Tips & Tricks

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Tips & Tricks

VueMinder is packed with features. If you aren't inclined to read the full help documentation (and who is?), you can still quickly learn how to use VueMinder to its full potential by reading the following tips and tricks.

Events, Tasks, and Notes

• Events, tasks, and notes can be quickly duplicated by using the Copy and Paste commands from the Edit menu. The keyboard shortcuts are Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste. Learn more...
• You can easily reassign an item to a different calendar via the right-click context menu. Learn more...
• You can easily prioritize and categorize an item via its right-click context menu. Learn more...
• You can type in any valid start time, end time, or duration for an event or task. You're not limited to the choices available in the drop-down lists. Learn more...
• You can specify a recurrence pattern for an event by using the 'Recurrence' tab in the Event Editor window. Learn more...
• To see occurrence numbers for events belonging to a recurring series, use the 'Show occurrence number' setting on the Recurrence tab of the Event Editor. Learn more...
• To see a list of all events, tasks, and notes on a certain date, hover the mouse cursor over that date in the Navigation Pane. Learn more...
• Items can be added without even needing to display the main VueMinder window by right-clicking the VueMinder icon in the Windows task tray and selecting a command from the 'New' submenu. Learn more...
• By default, events and tasks are automatically marked as completed when their associated reminder is dismissed. You can disable this from the Reminder Options window. Learn more...
• The default calendar for new events, tasks, and notes will be indicated with an arrow in the Calendar List. To make a different calendar the default, simply click it. Learn more...
• You can define default settings for new events through the Calendar Properties window. You can also define the default settings to be used when new calendars are created. Learn more...
• You can use the 'Run a Program' action in the Event Editor or Task Editor to schedule any application to run at the event's starting time. Learn more...
• When a repeating task is completed, even if it's late, the next due date can be automatically calculated based on the current completion date or original due date. Learn more...

Contacts and Distribution Lists

• When a contact's birthday or anniversary is entered on the Contact Editor window, you can use the buttons at the top of the Contact Editor to easily add the birthday or anniversary to your calendar. Learn more...
• Right-click a contact or distribution in the List view to send events via email or initiate a new meeting request to the selected contact(s). Learn more...
• You can send text messages directly from VueMinder by right-clicking a contact or distribution list and then selecting the 'New Text Message' command. Learn more...
• The 'Group/Folder' field of the Contact Editor can be used to group contacts. These groups can then be used when defining the recipients for reminders or meeting requests. Learn more...

Reminders

• VueMinder provides two visual reminder types, a popup reminder window and a smaller desktop alert. Try them both to see which you prefer. Learn more...
• By default, the popup reminder window will combine any active reminders into a single window. You can display reminders in separate windows by changing a Reminder Option. Learn more...
• The initial size and location of the popup reminder window can be controlled through the Reminder Options window. Learn more...
• The popup reminder window can be made to display above all other windows. To toggle this behavior, use the checkbox at the bottom of the reminder window. Learn more...
• You can type in any snooze length on the popup reminder window. You're not limited to the snooze selections available from the drop-down list. Learn more...
• If you accidentally dismiss a reminder, you can redisplay it by selecting the reminder from the Recent Reminders window. The most recent reminders will be listed at the top of the window. Learn more...
• If you snooze a reminder and want to change how long it was snoozed, you can redisplay the reminder by selecting it from the Recent Reminders window, and then re-snooze it as needed. Learn more...
• If you get a popup reminder for an event that is no longer applicable, you can delete the event right from the reminder window by selecting the 'Delete' command from the Open button's menu. Learn more...
• By default, reminders won't be displayed for events and tasks that have been marked as completed. You can change this through the Reminder Options window. Learn more...
• If you accidentally dismiss a reminder, you can undo the dismissal by selecting the Undo command on the Edit menu. Learn more...
• Desktop alerts can be set to automatically snooze after being displayed for a certain amount of time. Learn more...
• You can specify any combination of reminder types for an event. For example, you can have both a popup reminder display as well as an email notification. Learn more...
• If you're away from your computer and still want to get reminders, use the email, text message, or voice reminder types. Learn more...
• The BCC setting can be used to hide the email addresses of additional recipients when email reminders are sent. Learn more...
• You can force VueMinder to always send email reminders in plain text mode (instead of HTML) by selecting plain text as the message format. Learn more...
• You can embed a web page within a popup reminder. For example, if you have a reminder to pay a bill online, you can have your bank's web page included within the reminder. Learn more...
• You can send email and text message reminders to other people by adding them to the Recipients tab. Learn more...
• Sending text message reminders from VueMinder is free, but additional charges from your mobile carrier may apply. Learn more...
• If you publish or share a calendar with reminders, but don't want to see a reminder yourself, you can uncheck the 'Show reminder to event creator' setting in the Event Editor. Learn more...
• The popup reminder window can be set to play media for a reminder. The media can be either audio or video. Audio can even be combined with a picture. Learn more...
• The popup reminder window can recite the content of the reminder, using text-to-speech synthesis. Learn more...

