Feb 26, 2026

How to Use Carly's Chrome Extension in Gmail

If you live in Gmail, you’ll love this: Carly’s Chrome extension adds a calendar sidebar directly inside your inbox. See your next 14 days of events, check your availability, and add Carly to email threads — all without opening a new tab.

Installing the Extension

Go to the Chrome Web Store and search for “Carly for Chrome”
Click Add to Chrome
Sign in with the same account you use for Carly
Open Gmail — you’ll see the Carly icon in the right sidebar

That’s it. The extension is ready.

What You’ll See

When you click the Carly icon in Gmail, a sidebar opens showing:

Your Next 14 Days

A clean list of your upcoming events:

TODAY — Wednesday, Feb 26

  9:00 AM   Team standup
             Google Meet

 11:00 AM   Call with Alex Rivera
             Zoom

  2:00 PM   Product review
             Conf Room A

TOMORROW — Thursday, Feb 27

 10:00 AM   Design review with Jamie
             Zoom

  3:00 PM   1:1 with Sarah
             Google Meet

FRIDAY, Feb 28

 11:00 AM   Sprint demo
             Google Meet

Scroll down to see the full 14-day view. No need to switch to your calendar app to check what’s coming up.

Available Time Slots

The sidebar also shows your free time for the next few days:

YOUR AVAILABILITY

Today:
  12:00 – 2:00 PM
   3:00 – 5:00 PM

Tomorrow:
   9:00 – 10:00 AM
  10:30 AM – 3:00 PM
   3:30 – 5:00 PM

This is incredibly useful when someone emails you asking “when are you free?” — glance at the sidebar and you have the answer.

Adding Carly to Emails

The killer feature: when you’re composing an email in Gmail, the extension adds a one-click button to include Carly.

The Compose Button

When you open a new compose window or reply to a thread, you’ll see a small Carly icon near the send button. Click it, and Carly’s email (carly@usecarly.com) is automatically added to the CC field.

No more typing out the email address. One click and Carly is on the thread.

How It Looks in Practice

You’re replying to an email from Rachel about a meeting:

To: rachel@partnerco.com
CC: carly@usecarly.com  ← added with one click
Subject: Re: Q1 planning session

Hey Rachel — let's find a time this week. Carly will help
us coordinate!

Hit send, and Carly takes over the scheduling from there.

Checking Availability While Composing

Here’s a workflow that saves real time:

You get an email: “Can we meet Thursday?”
Glance at the sidebar — you see Thursday’s schedule
You’re free at 2 PM? Click the Carly button, CC her, and reply: “Thursday works! Carly will send the invite.”
Carly creates the event

You checked your availability and initiated scheduling without leaving Gmail.

Inserting Availability into Emails

Sometimes you want to share your availability directly in an email instead of having Carly take over. The extension lets you copy availability slots and paste them into your email:

Click a free time slot in the sidebar
It copies a formatted text block
Paste it into your email:

Here are some times that work for me:

Thursday, Feb 27 at 10:30 AM

Friday, Feb 28 at 9:00 AM

Monday, Mar 3 at 1:00 PM

Useful when you’re emailing someone who doesn’t know about Carly and you just want to share your free times manually.

The sidebar isn’t just for viewing — you can take action directly:

Block time: Click any free slot and select “Block this time” to add a hold on your calendar.

View event details: Click any event to see the full details — attendees, location, video link, and notes.

Open in dashboard: Quick link to open your full Carly dashboard for more detailed management.

Pro Tips

Keep the sidebar open. It sits on the right side of Gmail and doesn’t interfere with your inbox. Most users keep it open all day as a mini calendar view.

Use it during meetings. When someone in a meeting says “let’s find time to follow up,” glance at your Gmail sidebar, click the Carly button on a compose window, and send a quick scheduling email — all while still in the meeting.

Works alongside Google Calendar. The extension doesn’t replace Google Calendar’s sidebar — it adds a separate Carly panel. You can use both, but most people find Carly’s view cleaner for quick schedule checks.

It Works with Google and Outlook Calendars

Even though the extension lives in Gmail, it shows events from all calendars connected to your Carly account — including Outlook calendars. So if you use Gmail for email but have a work calendar in Outlook, the sidebar shows both.

Get the Extension

Install Carly for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store
Sign in with your Carly account
Open Gmail and click the Carly icon in the sidebar

It takes 30 seconds to set up and you’ll use it every day.

Ready to automate your busywork?

Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.

Get Carly Today →

Or try our Free Group Scheduling Tool