paid plan to add 3 steps on a zap :(
You look like spoke from Star trek(no offense just a joke).