Easy Mac OS X Lion - Kate Binder [31]
Click the Day, Week, Month, or Year button at the top of the iCal window to switch views.
Click the Calendars button to see a list of your calendars.
Click the check box next to each calendar to show or hide its appointments and to-do items.
Click the Today button to return to viewing today.
* * *
Tip: Customizing Day and Week Views
Choose iCal, Preferences to set the number of days displayed in Week view and choose on which day the week should start. You can also choose how many hours are shown in Day view and set start and end times for the day.
* * *
Setting Up an Alert in iCal
If you want to be reminded before an appointment, you can set up an alert that will get your attention to let you know the appointment is coming up. iCal alerts take several forms: displaying a dialog box, displaying a dialog box and playing a sound, sending an email, or opening a specified file.
Double-click the appointment to which you want to add an alert.
Click Edit.
Click the alert pop-up menu and choose an alert type; then specify a sound, a file, or an email address to use, if necessary.
Set the time for the alert to appear and then click Done.
* * *
Tip: Hitting the Snooze Button
iCal alerts do have a snooze button—click the small button with the circular arrow in the alert dialog box and choose a time interval to snooze the alert. You can snooze an alert for as little as a minute, a couple of hours, or a day.
* * *
Inviting Contacts to Events in iCal
If you use Apple’s Mail as your email program, you can invite people to scheduled events right from iCal, and even update information about the event as it gets closer. You’ll just need to know the email addresses of the people you want to invite to your event.
Double-click the appointment to which you want to invite others and then click Edit.
Click Add Invitees.
Click next to invitees and type the names or email addresses of the people you want to invite; iCal inserts email addresses for names that are in the Address Book.
Click Done to send email invitations.
* * *
Note: Separate Names
To invite more than one person to an event, type a comma after each name before you type the next name. Otherwise, iCal isn’t sure where one name ends and the next begins.
* * *
* * *
Tip: Getting People in the Door
Another way to add people to the attendees list for an event is to choose Window, Address Panel and drag names from the list to the event’s listing in the calendar.
* * *
Putting Contacts, Bookmarks, and Calendars Online
If you have a MobileMe membership, you can sync your contact information, web bookmarks, calendars, and other information between two computers—or more. You can also access this information from the web when you’re using a computer that’s not synced up, such as a public terminal or a friend’s PC.
Choose Apple menu, System Preferences.
In System Preferences, click MobileMe.
Click the Sync tab and check the boxes for the items you want to sync.
Choose a frequency option from the pop-up menu and click Sync Now.
* * *
Tip: In Touch Anywhere
To see your information using a web browser on any computer, go to www.me.com and log in using your MobileMe name and password. Then click one of the links on the left side of the page, such as Address Book.
* * *
* * *
Note: Seeing Double
If you’re using the same iCal calendar on two or more Macs, you’ll receive duplicate event reminders. That’s fine if the reminder is a simple dialog box. But if you use duplicate email reminders, it can be a bit annoying.
* * *
Searching Calendars in iCal
You know you put Aunt Blanche’s birthday in iCal, but you can’t even remember the month, much less the day. Never fear: iCal will find the date for you. Just search for “Blanche,” and your