Secrets of the iPod and iTunes (Fifth Edition) [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Working with Calendars

Now that you're more familiar with the underpinnings of calendars on your computer and iPod, you're all set to do something practical with them. In the following pages, I'll show you how to create calendars in common Macintosh and Windows applications and then move those calendars to your computer. I'll also reveal the steps for removing expired calendar events from your iPod.

Creating Calendars

Apple would have looked mighty foolish adding calendaring capabilities to the iPod without also providing Mac users a calendar application. It did so by releasing iCal, a free, basic calendar application that runs under Mac OS X 10.2 and later (including Mac OS X 10.3, Panther).

If you have a Mac that's incapable of running the last couple of iterations of Mac OS X, fear not; iCal isn't the only Macintosh application that's compatible with the iPod. Both Microsoft Entourage (part of Microsoft Office X and Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh) and Palm's Palm Desktop 4.x can also export iPod-compatible vCal files.

Windows users can create iPod-friendly calendar files, too. Unfortunately, they can't do it with an Apple application. Although iCal and the Windows iPod were announced in nearly the same breath and iTunes has recently been brought to the Windows platform, Apple didn't feel compelled to release a version of iCal for Windows. Fortunately, Windows users who have a copy of Microsoft Office will discover that Outlook can export calendar files that are compatible with the iPod, as can Palm's Palm Desktop 4.x.

iCal (Mac OS X 10.2 or later)

iCal allows you to import both vCal and iCalendar files. It exports only iCalendar files. (Its inability to export vCal files is no great loss to iPod owners, however, as the iPod can read both formats.)

I don't intend to give you a complete overview of iCal; I'll leave that to the author of Secrets of iCal. I will, however, offer you the basics, showing you how to create a calendar and make that calendar ready for transfer to your iPod. You'll start by creating an event (iCal's term for an appointment). Follow these steps:

1. If you're running Mac OS X 10.2 or later, download and install a copy of iCal, if you haven't already ([www.apple.com/ical]).

2. Launch iCal.

You'll see that the iCal window is divided into three panes: Calendars (where your individual calendars are listed), the main view (where you view your calendar by month, week, or day), and the To Do pane. The program also includes an Event Info drawer where you enter information such as the name, time, and the interesting details about a particular event (Figure 8.1).

3. Click the Home entry in the Calendars pane.

iCal ships with two calendars: Home and Work. (You can create additional calendars by clicking the plus-sign [+] button at the bottom of the iCal window.) Right now, though, you're going to add an event to the Home calendar.

4. Click the Week button at the bottom of the iCal window to switch to Week view.

You can use any view you like. I suggest using Week view because it illustrates one of the easiest ways to create an event.

5. Click and drag in a date column to create an event (Figure 8.2).

When you let go of your mouse, highlighted lettering appears within the event box.

6. Begin typing to name your event.

7. Rearrange the event to your satisfaction.

To move the event earlier or later in the day, for example, drag it to a new location. To move it to a different day, drag it to the day you desire. To adjust the length of the appointment, drag the top or bottom border of the event box.

8. Double-click inside the dark area at the top of your event to open the Event Info drawer (Figure 8.3).

Within this window, you can adjust the date and time of your event, switch on audio and visual alarms, determine how often the event repeats (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly), add invitees, and create notes.

Setting an iCal alarm to be visual-only has no bearing on how the iPod presents the alarm. When you configure the iPod to play an aural alarm (see the "Alarming Events" sidebar later in this chapter), the alarm will sound off even if you've created a visual-only alarm.

9. When the event is configured to your liking, feel free to create additional events.

10. To export your completed calendar, make sure that the Home calendar is still selected in the Calendars pane, and choose Export from the File menu.

11. In the resulting iCal: Export dialog box, select a destination for your calendar, give it a name, and click Export.

Your calendar is saved to the destination and ready to move to your iPod.

What's the Big To Do?

One feature introduced with the third-generation iPod is support for To Do itemslittle reminders, such as "shampoo the llama" and "burnish the banister," that you enter in your calendar application.

