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VueMinder Calendar Help - Calendar Properties

Current as of Version 7.1.0

Overview

Each calendar of the Calendar List can have its properties individually modified.

• Tabs are provided for modifying the calendar's appearance, conflict handling, event defaults, sharing permissions, publish and/or subscribe settings, Outlook synchronization settings, and Google Calendar synchronization settings.
• Depending on the calendar's settings, some tabs may not be visible. For example, if the calendar is shared over the local network (via the Sharing tab), the Publish, Subscribe, Outlook, and Google Calendar tabs won't be shown.
• If the calendar is a shared calendar and you only have "Reader" access, all tabs except "Appearance" will be hidden because only the calendar owner can modify those other settings.
• To view or modify a calendar's properties, you can double-click the calendar in the Calendar List or use the Calendar Properties command from the Edit menu. The keyboard shortcut is F2.
• When you're done making changes, click the OK button to save. Or, if you'd like to discard the changes, click Cancel.
• You can delete the calendar by clicking the Delete button. You'll be prompted to confirm.

Overall Properties

Calendar Name

The calendar can be renamed. The name must be unique and non-blank. This name will appear in the Calendar List.

Calendar Group

A group can be specified for the calendar. Calendar groups are used in the Calendar List to group similar calendars. The assigned group can be modified by dragging and dropping the calendar in the Calendar List, or by specifying a group name in the Calendar Properties window. To select an existing group, use the drop-down button. To create a new group, type in the desired name.

Calendar Properties - Settings

Appearance

The calendar appearance can be modified. The specified appearance will be used when the View menu is set to color events based on assigned calendar. The calendar appearance can also be done using the Appearance Toolbar, or when editing an event belonging to the calendar, using the Event Editor. The appearance settings will be used by all new and existing events belonging to the calendar. Note that if the Appearance Option has been set to allow events to have individual custom appearances, any events that had their appearance customized will not be affected by changes on this screen unless the "Apply appearance settings to all events" box is checked.

• Font name/style - These controls allow the font, size, and style (bold, italic, underline) to be modified. The font size values are in points. The bold, italic, and underline styles can be toggled using the B, I, and U buttons, respectively.
• Font color - This is the font color. For this color property as well as the background colors, you can select either a custom color, web color, or system color using the appropriate tabs of the drop-down color control. You can also type in a color, such as "White". To define a custom color, right click on an empty color slot at the button of the Custom tab, as shown below:
  
  This will result in a Color dialog being displayed, where a custom color can be defined.
  
• Background colors - These are the background colors. You can select a primary background color as well as a secondary color. These will be blended together using the specified gradient style.
• Gradient style - This is the gradient style to be used in blending the two background colors. It also serves as a preview of how events belonging to the calendar will appear using the current settings. To select or preview other gradient styles, click the drop-down button.
  
• Override any customized event appearance settings - If you have enabled the Appearance Option to allow events to have individually customizable appearances (rather than using the calendar appearance), this checkbox allows you to override those customized appearance settings to match the settings made in this window for the calendar. If unchecked, the appearance settings will only be applied to events that have not previously been customized with their own appearance settings.

Event Conflict Handling

Each calendar can be individually configured for event conflict handling, allowing warnings to be displayed when events within the calendar, or in other calendars that have conflict handling enabled, are scheduled to occur at the same time or overlapping times. Two types of warnings are provided, and can be enabled or disabled using the checkboxes.

• The "Show a warning label in the Event Editor" check box will result in a warning label in the Event Editor if the event time conflicts with another. An example is shown below.
  
• The "Show a popup warning message when closing the Event Editor" check box will result in a more informative message appearing when the Event Editor is closed, if the conflicting event belongs to this calendar. The specific conflicting event(s) will be listed in the message.
  
  
• To completely disable event conflict warnings for an individual calendar, uncheck both boxes. To disable conflict warnings for ALL calendars, repeat this for each calendar.

Calendar  Properties - Event Defaults

Default event properties can be specified. These will be used when new events belonging to the calendar are created. The defaults can also be used when importing new events from iCalendar (ICS) files and Excel, if they don't include this data. For example, if you have a calendar whose events you'd like to default to sending email reminders 4 hours before the event starting time, you can specify this in the calendar properties. Any new events will automatically default to having this property. Each calendar can have its own event defaults. You can also make the current calendar's settings the defaults for any new calendars by checking the "Use these defaults for new calendars" box.

