iCal Symbols and Icons

Small symbols and icons sometimes appear in the title bar of iCal events, and also in the Notifications box. This is iCal's way of providing visual clues for you about the event. A quick glance at these tiny icons can tell you which events have an alarm set, which events have attendees invited, which events have received responses from attendees, and more.

The people icon means you've added one or more people to the attendees list in the iCal drawer, but you haven't sent the invitations yet.

An exclamation point next to the people icon means the event needs updating. You've made changes to the event but haven't notified the attendees.

An ellipsis next to the people icon means you've received mixed responses from attendeesAccept, Refuse, or Tentative.

A checkmark next to the people icon means all of the people invited to the event have "accepted" the invitation. A checkmark by itself means the one person invited has accepted.

A circle with a line though it means "cancelled." When you delete an event to which people have been invited, the window on the right opens so you can notify the attendees that the event is cancelled. Or choose to just delete.

A diagonal upward arrow in the title bar of an event means iCal has sent invitations to the event, but none of the invitees have replied.

A diagonal downward arrow in an event's title bar means an incoming email message has arrivedeither a response to an event invitation you sent, a new invitation from someone else, or an updated invitation from someone else.

A notepad means that comments have been added to the event's Notes field in the Info drawer.

An alarm bell means one or more alarms have been set for the event.

Multiple small boxes means the event has been set (in the Info drawer) as a "recurring" event.

A question mark means the invitees response is tentative, or undecided.

An X means declined. If the "x" is next to an attendee name in the Info drawer, it means that person has declined. If the "x" is in the event's title bar, it means that all invitees have declined.