Section 97. Create an iCal Event


97. Create an iCal Event

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

25 Set the Time and Date


SEE ALSO

98 Subscribe to a Shared iCal Calendar

100 Synchronize Your Information Using .Mac


It's one of the great modern ironies: As you work with your Mac in a business or home environment, your time will likely become still more of a precious resource than it was beforeeven though computers are supposed to be time- saving devices! Inevitably, you'll need a way to manage your time in a more elegant and automatic fashion than simply relying on your memory or Post-It notes.

iCal, Apple's calendaring system, is engineered to be a hassle-free and intuitive way to schedule important events in your life and notify you when they're approaching so that you never have to miss an appointment or meeting.

1.
Launch iCal

Navigate to the Applications folder in the Finder and double-click the iCal icon. Alternatively, click the iCal icon in the Dock.

97. Create an iCal Event


NOTE

iCal's icon in the Dock dynamically updates to reflect the current date. Because the automatic update happens only while iCal is running, you might choose to leave iCal running at all times to keep the display accurate, if your computer has the resources to spare.

2.
Select the Time for the New Event

iCal opens into the Week view, showing you each day in the current week as a column, with the hours of the day shown as horizontal lines. Create a new event by clicking on the day and time when the event starts, and dragging to the point where the event ends. In this example, I've dragged into existence an event that starts on Thursday at 1:00 and ends at 3:45.

3.
Name the Event

The name for the new event is selected so that you can immediately type a new descriptive name. Press Return when you've done this; the new event is registered in iCal.

4.
Set an Alarm for the Event

Click the Info button in the lower-right corner of the iCal window to open the information drawer for the new event. Set an alarm for the event by clicking the up/down arrows to access the alarm drop-down list. You can select from a number of different types of alarms, from a simple pop-up message on your screen a specified number of minutes or hours before or after the event, to a message with a sound effect, or even an email message sent to an address of your choice from your card in Address Book.

NOTE

iCal doesn't have to be running for it to send you alarms when your events approach. Feel free to set up your events and then quit iCal; your alarms will appear as scheduled whether iCal is running or not.

Click the various parts of the specification to the right of the alarm label to configure the alarm to your exact preferences.

5.
Respond to the Alarm

When the alarm goes off, if you've set it to pop up a message before the event, you will be given options to close the window, reschedule the alarm to go off again in a few minutes, or examine the event.

TIP

Your upcoming iCal appointments are shown in the Date & Time System Menu (click the time display in the upper-right corner of the screen to see them).

6.
Create a To Do Item

Another kind of scheduled item in iCal is a To Do item. These are not scheduled events, but rather free-form notes to yourself that relate to tasks you have to accomplish. A To Do item doesn't have to have a due date associated with it, but it can; you can also ( optionally ) assign a priority level that helps you sort your To Do items according to their importance.

Click the thumbtack button in the lower-right corner of the iCal window to show the To Do list. To create a new To Do item, double-click anywhere in the To Do list pane. A new item named New To Do appears, and you can immediately type in a more descriptive name for the item.

TIP

Click the Info button in the lower-right corner of the iCal window to open the information drawer; for To Do items, this drawer lets you set the priority or due date for a To Do item, as well as a few other options.




MAC OS X Tiger in a Snap
Mac OS X Tiger in a Snap
ISBN: 0672327066
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2001
Pages: 212
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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