Getting To Do items onto your iPod is a cinch if you're using iCal and the iPod Software 2.0.1 Updater or later. Just run iSync, as I outline in Chapter 7, and your To Do items will be copied to the iPod. You can find To Do items on your iPod by following this path: Main Menu > Extras > Calendars > To Do. All the To Do items that have been copied to your iPod are listed in the To Do screen.

To view a To Do item, simply choose an item in the To Do screen and press the Select button. While viewing a To Do item, you can view another such item by pressing the iPod's Forward or Back button. Regrettably, there's no way to "tick off" a To Do item. If you've indicated the successful completion of a To Do item by checking it in iCal, however, when you next sync your iPod with your iCal calendars the words "Status: Completed" appear below the item in the iPod's To Do screen.

In Outlook, To Do items are called Tasks. Currently, Outlook doesn't give you a way to move Tasks directly into the To Do area of the iPod. But Mike Matheson's iPodSync and iPodSoft's iPod Agent (programs I mention in Chapter 7) will place Tasks in the To Do area on third- and fourth-generation iPods, iPod Photo, and the iPod mini.

Microsoft Entourage (Mac OS X)

Microsoft Entourage, the email client and personal information manager application included with Microsoft Office X and Microsoft Office 2004, offers less support for transportable calendar files than iCal does. Unlike iCal, Entourage doesn't allow you to export entire calendars; rather, you can export only single events (and not in a terribly intuitive fashion). Here's how it works:

1. Launch Entourage, and click the Calendar button.

2. Select Week view in the toolbar at the top of the window.

You can use any view you like. I suggest using Week view because it illustrates one of the easiest ways to create an event.

3. Click and drag in a date column to create an event (Figure 8.4).

When you let go of your mouse, a range of time is selected.

4. Double-click within this range to produce an untitled window where you can adjust the date and time of your event, schedule alarms, add notes, determine how often the event repeats, and add invitees (Figure 8.5).

5. Click the Save button at the top of the window to save your event and close the window.

To move the event earlier or later in the day, drag it to a new location. To move it to a different day, drag it to the day you desire. To adjust the length of the appointment, drag the bottom border of the event box.

Entourage offers no command for exporting calendars or events. To create a file for your event, you must drag it from your calendar to the Mac's Desktop or into a Finder window, where it turns into a .ics file.

The version of Entourage included in Microsoft Office 2001 doesn't support vCal or iCalendar files.

Palm Desktop 4.x (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)

Palm's free Palm Desktop offers vCal support in both the Mac OS 9 and OS X versions of the application, giving those who are using Apple's older operating system a chance to create calendars for their iPods. Regrettably, vCal files created with Palm Desktop don't display Notes or Invitees information on the iPod.

Creating calendars with both the Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X versions works the same way. Here's how to do it:

1. Download and install a copy of Palm Desktop ([www.palmone.com/us/software/desktop/ma68]).

2. Launch Palm Desktop, and select Date Book in the toolbar.

3. Click the Week tab in the Date Book window.

You can use any view you like. I suggest using Week view because it illustrates one of the easiest ways to create an event.

4. Click and drag in a date column to create an event (Figure 8.6).

5. In the resulting event window, name your event.

6. Double-click the event to open the Event window, where you can adjust the date and time of your event, schedule alarms, and determine how often the event repeats (Figure 8.7).

Unlike its counterparts in iCal and Entourage, the Palm Desktop Event window doesn't allow you to designate invitees or add notes to your event. Although you can add contacts and memos to a Palm Desktop event, that information doesn't transfer to the iPod. For this reason, if you use Palm Desktop, you should type notes and contact information after the name of the event.

7. Click OK after you've configured the event to your liking.

To move the event earlier or later in the day, drag it to a new location. To move it to a different day, drag it to the day you desire. To adjust the length of the appointment, drag the bottom border of the event box.

8. Move events, if you so desire.

You can move events out of Palm Desktop in two ways.

Simply drag the event to the Mac's Desktop or a Finder window. When you do, the event is saved as a vCal (.vcs) file.

