Frequently Asked Questions About VueMinder Calendar

Introduction and Getting Started


Why use VueMinder Calendar?

You have probably heard the phrase "time is money". That's close to the truth, but misses one very important distinction: With skill, determination, and a little bit of luck, anyone can make more money. But can you make more time?

Highly successful people have the same number of hours in the day as everyone else. How do they do it? What are they doing that makes them so successful? Their secret is in effective time management and organization. This is something anyone can do, and do even more easily with the right tool.

VueMinder Calendar is an extremely flexible, powerful, and easy-to-use tool that can help you more effectively manage your time, and thus become more successful in both your personal and professional life.


How is VueMinder Calendar different than other calendar programs?

There are many calendar programs available to help you organize your schedule, but VueMinder Calendar Pro provides some innovative features that aren't available anywhere else:

  • VueMinder Calendar helps you visualize your schedule using day, week, and month views as well as a filterable list of events and tasks. This list can also be exported to Microsoft Excel.
  • VueMinder Calendar provides many flexible reminder options. You're not always tied to your computer, so when you're on the go, reminders can be sent via SMS to your cell phone or by email.
  • VueMinder Calendar provides reminders that can also be displayed on your desktop, but unlike traditional reminders, these can also contain pictures, video, music, or web content. They can even fade into view and automatically snooze.
  • VueMinder Calendar provides a list of recently displayed, processed, or snoozed reminders. Have you ever accidentally snoozed a reminder, and then wondered what it was that you snoozed, or how to re-enable the reminder? VueMinder Calendar makes it easy to do this.
  • VueMinder Calendar supports calendar sharing and synchronization with calendars on the web or local network. Unlike many calendar programs, a single shared calendar can be both viewed and modified by multiple people or on multiple computers.

These are just a few of the many unique features you'll find in VueMinder Calendar.


Will VueMinder Calendar run when Windows starts? How do I tell if VueMinder Calendar is running?

VueMinder runs in the background and can be accessed from the Task Tray. Yes, VueMinder Calendar will run whenever Windows is started. If you want to disable this feature, simply uncheck the "Run at Windows startup" box in the Program Options window.

VueMinder Calendar will run in the background, using minimal system resources. CPU usage will usually be at 0%. To see if VueMinder Calendar is running or to access the main window, click the VueMinder Calendar icon in the task tray. When you close the VueMinder Calendar window, it will return to running in the background. As soon as a reminder comes due, a popup reminder window or desktop alert will be displayed. To completely exit VueMinder Calendar, right click the calendar icon in the task tray and select the "Exit" option.






Can you give me a basic overview of the main window?

VueMinder Calenda Pror's main window consists of 11 major areas:

This is the main window of VueMinder.

Here's a brief summary of what each area is for:

  1. Main Menu - The main menu allows access to all VueMinder Calendar's commands. It is split into a number of submenus for doing things like creating or opening items, changing the calendar view type, printing, backing up or restoring data, clipboard operations, modifying what is currently displayed, sharing calendars, adjusting program options, viewing recent reminders, and accessing additional help.
  2. Main Toolbar - The main toolbar provides button shortcuts to a number of commands that are also available on the main menu. You can customize the available toolbar commands by right-clicking the toolbar and selecting the Customize option. You can also hide this toolbar by right-clicking it and unchecking the "Main" option.
  3. Appearance Toolbar - This toolbar allows the selected calendar or event's appearance to be modified. You can change the font, colors, and gradient style to make each calendar or event visually unique. You can hide this toolbar by right-clicking it and unchecking the "Appearance" option.
  4. Month Navigation Pane - This are of the window allows quick navigation to different dates. It also shows dates with events in bold or the event color. You can resize the navigation pane by clicking its border and dragging to the desired size. The number of displayed months will adjust to fit the current size. You can also hide the navigation pane by unchecking the "Navigation Pane" option in the View menu.
  5. Calendar List - This is a list of defined calendars. Events can be assigned to a calendar when created. You can toggle the display of all events belonging to a calendar by checking or unchecking the calendar name in the list.
  6. Task List - This is a list of defined tasks. Completed tasks will be displayed in gray and crossed out. They can also be hidden. Overdue tasks will be displayed in bold red. You can also display tasks in the event list, depending on which you prefer. The task list can be hidden by unchecking the "Task List" option in the View menu.
  7. Clock - This clock shows the current time. It is turned off by default, but can be turned on by selecting the "Clock" option in the View menu.
  8. Status Bar - The Status Bar shows the current processing status and information about the selected calendar, such as the number of events it contains and the last time it was published or subscribed.
  9. Event List - This is a list of events and/or tasks. A date range can be specified, or the displayed items can be based on the currently displayed dates in the calendar view. This list supports row filtering and its contents can also be exported to Excel.
  10. Calendar View - This shows either a day, week, or month view of your events and tasks. You can switch between the three view types using the Day, Week, and Month buttons on the main toolbar.
  11. Details Pane - The Details Pane shows details of the currently selected event or task, such as it's starting and ending times, location, and description.


