How to Create Custom Recurring Events in Google Calendar

Custom recurring events in Google Calendar handle the patterns the quick presets can't — every other Tuesday, the first Monday of each month, or a series that ends after exactly 12 occurrences. The Custom recurrence dialog gives you full control over intervals, weekdays, and end conditions. This guide walks through every option.

Open the custom recurrence dialog

1. Open Google Calendar and start a new event (click a time slot, or Create → Event).
2. Open the full editor if needed (More options).
3. Find the "Does not repeat" dropdown.
4. Choose one of the presets (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually, Every weekday) — or click Custom… at the bottom for full control.

The mobile app offers the same Custom option inside the repeat dropdown when editing an event, though the layout is more compact.

Set the interval

In the Custom dialog, the Repeat every field controls how often the event recurs.

• Set the number (e.g., 2) and the unit (week) to get "every 2 weeks."
• Units available: day, week, month, year.

Examples:

Choose specific weekdays (weekly)

When the unit is week, a Repeat on row of day buttons appears (S M T W T F S).

• Click multiple days to repeat on each — for example Mon, Wed, Fri.
• Combine with the interval: "Repeat every 1 week on Tue and Thu" = twice weekly.

Monthly patterns

When the unit is month, a dropdown lets you choose how the monthly repeat is anchored:

• Monthly on day X — same date each month (e.g., the 15th).
• Monthly on the first/second/third/fourth/last weekday — e.g., "the first Monday" or "the last Friday."

The "last weekday" option is the right choice for things like "last business Friday of the month," since it adapts to months of different lengths.

Set the end condition

Under Ends, pick when the series stops:

Use After N occurrences for fixed-length series like a 6-week course. Use On a date when there's a hard deadline.

When you're done, click Done in the dialog, then Save the event.

Editing a recurring event later

When you change a recurring event, Google asks what scope to apply:

• This event — just this one occurrence.
• This and following events — this one and all future ones.
• All events — the entire series.

Pick carefully — "All events" rewrites past occurrences too.

Tips and gotchas

• Color the series so a recurring commitment is easy to spot — see how to change event colors.
• Time zones matter for recurring events that cross daylight-saving changes; Google keeps the local time you set. If you work across zones, add a second time zone.
• Deleting one occurrence doesn't break the rest of the series — choose This event when prompted.

If you keep recurring commitments across Google and Outlook, nocal carries them forward in one unified timeline — see how.