Choose Export from Palm Desktop's File menu. In the Export: Palm Desktop dialog box, you'll have the opportunity to save your entire Date Book as a single vCal file. To do so, choose Date Book from the Module pop-up menu, All Datebook Items from the Items pop-up menu, and vCal from the Format pop-up menu (Figure 8.8). Then name your file and click the Export button.

iCal: The Easier Way

Given that iCal is a snap to use and that you can use it to export entire calendars to your iPod, why shouldn't Mac users abandon these other applications and use iCal exclusively?

You may be reluctant to do so because all your appointments are already in Entourage or Palm Desktop. Or you may prefer the additional features of these other applications.

Far be it for me to muck with the way you organize your life, but may I suggest that if you intend to use your iPod extensively as your mobile calendar-keeper, you consider switching to iCaleven if only as a conduit for moving data from the other applications to your iPod? If you employ iCal (and Apple's device-synchronization application, iSync), you will find it much easier to move both your contacts and calendars on and off your iPod.

Moving appointments from Entourage and Palm Desktop to iCal is not difficult. Here's how:

Entourage.
To import calendar events into iCal from Entourage, choose Import from iCal's File menu. In the resulting Import dialog box, you'll see the Import Entourage Data option. Select this option, and click Import (Figure 8.9).

If it isn't already open, Entourage will launch, appearing as the frontmost application. A progress window appears as events and tasksEntourage's term for To Do itemsare brought into iCal. When iCal is finished, you'll find your imported data in the Entourage calendar that's now listed in iCal's Calendars pane.

Palm Desktop.
Now you know that you can export events in Palm Desktop's Date Book as a single vCal file. Do so. When you have the exported file in hand, launch iCal, and choose Import from the File menu. Select the Import a vCal File option, and in the resulting dialog box, navigate to the vCal file you exported from Palm Desktop. The data in the vCal file will be imported into the currently selected calendar.

Outlook (Windows)

Microsoft's ubiquitous Outlook supports both vCal and iCalendar files, though not all the information you enter in an Outlook appointment will appear on your iPod. Here's the Windows way:

1. Launch Outlook, and click the Calendar button.

2. Choose any view you like, right-click the date you want to add an event to, and choose Add Appointment from the contextual menu.

3. In the resulting Untitled-Appointment window (Figure 8.10), adjust the day and time of your appointment, schedule alarms, and determine how often the event repeats (by clicking the Recurrence button).

Although Outlook has a couple of places where it appears that you can include invitees in your appointment, those invitees will not appear in the calendar item on your iPod.

4. When the appointment is configured to your satisfaction, save and close the appointment.

In Day and Work Week view, you can alter the date and time of your event by dragging the event. To move the event earlier or later in the day, drag it to a new location. To move it to a different day, drag it to the day you desire. To adjust the length of the appointment, drag the top or bottom border of the event box.

5. Click an appointment, and choose Save As from the File menu.

6. In the resulting Save As dialog box, choose iCalendar Format from the Save As Type pop-up menu, name your file, and click Save (Figure 8.11).

Why not save your file in the vCalendar format that's also offered in this pop-up menu? For good reason. If you save your Outlook appointment as a vCal file, the alarms don't work on the iPod. Appointments saved in the iCalendar format broadcast their iPod alarms as they should.

And as tempting as it may be to pretend that you're using a Mac and drag an Outlook appointment to the Desktop, don't bother. If you do, you'll create an Outlook file that your iPod can't read.

Palm Desktop 4.x (Windows)

Palm Desktop 4.x for Windows works much the same way as the Macintosh version. Where it differs is in its capability to include notes that the iPod can read and in its incapability to transfer working alarms to the iPod. Here's how to set it up:

1. Download and install Palm Desktop ([www.palm.com/software/desktop]).

2. Launch Palm Desktop, and click the Calendar button.

3. Click the Week tab in the Date Book window.

You can use any view you like. I suggest using Week view because it illustrates one of the easiest ways to create an event.