Some of the "free" online calendars don't seem to take my privacy seriously. Is VueMinder any different?

Yes, we are! In fact, we're about as different in this regard as it's possible to be. Our privacy policy is simple and one sentence long:

We don't collect, sell, or distribute any information about you.

Contrast this with some of the popular free online calendars. Read their privacy policy...we can guarantee it isn't one sentence long! In fact, you may be very surprised if you take the time to read the details, assuming you can translate the legalese and vague weasel wording. 

Have you ever heard the saying, "nothing in life is free"? Well, this is true of "free" online calendars too. Instead of paying with money, you're paying with your privacy. Which is more valuable to you? Every appointment you create can be used to build a profile about yourself, allowing marketeers to target you for specific advertising, among other things. The companies that provide these calendars are primarily in the business of selling advertising. Do you really think they provide free calendars because they're being nice or "not evil"?

Maybe this doesn't bother you, and that's fine. But if you're like us, you value your privacy and your right to schedule your personal and professional life without your information being used in ways you don't intend or approve of.


Why is all the help documentation online? How do I get offline help?

By placing the help documentation online, we're able to make additions or clarifications to the documentation without requiring new versions of VueMinder Calendar be released. This also significantly reduces the time required to download VueMinder Calendar and program updates.

If you're connected to the internet, you can click the Help button or press the F1 key to access the online help. The documentation corresponding with the current window will be displayed.

Context-sensitive help can be accessed using the Help button.

If you aren't sure what a certain field or control does, you can also access integrated help (regardless of internet connection) by clicking the Help button on the window's title bar.  This will convert the mouse cursor into a help cursor, and clicking on the control you're interested in will provide more detailed information about the control's intended use.

Integrated help is available by clicking the Help button on the title bar of most windows.

If you prefer to have offline help documentation, you can download and install VueMinder Calendar Help (click here). Note this works for the Pro version only. When VueMinder Calendar Pro detects the presence of offline help, it will display that help instead of the online help. Note that some features, such as the help search and submission of questions, won't work correctly through the offline help. You should also periodically download the latest help documentation, because it is constantly being updated as features are added or refined.


I have an older computer. Is there anything I can do to make VueMinder Calendar run faster?

VueMinder Calendar, with it's many user interface features and appearance settings, is designed to run best on newer computers. It will also run on older computers, but you may find it's slow at times.

If you see a noticeable delay when attempting to open an event or the calendar properties, it's likely you're running low on available RAM. To improve performance, try closing any other open applications you're not using, or better yet, install more RAM.

There are also some other things you can do to improve VueMinder Calendar's performance:

  • Turn off the Event List via the “List” button on the toolbar, or set the date range shown in the Event list smaller.
  • Turn off the Desktop Calendar from the View menu.
  • Switch to a different appearance theme from the Appearance Options menu, such as "Old School", which is simpler and works better with older video cards.
  • Turn off the analog clock from the View menu, or switch it to the digital version, which requires less processing to update since there's no seconds hand. 


Still have questions?

If your question isn't covered by the FAQ, please submit your question using the form below. We'll provide a response within 24 hours, and if your question could benefit others, we'll add it to the FAQ.





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System Requirements

Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 (32-bit, 64-bit)
Microsoft .NET 2.0

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