May 24, 2026

How to Create an All-Day Event in Google Calendar (2026)

Google Calendar Events All-Day Events How-to

All-day events sit as a banner across the top of a day rather than blocking a time slot — ideal for birthdays, travel days, deadlines, holidays, and PTO. They can span a single day or several, and by default they don’t make you look busy to others.

1. Create an All-Day Event on the Web

Go to calendar.google.com.
Click + Create → Event (or just click a day in Month view).
Next to the date, switch on the All day toggle. The time pickers vanish.
Add a title and any details.
Click Save.

The event appears as a banner at the top of that day in Day, Week, and Month views.

Fastest method: in Month view, single-click a day, type a title, and press Enter — it creates an all-day event instantly.

2. Create a Multi-Day Event

For something spanning several days (a conference, a vacation):

Create the event and turn on All day.
Set the end date to a later day than the start.
Save.

Or, in Week/Month view, click and drag across multiple days in the all-day row at the top to set the range visually.

3. Create One on Mobile

Open the Google Calendar app.
Tap the + button → Event.
Toggle All-day on.
Set the date (and a later end date for multi-day).
Tap Save.

4. Free vs. Busy — An Important Default

All-day events default to “Free”, meaning they don’t block your availability — others scheduling with you won’t see you as busy, and the event won’t conflict with timed meetings. That’s usually what you want for a birthday or reminder.

But for PTO or travel where you do want to appear unavailable:

Open the event → Edit (pencil).
Find the Free / Busy setting.
Change it to Busy.
Save.

For full out-of-office behavior that auto-declines meetings, use a dedicated Out of Office entry instead.

5. Add a Reminder So It Isn’t Missed

All-day events are easy to overlook because they don’t pop up at a specific time. Set a notification:

Edit the event → Notifications section.
Add a reminder like “1 day before at 9:00 AM” or “On the day at 8:00 AM.”

You can also set a default for all all-day events under Settings → [your calendar] → All-day event notifications. More in how to set reminders in Google Calendar.

6. All-Day vs. Timed Event

	All-day event	Timed event
Position	Banner at top of the day	A block in the time grid
Blocks availability	No (defaults to Free)	Yes (defaults to Busy)
Spans multiple days	Yes, easily	Awkward — better as all-day
Best for	Birthdays, travel, deadlines, PTO	Meetings, calls, appointments

If your days are a mix of all-day commitments and timed meetings that need juggling, Carly is an AI assistant that manages your calendar by email or text — creating events, blocking PTO, and scheduling around what’s already there.

More on Google Calendar: How to set reminders in Google Calendar · How to set up out of office · How to block time on Google Calendar · Best AI calendar assistants