Choose calendars and use the day agenda

Pick the calendars to watch

In Settings, on the Setup tab, step 3, click Load my calendars and tick the ones to watch. Next Up sees the same calendars Google Calendar lists under "My calendars" and "Other calendars". Use a calendar's colour swatch to change its colour in Next Up; it doesn't change it in Google Calendar.

The Focus day agenda

Choose a calendar under Focus day agenda to show today's events on the left as a timeline, with a line at the current time and the past dimmed. It's great for a time-blocking or "zones" calendar, and it doesn't need to be ticked above.

The agenda keeps the current time in view. Scroll it to look ahead or back, and it returns to now on its own after a couple of minutes — or click Jump to now at the top of the agenda.

On the Display tab, under Timer and agenda, you can show calendar colours on agenda events, show a faint border (and pick its colour), and show or hide the current-time line.

How many timers, and how far ahead

Timers to show sets how many events get a timer: the next event gets the big one, and each one after it gets a smaller timer underneath (up to six in total). Look ahead (hours) sets how far into the future Next Up looks — 48 hours by default, and anything from 1 to 336 hours (two weeks). Your calendar is checked again every 5 minutes.

New calendars

When you add or subscribe to a calendar in Google Calendar, Next Up notices and offers it in a banner: click Watch it (Watch all if there are several) to start counting down to its events, Choose in Settings to decide there, or Not now.

Filter events

Ignore all-day events and Ignore events I've declined are both on by default, so holidays and meetings you've said no to don't take over the timer.

Treat events this long as all-day (hours) handles long events such as on-call shifts or trips: by default, anything 24 hours or longer gets no timer or alerts. While it's on, it shows as a short Ongoing line in Happening now and in the agenda's all-day strip. It takes 0 to 720 hours; set it to 0 to turn this off.

Happening now, Later and Earlier today

Beside the timer, Happening now lists events that are under way, and Later lists the next few events that don't have a timer of their own. Each card only shows when it has something in it.

The Earlier today card lists today's events that have already ended. It sits below the timer by default. On the Layout tab, under Earlier today card, move it above the timer or to the top or bottom of the side cards, or turn it off, and choose how far back it looks with Show events that ended in the last (up to 12 hours, never earlier than midnight).

Pin an event

Click the pin button on an event to keep it at the top of the timer card, even after it ends, until you unpin it. Until it ends, a pinned event keeps small Join and Maps buttons when it has a link or a place. It's handy for a call you need to rejoin or a meeting whose notes you want close by.

Join, Maps and Google Calendar

When an event has a Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Webex link, a Join meeting button appears. When it has a physical location, the location shows under the event's time and Open in Maps opens it in Google Maps (Apple Maps on an iPhone or iPad); the smaller timers get Join and Map buttons. The Google Calendar button in the header opens your calendar, signed in to the account your calendars come from, in a clean window or a new tab — choose under Google Calendar button opens in on the Display tab.

Extra details

On the Display tab, Show start and end times under the progress bar and Show when your calendar last synced, next to the connection status are on by default. Alert times, colours and sounds are set in Settings, on the Alerts tab — the page itself keeps nothing but a quiet line at the bottom saying when it last updated and how many calendars it watches. Click the status pill in the header to open Settings.

Related guides

Set when you're warned in Set up alerts, colours and sounds, and place the agenda beside a narrower timer in Arrange the layout and choose a theme.