Google unveiled Material Design all the way back in 2014 (has it really been that long?). At the time, the company promised that it would use that design language across all its products, on mobile and desktop. It has taken a while for Google to deliver on that claim, at least for its desktop apps and websites.

One of the major holdouts was the Google Calendar web app, which has changed very little over the past few years. Back in May, Google announced during a G Suite presentation that Calendar would receive a redesign in Q4 2017. Then in August, the interface began a limited rollout, but it was never fully released. At long last, the updated interface is finally rolling out to everyone.

The new multi-column mode

The Add Event screen.

Besides the lovely redesign, most of the new features (or at least, the ones that Google mentioned) are targeted towards business use. First off, the Calendar web app has added a multi-column Day view, so you can more easily view events from multiple calendars at once. You can also now add rich text formatting and hyperlinks to calendar invites, view contact info of event participants, easily restore deleted items, and more easily share calendars.

The new meeting room UI

G Suite admins can enter detailed information about their organization's meeting rooms, so employees can see at a glance where they are, how large they are, if there is audio/video equipment, and so on. One major improvement that Google didn't mention is that you can set the time of an event while creating it. I've waited years for this moment.

Google has also thrown in a few customization options. There are two layout choices - responsive and compact. The first is default, and the second makes the whole interface a bit more compact and closer to the previous design. You can also choose between Modern and Classic color options, the former adhering to Material Design standards, and the latter using Calendar's old color scheme.

GG Suite administrators can enable the new UI in their organization starting today. For us normal users, you can flip on the interface by clicking "Use new Calendar" in the top-right corner of the screen, as seen in the below screenshot. If you don't see the button, try clicking this link first.

UPDATE: 2018/01/08 10:22am PST BY

G Suite customers on Rapid Release domains with automatic/default rollouts selected will start getting the new UI today, with Scheduled Release domains to follow on January 15th. For more info, and for admins to configure how the transition works for them, you can check out Google's post on the G Suite Updates blog.

Source: Google Blog