4. Click and drag in a date column to create an event.

5. In the resulting event window, name your event.

6. Double-click the event to open the Edit Event window.

In the General tab, you can adjust the date and time of your event and schedule alarms (Figure 8.12).

To schedule repeating events, click the Repeat tab, and specify how often you want the event to repeat. To add a note to your event, click the Note tab, and type your text (Figure 8.13).

As in the Macintosh version of the program, you can't attach invitees to events and expect them to appear within a calendar event on your iPod.

7. When you've finished editing your event, click OK.

To move the event earlier or later in the day, drag it to a new location. To move it to a different day, drag it to the day you desire. To adjust the length of the appointment, drag the triangle that appears at the bottom of the event.

8. To export your event, select it and choose Export vCal from the File menu.

9. In the resulting Export As dialog box, name your file, and click Export.

As I hinted earlier, the vCal files exported from Palm Desktop for Windows don't create alarms that work on the iPod. Regrettably, unlike Outlook, Palm Desktop can't save events as .ics files (which play alarms correctly).

Alarming Events

With all this talk of alarms, you may wonder exactly how event alarms work on your iPod. (Alarms associated with the iPod's alarm-clock function are a completely separate kettle of carp; we're discussing strictly alarms associated with calendar events.) Allow me to reveal all.

To begin with, if you expect your iPod to play or display alarms, you have to tell it to do so. The means for communicating your desire is the Alarms entry. On iPods running iPod Software 2.0 Updater or later, you'll find this entry in the iPod's Calendars area (which you find by following this path: Main Menu > Extras > Calendars > Alarms). If you have a first- or second-generation iPod, you'll find Alarms in the Settings screen.

The Alarms entry has three settings: Off, Silent, and On/Beep (it's called On on the earlier iPods and Beep on third- and fourth-generation iPods, iPod Photo, and the iPod mini). You cycle through these settings by selecting Alarms and repeatedly pressing the Select button. By default, Alarms are set to On/Beep. This means that your alarm will beep and display an alarm message. (This message won't disappear until you press the Select button.) Note, however, that this beep emerges from inside the iPod and is not played through the iPod's sound port.

That's why the displayed alarm message doesn't go away until you press Select. Should you miss the aural alert, a single glance at the iPod's active display will tell you that an alarm has gone off. ( Don't worryalert messages won't keep your iPod awake and, thus, deplete your battery. If you haven't dismissed the alarm message when the iPod goes to sleep, it will appear onscreen when you next awaken your iPod.)

When you select Silent in the Alarms screen, your iPod won't emit its little beep to alert you when an alarm event occurs. Instead, the iPod displays the alert message only. This is a good option to choose if you take your iPod to places where a shrillish alarm would be unappreciated (movie theaters, restaurants, and church services, for example).

And the Off alarm setting tells the iPod to pay no mind to alarms attached to your calendar events.

Note that the iPod mini's alarm sound is pretty quiet in comparison to the alarm on the white iPods. Unless the mini is close by, you're likely to miss the sound.

Manually Transferring Calendars to the iPod

Now that you have all these calendar files, you should do something useful with them. To add them to your iPod manually, follow these steps:

1. Plug your iPod into your computer, and wait for it to mount.

The iPod icon will appear on the Mac's Desktop or in Windows' My Computer window.

2. Double-click the iPod icon, and keep an eye peeled for the Calendars folder (Figure 8.14).

3. Drag your calendar files to this Calendars folder.

4. Unmount your iPod, and unplug it.

5. When the main screen appears, scroll down to Extras, press Select, scroll to the Calendar entry, and press Select again.

If you've moved multiple iCal calendars to your iPod, the screen you see will contain a list of those calendars (Home, Work, and Billy's Aussie Rules Football Schedule, for example). Scroll to the calendar you want to view, and press Select. In the next window, you'll see an overview of the current month. Those days that include events will be marked with a single black dot. (Days that contain multiple events don't display multiple dots.)

If your iPod doesn't contain multiple calendars, when you press Select with the Calendars item highlighted, you'll be taken directly to the screen that displays the overview of the current month.

6. To view the appointments on a particular day, scroll to the date of the appointment, and press Select.

In the next window, a list of appointments for that day appears.