• Default length in Month View - This is the default event length to be used when creating a new event in the Month view. You can select a length from the list, or type in any length of time, from minutes to months. Events can also default to being all day.
• Category - This is the default category to be associated with new events belonging to this calendar. For example, if the calendar is intended to be used for birthdays, you could set the default category to "Birthday". Categories can be selected by clicking the drop-down button, or new categories defined using the "..." button. One or more categories can be selected.
• Priority -  This is the default priority to be assigned to new events belonging to this calendar. The priority can be selected from the drop-down list, or a new priority defined by clicking the "..." button.
• Default event actions - The actions entered here are the same as those entered in the Event Editor, but will be used by default whenever a new event belonging to the calendar is created. Properties for the following actions can be specified:
  • Show a popup reminder
  • Show a desktop alert
  • Send an email reminder
  • Send a text message reminder
  • Run a program

Calendar Properties - Sharing

Calendars can be shared over a local network, allowing the same calendar to be viewed or modified by multiple people, or from multiple computers. To share a calendar over the local network, check the "Share this calendar" box. If this is the first time you've shared a calendar, you may be asked to specify a location for shared data. Select a path that can be accessed from other computers on your local network. All computers sharing calendar data must be configured to use the same shared data location. This path can also be modified later from the Program Options window. After sharing a calendar, it can be added to the Calendar List on other computers by using the Add Shared Calendar From Local Network command, accessed from the File menu.

When the "Share this calendar" box is checked, the Publish, Subscribe, Outlook, and Google Calendar tabs will be removed, since those features are not compatible with calendars that are being shared over a local network. The calendar will default to being read-only for all people on the network. You can assign a different default permission for the "(Everyone)" identifier, or you can selectively assign user permissions to override the default. In the example above, an additional user was added with "Contributor" permission, meaning they can both view and modify the calendar. All other users can only view it.

To add a user permission, type the user name or select it from the drop-down list. The user name needs to match the windows login name of the user you're sharing with. After entering a valid user name, the "Add" button will become enabled. Click the "Add" button to add the user to the list below. If it's not easy to distinguish users based on login name, you can optionally enter a more descriptive name for the user in the "Name" cell, after clicking the Add button. To override the default permission level for the user, click the "Permission Level" cell, and select from the drop-down. The following permission levels are supported:

• Contributor - The user can add, remove, or modify events belonging to the calendar. Event colors and reminders can be changed and shared with other users. The user can also change the calendar's defaults for new events.

• Reader - The user can view events and add personal reminders, but those reminders are not shared with other users. The user can also change event colors, but changes are only on the local computer. Any other changes, such as modifying or deleting an event, will not be allowed.

• No Access - The user will not have any access to the calendar. If this is set as the default permission level, nobody else will be able to access the calendar unless overrides are added. If you login to multiple computers, you'll be able to access the shared calendar, but other users will not see it.

Calendar Properties - Publish

The Publish tab allows you to enter or modify the publishing settings for the calendar. Calendars are published using the Standard iCalendar (RFC 2445) Format. When publishing a calendar, the "Sharing" and "Google Calendar" tabs will be hidden, since those features are incompatible with published calendars.

Publish This Calendar

To publish a calendar, check the "Publish this calendar" box. To stop a calendar from being published, uncheck this box. Checking or un-checking this box will enable or disable the rest of the controls on the Publish Calendar window.

Publishing Location

A location to publish the calendar needs to be specified. This can be a web URL or a shared file on your local network. The name should end with ".ics", which is the file extension for iCalendar file types. When publishing to a shared or local file, you can use the "..." button to browse to the desired destination. Otherwise, the web URL will need to be typed or copied/pasted from your web browser.

Authentication

When publishing to a web URL that requires authentication, you'll need to check the "Server requires authentication" box. Enter your username. You can optionally enter your password and check the "Save password" box. If you choose to not save your password, you will need to manually enter your password when the calendar is published. Passwords are saved securely to the local drive using 256-bit encryption. VueMinder Calendar can also connect securely using the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) 3.0 or TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 protocols, when available. If you prefer to not use SSL due to connection speed issues, you can uncheck the SSL box.

Options

You can select the following options when publishing:

• Automatically publish changes - The calendar will be automatically published. You can choose to publish whenever a change is made, such as an event being added, removed, or modified. Or you can choose to publish automatically at a certain time of day. If VueMinder Calendar is not running when the time of day is reached, the calendar will be published the next time VueMinder Calendar runs.
• Publish reminders, appearances, and completions - The calendar will be published including reminder settings, event appearances, and completion status. This data is not part of the standard iCalendar format, and will be ignored by other programs.
• Do not publish events older than - You can decrease the size of the exported file, as well as the amount of time required to generate it, by excluding events older than a specified number of days.
• Convert event times to UTC - Depending on the location where your calendar is being published, your events may show the wrong local starting time. If this is the case, try turning off the option to convert events to UTC. Some web calendars support UTC, while others do not. Note, if this option is disabled and someone in a different time zone subscribes to your calendar, the event times won't be correctly converted to the local time zone.

You can also use the Publish Now button to immediately publish the calendar. Note that this is the same as commanding Sync Calendar from the Share menu.

Calendar  Properties - Subscribe

The Subscribe tab allows you to enter or modify the subscription settings for the calendar. You can subscribe to any calendar file that follows the Standard iCalendar (RFC 2445) Format. When subscribing to a calendar, the "Sharing" and "Google Calendar" tabs will be hidden, since those features are incompatible with subscribed calendars.

Subscribe to Calendar

To subscribe to a calendar, check the "Subscribe to calendar" box. To stop a calendar from being subscribed, uncheck this box. Checking or un-checking this box will enable or disable the rest of the controls on the Subscribe to Calendar window.

