Frequently Asked Questions About VueMinder Calendar

Advanced Use


How do I share my calendar with other VueMinder Calendar users over the web?

You can share calendars with other VueMinder Calendar users, allowing them to view and modify your calendar. The benefit of this approach, as opposed to syncing with a web calendar like Google Calendar, is that all the extended event and reminder properties that VueMinder Calendar provides will also be shared. These properties include calendar and event appearance settings, reminders, and completion status. To setup this type of calendar sharing, follow these steps:

  1. First, you'll need to ensure everyone you're sharing your calendar with is using VueMinder Calendar, and preferably the latest version to avoid any issues.
  2. Next, sign up with a host that can store your shared calendar. We recommend http://www.icalx.com or http://www.ical-mac.com/, which both host iCalendar files for free. The following steps assume the ical-mac.com host is being used. Note that if you want other people to be able to edit your calendar, you'll need to provide them with the username and password you create for your account. We'd suggest not using the same password that you use elsewhere. If other people will only be viewing your calendar and not modifying it, then there's no need to share your username or password.
  3. After you've signed up for an account on iCal-Mac, access your profile page and copy the text indicated below. You will paste this text in the location field to publish your calendar in a later step. Don't copy the text shown below, this is for illustration purposes only. Your account will have a different path than what is shown.
    Copy the path indicated.
  4. Choose the calendar you'd like to share in VueMinder Calendar, or create a new one. Right click the calendar in the Calendar List and select the "Publish" command.
    Select the Publish command from the context menu.
  5. In the Publishing Settings window, check the "Publish this calendar" checkbox.
  6. In the publishing location text box, paste the location that was copied in Step 3. Since VueMinder Calendar needs to publish to a specific filename, you'll also need to enter a file name. It doesn't matter what you call it, but it should end with ".ics". When you're done, your settings should look like what is shown below, but with your own location and filename.
    Enter your publishing location.
  7. Next, you'll need to enter your iCal-Mac.com username and password. You can check the "Save password" box to avoid having to re-enter your username and password whenever you publish.
    Enter your username and password.
  8. Click the Apply button to attempt publishing. If the path and user information have been correctly entered, your calendar will be published to the iCal-Mac host. Click the Close button to close the Publishing Settings window.
  9. If other people will be modifying your published calendar, you will need to set VueMinder Calendar up to subscribe to the calendar that was just published. This will ensure that you see changes that other people have made. If other people won't be modifying your calendar, you can skip these steps. To set up the calendar subscription, first access your calendar on iCal-Mac by clicking the link in your profile.
    Click the link to access your calendar on the web.
  10. Your calendar will be displayed. To subscribe, you'll need the correct path. This can be accessed by right clicking the "Subscribe" link to the right of the calendar, and then selecting "Copy Shortcut".
    Copy the Subscribe link.
  11. Back in VueMinder Calendar, right click the calendar in your Calendar List and select the "Subscribe" command. The Subscription Settings window will appear. Check the "Subscribe to calendar" box, and then paste the link that was copied in step 10. This file name might not match what was entered in Step 6, but that's okay, because it doesn't need to. The important thing is that the link is correctly pasted.
    Paste the link that was copied.
  12. If you're using a public calendar on iCal-Mac, there's no need to enter authentication information, since that is only needed when publishing. Click the Apply button. If the path was correctly entered, the calendar will update. You can then click the Close button.
  13. You've now setup a calendar to be shared with others. The following steps can be used on other computers where people will be viewing or modifying your shared calendar.
  14. To access the shared calendar on another computer running VueMinder Calendar, select the "New Subscription" command from the "Share" menu.
    Add a new calendar subscription on other computers that will be viewing the shared calendar.
  15. A Subscription Settings window will be displayed. Enter the same information here as was entered in Step 11. Click the Apply button, and then Close. The shared calendar will be added to the Calendar List.
  16. If the shared calendar will also be modified on this computer, repeat steps 4 through 8. The calendar can now be modified on this computer as well as the original one. These steps can be repeated for each computer that needs to view or modify the shared calendar. That's all there is to it!