Calendar Sharing

• You can quickly add holidays by using the 'Add Public Calendars and Holidays' command from the File menu. Learn more...
• Calendar subscriptions can be created from calendars on the web, from a shared folder on your computer, or from your local network. Learn more...
• To synchronize all shared calendars, press the F5 key or select the 'Sync All' command from the Share menu. Learn more...
• A calendar can be shared over your local network by enabling the 'Share this calendar' setting on the Calendar Property window's Sharing tab. Learn more...
• Calendars can be published either to the web, to a shared folder on your computer, or to your local network. Learn more...
• You can control user permissions for a calendar you're sharing by overriding the 'Everyone' setting on the Sharing tab of the Calendar Properties window. Learn more...
• If you use Google Calendar, you can automatically synchronize your calendars between Google Calendar and VueMinder by enabling Google Sync on the Calendar Properties window. Learn more...
• Calendars and events can be sent to others via email by right-clicking and selecting the 'Send Via Email' command. Learn more...
• When publishing to a web calendar that does not support local time zones, uncheck the UTC option in the Publishing settings for the calendar. Learn more...
• When publishing or sharing a calendar with reminders, you can control which people will see the reminders by entering their Windows user names in the Event Editor. Learn more...
• You can include appearance and reminder settings when exporting to iCalendar files, but this information will be ignored by other calendar programs. Learn more...
• You can import an iCalendar (.ics) file into VueMinder by double-clicking the file. This can be done regardless of whether VueMinder is already running. Learn more...

Excel and Outlook

• If you use Outlook, you can automatically synchronize your calendars between Outlook and VueMinder by enabling Outlook Sync on the Calendar Properties window. Learn more...
• Calendars can be exported to iCalendar files, Excel, or Outlook. To export a calendar, right-click the calendar name and then select the Export command. Learn more...
• You can export your calendars to Outlook, but to keep them synchronized, use the automatic Outlook Sync setting in the Calendar Properties instead. Learn more...
• When exporting to Excel, you don't need to save as an Excel spreadsheet. You can choose to save as a different file type, such as XML, HTML, or plain text. Learn more...
• Events can be imported from Excel, csv, and tab-delimited text files using a minimum of 3 columns: 'Title', 'Start', and 'End'. Use a 'Calendar' column to import events belonging to multiple calendars. Learn more...
• You can import events, tasks, and notes from iCalendar files, Excel, ics, text files, and Outlook. To import, right-click in the Calendar List and select the Import command. Learn more...