Subscription Location

A location of the calendar you wish to subscribe to needs to be specified. This can be a web URL or a shared calendar file on your local network. The name should end with ".ics", which is the common file extension for iCalendar file types. When subscribing to a shared or local file, you can use the "..." button to browse to the desired destination. Otherwise, the web URL will need to be typed or copied/pasted from your web browser. In the example below, the subscription is to a public Google calendar.

Authentication

When subscribing to a web URL that requires authentication, you'll need to check the "Server requires authentication" box. Enter your username. You can optionally enter your password and check the "Save password" box. If you choose to not save your password, you will need to manually enter your password whenever the calendar subscription is updated. Passwords are saved securely to the local drive using 256-bit encryption. VueMinder Calendar also connects securely using the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) 3.0 or TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 protocols, when available. If you prefer to not use SSL due to connection speed issues, you can uncheck the SSL box.

Options

You can select the following options when subscribing to a calendar:

• Update - The calendar subscription can be set to manually update, or automatically update every 5 minutes, 15 minutes, hour, day, or week.
• Include reminders, appearances, and completions - The calendar subscription will include reminder settings, if compatible with VueMinder Calendar. It will also include event appearances and completion status, which will most likely be present only when subscribing to a file that was published using VueMinder Calendar.

You can also use the Update Now button to immediately update the calendar subscription. Note that this is the same as commanding Sync Calendar from the Share menu.

Calendar Properties - Outlook

The Outlook tab allows you to setup automatic synchronization of the calendar with Microsoft Outlook, which can then synchronize with many mobile devices, such as iPhone and Blackberry. It can also sync with Yahoo Calendar.

• Outlook synchronization requires Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later. It is not compatible with Outlook Express.
• If synchronization is enabled, VueMinder Calendar will automatically sync the calendar with a calendar of the same name in Outlook, at the specified interval.
• You can also chose to immediately synchronize by clicking the "Synchronize Now" button.
• If you'd like to decrease the time required to synchronize calendars with Outlook, you can choose to exclude events older than a specified number of days from being synchronized.
• If a reminder has been dismissed in Outlook (or on a mobile device that syncs with Outlook), the reminder will also be automatically dismissed within VueMinder Calendar the next time the automatic Outlook sync occurs.
• The date and time of the most recent synchronization will be displayed.
• Due to limitations of Outlook, many of the advanced reminder and appearance settings of VueMinder Calendar will not be available when viewing the calendar from within Outlook.
  

Note: If you have an existing calendar in Outlook you'd like to synchronize with VueMinder Calendar, the easiest approach would be to first import the calendar, and then enable Outlook synchronization in the imported calendar's
properties.

Google Calendar

The Google Calendar tab allows a calendar to be synced with Google Calendar. Click the "Synchronize with Google Calendar" checkbox to add your local calendar to Google Calendar. To immediately command the sync, click the "Sync Now" button. The time of the last sync will be refreshed and shown below the Google Calendar sync settings. If the Calendar Properties window is closed without manually commanding the sync, the calendar will be automatically synced and you'll see your events in Google Calendar within a few seconds. Note, you may need to refresh the Google Calendar web page, if it was already open prior to the sync. 

Authentication

Before VueMinder Calendar can connect to your Google Calendar, authentication information is needed. Enter the username and password you use when logging into Google Calendar. If you choose to save your password, it will be encrypted and securely stored on your local computer. If a password isn't specified, the Connect to Server window will be displayed prior to syncing with Google Calendar.

Sync Frequency

A number of sync frequencies can be selected from the drop-down list. The default is "Automatically", which will result in a sync being performed only when an event change is detected and a sync is required for the selected sync direction. In other words, if the sync direction is "2-way", a sync will automatically happen whenever a change is made on the local computer or on Google Calendar. If you prefer a periodic sync, there are a number of frequency selections to choose from, such as "Every hour" or "Every day". Pick whichever best matches your needs.

Don't Sync Events Older Than...

To reduce the time required for syncing, especially when a large calendar is initially configure to sync with Google Calendar, the "Don't sync events older than" number can be adjusted. The smaller the number, the faster the sync will be, but the sync will exclude older events. If you don't care about syncing old events, this number can be set to something smaller, like 7 days. The default is 60 days.

Apply Event Defaults

When this box is checked, the default event settings specified on the Event Defaults tab will be applied to new events that are adding to VueMinder Calendar as a result of syncing with Google Calendar. In other words, if you add events to Google Calendar, you can use this option to automatically configure those events to show reminders in VueMinder Calendar.

Sync Direction

Three options are provided for the sync direction. Choose whichever option will best match the way you intend to modify your calendar. For example, if you need to modify the calendar from both VueMinder Calendar and Google Calendar, the "2-way" setting would be the best choice. Or, if you're just using Google Calendar to see your events, but intend to make all modifications from VueMinder Calendar, the "1-way VueMinder Calendar to Google Calendar" setting would be best.

• 1-way Google Calendar To VueMinder Calendar
• 1-way VueMinder Calendar to Google Calendar
• 2-way

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