Creating New Items
The most common way to create a new appointment is to tap briefly anywhere on the screen in any view which will bring up the Event Selection List. At the top of this dialog, there are four buttons to create new items:
Appt
This button creates a new appointment. In the Day View, if you tap in the time column the event will be preset to that time, otherwise the event will be untimed (aka "all day"). In the Day+ view the first column works the same way as the Day View. In any other column, the event will default to the timeslot you tap (if you tap an untimed slot at the top of the screen, the event will be untimed). In any other view, the event will always be untimed by default.
The Edit dialog appears so you can change the various attributes of the event (see Edit Dialog under Event Attributes for further information). Click the OK button or use the Back button to enter the event into the database.
Float & Task buttons
These function just like the Appt button except that they create new floating events and tasks instead. Note that all three types of event can be easily changed into the other. A task is a special type of floating event that may be synced with a separate tasks database, but apart from that is the same as a floating event. A floating event has all the same attributes as a regular event, but in addition often has a due date and can also feature urgency and priority levels. Appointments can actually also have urgency and priority if desired by setting a preference (normally those attributes are hidden for appointments).
If the item is created on today's date, by default it will have no due date. Otherwise, the item's due date will be set to the date was selected when the item was created. You can set up a quick entry template with an explicit due date or without an explicit due date and use that if you always want to have (or not have) a due date, regardless of whether today's date is selected or not.
Template
This button inserts a Quick Entry Template. Quick Entry Templates are used to insert events that you use frequently. For example, you might have frequent breakfast meetings at a local restaurant. In that case, you can set up a template with that information, a fork and knife icon, a link to the contact entry for the restaurant, etc. etc. See the section Quick Entry Templates for more information on how to use templates. You can also bring up templates by selecting templates as a display option of one of the eight programmable Command bar buttons or four diagonal gestures.
Using the Command Bar
If you are displaying the command bar, there is a green [+] button which, if tapped, will create a new regular appointment. There is also a red circle with a green button inside to create a floating event, and a red checkbox with a green button inside to create a task. The display of items on the command bar is managed by preferences, so you can choose which functions are to be displayed on the command bar.
Quick Event Entry
To enter an event quickly, you can also use a long press almost anywhere on the screen. The Quick event dialog appears where you can just enter a description for the event. In the Day/Day+ views, the timeslot you tap on will set the default time for the event (as described above). In other views, the event will be untimed by default. There are two exceptions to the long press: first, a long press on the time-slots in the Day and Day+ views toggles the display between all time slots and just those between the defined start and end times, and second: a long press directly on an event in the Day or Day+ views is used to edit the item directly - in those views, you need to be sure to long press on an empty timeslot)
The Quick Entry dialog allows several special features.
Entering a time. To specify a time, begin the appointment with the time of day - for example, 7:30p Dinner with Harry will enter the event Dinner with Harry at 7:30pm. To use 'pm' and 'am' the preference IncludePmIndicator must be set to true. If you are using a 24 hour clock, for a number to be treated as a time the number must be followed by either a period or colon, so nineteen period Dinner with Harry would be how you would enter a time of 19:00. In Google Voice, "Period" tends to work better than "Colon" - the latter often gets translated as a word rather than punctuation.
Entering a date. You can also use "Today", "Tomorrow", "Next Monday" or "Wednesday" to set the day of the week.
Setting the event type. You can include "Floating Event" or "Task" to designate the item as a Floating event or Task. In addition to "Task" - you can also use "Todo" or "To Do" to designate a task.
Voice Entry
You can create new items by voice entry with a long press on the Find button, or using Menu | Voice. Speak the item using the standard features of the Quick Event Entry dialog to optionally set the date and time of the event. When finished, you may get a selection list of Google's best guesses at what you wanted to day - if so, select the item in the list. The text is then copied into the Quick Event Entry dialog where you can just tap the OK button to take the text as is, or you can edit the text prior to inserting the event. If there is no support for voice entry on the Android device you are using, this menu item just brings up the Quick Entry dialog instead.
On Voice entry, if the text starts out with the two words "Save It" then instead of displaying multiple choices, or displaying the text in the Quick Entry Dialog, the text is analyzed (using the first choice if there were multiple proposals from Google Voice) and immediately inserted into the calendar (this may be useful if you use Voice Entry while driving and want a best guess at what you spoke, as opposed to having the opportunity to edit the text).
Alternate Selection Interface
There is a preference option for the user interface which some users with devices that feature larger or higher resolution screens may find preferable. When this preference (AlternateSelectionInterface) is set true, the manner in which short and long taps work changes:
A brief tap directly on an item brings up the Edit dialog (unless you have another preference set true (DoubleClickOnApptOpensDetails) in which case the Details dialog would appear instead). A long tap on an item pops up the Command List (Duplicate, delete, advance 1 day etc.). If you do not tap directly on an item, the Event selection list appears instead (so tapping on an empty spot would bring that list up).