Interface Customization

• The appearance of a calendar or event can be easily modified by using the Appearance toolbar. Learn more...
• You can change the first day of the week through the Calendar Options window. Learn more...
• You can resize the area of the Navigation Pane to make more months display, or to make the displayed months better fit if there is empty space. Learn more...
• You can compress the display of weekends in the Month View by selecting the 'Compress Weekends' option from the Month View Settings menu. Learn more...
• You can display the month and day number for each date in the Month View by selecting the 'Show Full Dates' option from the Month View Settings menu. Learn more...
• If you don't want a calendar shown on your Windows Desktop, you can turn if off by unchecking the 'Desktop Calendar' option in the 'View' menu. Learn more...
• You can customize the menu and toolbars by right-clicking the menu and selecting the 'Customize' command. Keyboard shortcuts can also be assigned for most menu commands. Learn more...
• The Day, Week, Month, Year, Timeline, and List tabs can be dragged and dropped within the main window to create a customized layout. You can also have simultaneous views, such as Day and Month. Learn more...
• You can free more screen space for the calendar view by using VueMinder's auto-hide feature on areas of the main window that you don't need to see all the time. Learn more...
• You can customize the layout of the main window by dragging and docking each pane of the main window to a different location. Learn more...
• You can change the visual look and feel of VueMinder by selecting a different theme from the Appearance Options window. Learn more...
• If you don't like the appearance of the desktop calendar, you can select a different theme by clicking the Theme button in the upper-right corner of the desktop calendar window. Learn more...
• You can display two simultaneous time zones side-by-side in the Day and Week views by enabling a secondary time zone on the Calendar Options window. Learn more...
• VueMinder provides both analog and digital versions of a clock. You can display the clock by selecting the 'Clock' option from the View menu. Learn more...
• You can customize the columns shown in the Event and Task Lists by clicking the 'Columns' button and selecting the columns you'd like to see. Learn more...
• You can rearrange the column order of the Event and Task Lists by dragging column headers to the desired locations. Learn more...
• You can group rows based on value, such as Category, by enabling the 'Show Group By Box' setting in the List view, and then dragging a column to this box. Learn more...
• If you have customized the layout of the main window but want to reset it back to the factory default, use the 'Reset Window Layout' command from the Window menu. Learn more...
• If you're satisfied with the layout of the main window, you make more space for the window contents by unchecking the 'Show Dockable Pane Titles' option on the Window menu. Learn more...

Calendar and Event Appearance

• The Navigation Pane will color-code any dates containing events. The color will be set to the first visible event on that date. Learn more...
• The tabs of the Calendar Items area enable you to switch between displaying event colors based on the associated calendar, category, priority, and location. Learn more...
• To quickly access a calendar's properties, double-click the calendar in the Calendar List. This also works for categories, priorities, and locations. Learn more...
• Events can have their appearances individually modified after enabling this feature on the Appearance Options window. Learn more...

Calendar View

• You can show or hide all events belonging to a calendar by toggling the calendar's checkbox in the calendar list. Learn more...
• Events can be quickly rescheduled by dragging and dropping them to a different date or time slot. Learn more...
• Completed events can be automatically hidden by selecting the 'Hide Completed Events' option on the View menu. Learn more...
• Each view type has additional settings, such as the number of days or weeks displayed, which can be accessed from the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the view. Learn more...
• If you can't see an event's entire title in the Month view, hover the cursor over the event. A tooltip will be displayed with the event's details, including the event's description and reminder status. Learn more...
• The List view provides many advanced features, such as customizable filtering criteria and the ability to export the contents of the list to Excel. Learn more...

Keyboard Shortcuts

• You can quickly go to any date by pressing Ctrl+G, or selecting the 'Go To Date' command from the Go menu. Learn more...
• You can press the F1 key on any VueMinder window to get detailed help for that window. Learn more...
• You can assign a global hotkey to quickly view the main VueMinder window. The hotkey can be set on the Program Options window. Learn more...
• To quickly search for an event, task, note, or contact, press Ctrl+F. The List View will display all matching items that contain your search text. Learn more...

Other Tips

• Click the 'Auto Preview' button on the Print window to see how the output will appear as the various print layouts and settings are adjusted. Learn more...
• You can prevent accidental data loss by enabling the automatic data backup feature from the File menu. Learn more...
• A Configuration Wizard helps guide you through the steps of setting up VueMinder the first time it runs. If you'd like to repeat the wizard, it's available from the File menu. Learn more...
• If you're wondering how something works, a FAQ is available. Click the 'Frequently Asked Questions' command on the Help menu to view the FAQ. Learn more...
• VueMinder will run when Windows starts. This setting can be disabled from the Program Options window. Learn more...
• When the VueMinder window is closed, VueMinder will continue to run in the background. To fully exit VueMinder, select the 'Exit' command from the task tray icon. Learn more...
• VueMinder auto-saves whenever a change is made. If your system loses power or shuts down unexpectedly, you won't lose any data. Learn more...