7. Scroll to the appointment you want to view, and press Select again.

The details of that appointment are displayed in the iPod's Event screen.

If you want to dash from month to month, it's easy to do if you're running the iPod Software 1.3 Updater on a first- or second-generation iPod or using a third- or fourth-generation iPod, iPod Photo, or iPod mini. Just select a calendar and press the Forward or Back button to move ahead or back a month, respectively.

Manually Removing Calendars from the iPod

Unless you make a habit of alienating your business associates, friends, and family members, you probably don't need to remove contacts from your iPod routinely. Calendar items, on the other hand, are a different story. That lunch you had with your cousin last March 28th is now a dim memory (except for the fact that he stuck you with the check again) and could easily be expunged from your iPod's memory.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Plug your iPod into your computer, and wait for it to mount.

The iPod icon will appear on the Mac's Desktop or in Windows' My Computer window.

2. Double-click the iPod icon, and keep an eye peeled for the Calendars folder.

3. Open the Calendars folder, and drag the appropriate vCal or .ics file out of the folder (and into the Trash or Recycle Bin, if you like; Figure 8.15).

The events associated with that file no longer appear on your iPod.

Before you remove one of these files, bear in mind that if a vCal or .ics file contains multiple events, trashing that file might obliterate both past and future appointments. It's always a good idea to know exactly what a file contains before trashing it. One way to avoid doing The Bad Thing is to update your calendar on your computer and then replace the calendar file on your iPod with an updated version. (Apple's iSync and some Windows utilities I discuss later can do this for you.)

You needn't worry that a load of calendars is going to overburden your iPod. Even if you're very busy, a year full of appointments and notes will create a calendar file far smaller than a single four-minute AAC file. For this reason, you may choose to keep your old appointments on your iPod, which can come in handy at tax time, when you're tallying the past year's entertainment and travel expenses.

Automatically Transferring Calendars to the iPod

The manual methods for moving calendars on and off your iPod are hardly backbreaking, but why bother dragging files out of applications and into folders when a utility can do the job for you? Such utilities are available for users of both Mac and Windows iPods.

iSync (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)

As much as I'd love to offer you a thicker book by reprinting the iSync material from Chapter 7, I'd feel guilty knowing that a few more trees met a pulpy end because of it. On the other hand, I hate to force you to flip back and forth from chapter to chapter, should you have read Chapter 7 when you were particularly sleepy. With that in mind, allow me to refresh your memory by providing these short-and-sweet instructions for using iSync to move iCal calendar events to your iPod:

1. Launch iSync.

2. If your calendars aren't in iCal, import them, using the methods I described earlier.

3. Mount your iPod.

4. If the iPod doesn't appear in iSync, add it by choosing the Add Device command from iSync's File menu.

5. Click the iPod's icon in the iSync window.

6. Make sure that the Contacts check box is checked and that you've selected the calendars you want to place on your iPod (Figure 8.16).

7. Click the Sync Now button.

Other and iCal

iCal provides a unique advantage for iPod owners who use a Macthe iPod can display your calendars in individual screens. It's like this:

If you're using a dockable iPod, an iCal file appears as a separate entry in the Calendars screen and bears that calendar's nameHome, for example. These iPod models also let you view all your information in one calendar called All, accessible from the Calendars screen. Earlier iPod models consolidate all calendars, regardless of the originating application, into a single calendar.

On dockable iPods, vCal files and iCalendar files created in an application other than iCal are jammed into a single calendar named Other. A note for Mac users: If you have an iPod with a dock connector, and you want to display your individual calendars separately, you can import your calendars into iCal and then save them to your iPod. (Windows users don't have this option; they'll find all their calendars under the Other heading.)

Windows utilities

Yes, I gave away the plot for these utilities in Chapter 7 as well. Most of the Windows utilities I mention that allow you to move your Outlook contacts to the iPod easilyiPodSync, iPod Agent, iAppoint, Outpod, and EphPodcan also transfer Outlook calendar events to your iPod. Try 'em and see!