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Finding Meeting Times

Before you invite anyone to a meeting, you want to know there is actually a free slot for it. PrimeCal's week view is the best place to do this — you can see your own schedule and any shared calendars side by side, spot the gaps, and pick a time with confidence.

The Week View Is Your Planning Surface​

Switch to Week view (click the week icon in the top right of the calendar area, or press W on your keyboard). The week view shows every hour of the day as a horizontal strip across the selected week. Each event appears as a colored block in the exact time slot it occupies.

When you are looking for a free slot:

  1. Go to the week that you want to schedule the meeting.
  2. Use the left/right arrows to move one week forward or backward if needed.
  3. Scan the columns for clear stretches of time — those are your available windows.

The narrower the event blocks, the easier it is to spot gaps. If a column is mostly empty, that day has good availability.

Show Only the Calendars You Need​

By default, every calendar you have enabled in the sidebar is visible in the week view. If you have many calendars, the view can feel cluttered. To see only what matters for this scheduling decision:

  1. In the left sidebar, click the colored dot next to any calendar you want to hide temporarily. The dot goes gray and those events disappear from the week view.
  2. Keep only the calendars relevant to the meeting — for example, your work calendar and your colleague's shared calendar.
  3. After you find the right time, re-enable the hidden calendars by clicking the gray dot again.

This is especially useful in a family context. May can hide the kids' school calendars and Will's personal calendar to see just their own schedules when planning something for the two of them.

Check a Shared Calendar​

If someone has shared their PrimeCal calendar with you, it appears in your sidebar under Other Calendars. Enable it the same way you enable your own calendars — click the dot. Their events then appear in the week view alongside yours, making it straightforward to compare schedules and find a free block that works for both of you.

See Sharing Calendars if you need to set up calendar sharing first.

Drag to Create an Event Once You Spot the Gap​

Once you find an open window in the week view, you do not need to note the time and then open a form. You can click and drag across the empty time block to select the duration, then release the mouse. The event creation dialog opens pre-filled with the time you dragged. Adjust the details, choose the calendar, and save.

Example: Justin Plans a Practice Session​

Justin (justin_time) coaches basketball. He wants to schedule a Friday evening practice for the team. He switches to week view, hides his personal calendar, and looks at the team's shared Late Family calendar. He can see Noah has school pick-up until 4 PM and the gym is booked until 5 PM from an earlier reservation. The 5:30–7:30 PM window on Friday is clear. He drags across that block, fills in "Basketball Practice", and saves it to the team calendar.

Tips​

Check multiple weeks

If the current week is packed, jump forward with the arrow buttons. Availability often opens up two or three weeks out.

Use timezones in the sidebar

If you are coordinating across timezones, set your timezone in your profile first. PrimeCal converts all events to your local time, so the visual gaps you see in the week view are already adjusted for where you are. See Time Zone Handling for details.