If a calendar is both published and subscribed, some additional things happen behind the scenes to keep events in sync. While not directly related to the question of how to share a calendar through VueMinder Calendar, this information is something you should be aware of:

  • Whenever an event is changed, a timestamp is applied to it. The local copy of the calendar is updated from the remote version, except for the event that was just modified. The updated calendar, including the latest modifications, is then published to the remote host.
  • By recording timestamps for each event, as well as the time of the last subscription update, VueMinder Calendar is able to synchronize changes to the shared calendar across any number of computers or users.
  • The only case where synchronization issues could occur if two people are modifying the same event at exactly the same moment, in which case the event will be updated in the remotely hosted calendar to match the update made by the last person.
  • The potential for this type of synchronization issue can be reduced by manually commanding the calendar to update before making changes. This can be quickly accomplished by using the F5 key, or right-clicking the calendar and selecting the "Sync" command.


How do I share my calendar with other VueMinder Calendar users on a local network?

This is easily accomplished using two commands. To share an existing calendar from your computer, you can select the new “Share to LAN” command from the “Share Calendar” menu. To add an existing calendar that is being shared from another computer, select the new “Add Shared Calendar From LAN” command from the File menu.

For more detail, see our blog article on setting up calendar sharing over a local network.


I run VueMinder Calendar on a desktop and laptop. How do I keep them in sync?

There are several ways to sync your data between your desktop and laptop, and the best approach will vary depending on your needs.

If your desktop and laptop are on the same network, you can sync a calendar by selecting the “Share to LAN” option from the “Share Calendar” menu. Select a shared file location, either on the desktop or laptop, that both computers will be able to access. On the other computer, select the “Add Shared Calendar From LAN” command from the “File” menu. Browse to the shared file location and select it. When changes are made on either the desktop or laptop, the calendar will be automatically synced. If you have multiple calendars, you’ll need to do this for each one.

If your desktop and laptop aren’t on the same network, or if you take your laptop with you while your desktop stays at home, you can sync via the web. Detailed steps are described above, but to do this, right click the calendar you want to sync and select the “Calendar Properties” menu option. Then click the “Publish” tab. You’ll need a calendar host on the web to store your calendar. We recommend http://www.icalx.com, but there are others as well. Depending on the host, enter the appropriate URL for the publishing location, followed by a calendar name (example:  “http://icalx.com/public/vuesoft/testcalendar.ics”). You may also need to enter your login username and password for the calendar host you’re using. Next, click the “Subscribe” tab, and enter the same calendar URL and login information. Adjust the update frequency to whatever you need, like 15 minutes. Repeat these steps on your other computer. When completed, you’ll have set up automatic calendar syncing via the web.  When a change is made to the calendar, it will be published to the calendar host and automatically synced on the other computer. If you’re at a location where the laptop can’t connect to the web, the calendar will be automatically published and synced as soon as a web connection is detected.

If you don’t have a network connection, or if either of the above options won’t work for whatever reason, you can still manually sync by using the “Backup or Restore Data” option from the “File” menu. Select a location where you’d like to store the calendar data (such as a flash drive), and click the “Backup” button. On the other computer, click the “Restore” button and browse to the same location. Note this is only one-directional. Any existing data you have on the computer will be overwritten when you restore.


How do I configure VueMinder Calendar to sync with my iPhone?

VueMinder Calendar can sync with many devices, including iPhone, through Outlook sync. This requires you have Outlook installed, but you don't need to use the calendar in Outlook. Outlook just acts as a pass-through for the sync. The following instructions describe how to set this up for an iPhone, but the same concept can apply to other smart phones or mobile devices that have Outlook sync capability.

First, configure your calendar(s) in VueMinder to sync with Outlook. This is done from the Calendar Properties window, on the Outlook tab. After enabling Outlook sync the first time, click the "Synchronize Now" button to ensure Outlook is updated with your latest calendar data in VueMinder. Outlook sync can also be set to happen automatically at a specified interval.

Next, configure iTunes to synchronize calendars with Outlook. After your iPhone syncs through iTunes, your VueMinder appointments will be accessible on your iPhone. If you have appointments set to display reminders, these reminders will also appear on your iPhone, without using the SMS reminder feature.


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