My life would be a hot, sweet mess if Google Calendar didn't tell me where I needed to be each and every hour of the day, which means I spent the better part of this morning frantically searching how to fix Google Calendar when I realized, along with the rest of the very busy internet, that the web app was sadly down. (Side note: if a meeting isn't marked on Google Cal, does that mean it doesn't exist? Because I'm going to operate under that mindset until someone tells me otherwise.)
But seriously, what is the deal with Google Calendar? If you tried to pull up the app earlier this morning, you were probably greeted with a server error message announcing to you in several different languages that Google Calendar is "temporarily unavailable." Google was pretty quick to resolve the issue — the app was back up within two hours or so, but it was just enough time for people to wonder out loud if they should just cancel all obligations for the rest of the day (alright so maybe I was the only one who wondered that out loud, but it's because I'm a Millennial who depends on her gadgets, OK?). At any rate, the app appears to be back up and running now for some people, which means it should be working for you shortly as well if it isn't already. But what should you do in the future if this type of thing happens again? Here are a few suggestions:
1. Don't panic
Remind yourself that it's just a calendar, and you can live your life without it for an hour or so. Seriously, you'll be fine.
2. Make sure it's actually not working
You can check out the Google Apps Status Dashboard here, which will tell you what apps are working, and which ones aren't. If you see a little orange dot next to the app you're looking at, that means there's a slight disruption. If there's a pink dot, that means there is a service outage. A green dot means you're all clear. Pretty nifty, huh?
3. Wait it out
Unfortunately, when there is a service disruption, there's not a whole lot you can do about it except wait for Google to resolve the issue. Fortunately, Google is pretty quick with these things — it wants its products to run smoothly just as much as you do, so just sit tight for a few minutes, occasionally refreshing to see when everything is back up and running.
4. Use an actual old-school calendar
I know, this sounds nuts, but it's strangely satisfying to write down your tasks by hand into a paper (yes, paper) planner or calendar. Once you've finished up an engagement, you can physically cross it off your list of things to do, and that's a mighty fine feeling indeed.
So to recap, you can't actually fix Google Calendar, but you can certainly live without it — at least for an hour or two.
Images: Kathryn Kattalia/Bustle; Giphy
