How to Automatically Add Birthdays to Google Calendar

These little reminders help you remember others' big days

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on December 15, 2020
Reviewed by
Jon Fisher
Jon Fisher headshot
Reviewed by Jon Fisher
  • Wichita Technical Institute
Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • In Google Calendar, select the Main menu. Under My calendars, select the Birthdays check box to enable the Birthdays calendar.
  • Birthdays are synced automatically via Google Contacts. You must set up birthdays in Contacts to have them appear in Calendar.

If you set up birthdays in Google Contacts, those birthdays are added to your Google Calendar automatically when you sync Google Calendar with Google Contacts. In this guide, we show you how to add birthdays to Google Calendar on a desktop browser, just as you would any other event.

How to Add the Birthdays Calendar in Google Calendar

Enabling the Birthdays calendar in Google Calendar is quick and painless.

  1. Open Google Calendar.

    Google Calendar showing week view

  2. In the upper-left corner, select the hamburger menu. If needed, select the My calendars drop-down arrow to expand this section.

    If the upper-left menu is already open, when you select the hamburger menu, it will close. If the menu closes, just click it again to reopen it.

    Google Calendar showing week view and menu displayed

  3. Select Birthdays to enable it.

    Google Calendar showing week view and birthdays displayed

    If you don't see a Birthdays option, select Contacts.

  4. Birthdays from your Google Contacts should now appear in Google Calendar.

    Unlike other calendars, the Birthdays calendar cannot be set up to send notifications. If you want birthday reminders in Google Calendar, copy the individual birthdays to a personal calendar, then configure notifications there.

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