Google Calendar as a desktop app on Mac and Windows
On a computer, Google Calendar is a website. As of October 2026 Google has no native Google Calendar app for Mac or Windows, though Chrome can install the web app in its own window. TaskForge connects your Google account and shows your calendars in its own desktop window, with day, week and month views, keyboard shortcuts, and your tasks and notes next to them.
Know these before you install:
- Connecting a Google account needs Premium, and it is labelled Beta in the app.
- TaskForge is not made by Google and is not affiliated with Google. It talks to your calendar through your own sign-in.
- It covers events, guests and invitations. If you depend on a Google Calendar feature this page does not list, check it before you buy.
- Mac and Windows, plus iPhone, iPad and Android
- Google and Outlook accounts, several at once
- Tasks and notes in the same window
What you get that a browser tab does not give you
Chrome can install Google Calendar's web app in its own window. TaskForge is a separate app with the calendar built in.
A calendar with its own window and shortcuts
Day, week and month views, plus an agenda list in the side rail. On Mac and Windows there are keyboard shortcuts for jumping to today, switching view and moving between periods, listed in Settings > Keyboard shortcuts.
Your tasks on the same grid
Tasks with a date or a duration sit on the calendar next to your events. Drag one to another time and the date changes in the markdown file it lives in.
More than one account
Connect every Google or Microsoft account you use. Calendars are grouped under each account's email, and the account's own calendars switch on when it connects. Shared calendars, subscriptions, holidays and birthdays are listed but start switched off.
Notes for the meeting
Each event can have a markdown note in your vault, with a Join button and the guest list at the top. See the meeting notes page for how open action items carry forward.
What you can do with a Google event
Reading events is the easy part. These are the writes, all of which need Premium.
Create, edit, delete and drag
Make an event from the grid, from Quick Add event mode (type Team standup 10am-10:30am next monday) or the editor. Drag it to move it, resize it to change its length. Recurring events ask whether a change applies to this event, this and following, or all.
Guests, with suggestions
Type a name and TaskForge suggests people from your contacts and from the account's own contacts and directory. A pasted list of addresses adds every new one.
Google Meet in one tap
A Google event offers Add Google Meet where Google can create one. The link is made when you save, and a Join button shows on the event afterwards.
Replies to invitations
Accept, decline or answer maybe from TaskForge, for one occurrence or the whole series. The organizer gets the reply, as it would from Google Calendar.
Asks before it emails your guests
Change the time of an event you organize and TaskForge asks, as Google Calendar does: Send update emails to guests, Don't send, or go back and keep editing.
Never overwrites a change made elsewhere
If someone edits the event in Google Calendar while you have it open, your save does not overwrite it. You see This event changed in Google Calendar, and Reload keeps the edits to fields nobody else touched.
Mac and Windows differ in one way
Both can connect Google and Outlook accounts. Only the Mac can also read the calendars already on the machine.
Mac
TaskForge also shows the calendars in the macOS Calendar app, including a Google account you added there. Viewing device calendars is free; connecting an account in TaskForge is Premium.
Windows
Windows has no device calendars, so a connected Google or Outlook account is where events come from. Until you connect one, Calendar events in Settings says so. Windows has no widgets.
TaskForge has no iCloud sign-in of its own. On iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, any calendar the device syncs appears; Windows shows only the Google and Microsoft accounts you connect.
Outlook works the same way
Connect a Microsoft account and its calendars join the same views. Teams meetings can be added where Outlook can create one, and Outlook always emails the guests of a change, so the app says so before you save.
Where the two differ
Outlook allows one reminder per event where Google allows five, and an Outlook event cannot be moved to another calendar. Outlook has no No response answer to an invitation.
Common questions
Is there an official Google Calendar app for Mac or Windows?
Not a native one, as of October 2026. Google Calendar runs in a browser on a computer, and Chrome can install the web app in its own window. Google makes apps for Android and iPhone. TaskForge is an independent app, not made by Google, that connects to your Google account and shows the calendar in a desktop window.
Does it work on Windows?
Yes. Connecting a Google or Outlook account works on Windows, and it is the only source of calendar events there because Windows has no device calendars. The connection needs Premium and carries a Beta label.
Is it free?
The app is free to download. Connecting a Google or Microsoft account is Premium, and so is creating, editing or deleting events and answering invitations. Viewing the calendars already on an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Android device is free.
What happens if my Premium lapses?
Connected accounts pause: their events stop showing, but the accounts stay connected and resume when Premium is active again, without signing in again.
Can I use more than one Google account?
Yes. Each connected account has its own calendars, grouped under its email address, and you choose which ones show.
Will it change my Google calendar without asking?
It writes only when you save an edit, and for an event with other guests it asks first whether to email them. A save never overwrites a change someone made in Google Calendar since you opened the event.
Put Google Calendar in a window of its own.
Download TaskForge for Mac or Windows, connect your account, and see your events next to your tasks.
