iCal nits and picks

How to get the most out of iCal on 10.5 and 10.6

 

iCal automaticaly puts events on the wrong page!

This is a screenshot from 10.5, but 10.6 is very similar. If iCal is set to automatically retrieve invitations from Mail, it puts them on the top-most calendar. This is frequently a non-shared calendar (such as Home), and those calendars can’t be moved or made non-primary. You have two options: 1) Disable the feature in iCal to automatically retrieve invitations from mail and drag the ical attachment in the message to the correct calendar; 2) Delete your Home calendar, and, if needed, add another Calendar (but keep this one private, if you wish) on your Calendar server.

iCal takes a LONG time to start up/sync

If your iCal takes a long time to start up or sync, asking iCal to Delete events x days after they have passed, the sync time will speed up dramatically. If 30 days is too short, set it for anything, such as 60 or 90 days. This way it doesn’t have to sync events so far in the past. If you really need to save your calendar for future reference, Export the calendar and then re-import it to a local (non-server-synced) calendar after you have deleted the events. And if you don’t want to do this automatically, set yourself a reminder in iCal do do this once a quarter.

How do I change the COLOR of my various calendars?

This one has a strange solution. If it’s a calendar you control, meaning it’s a calendar you created and it resides on your iCal, or you subsribed to it, just Get Info on the calendar and change the color. If you aren’t the owner of the calendar (meaning it is a calendar you see but it’s based on a Caldav server), ask the owner of that calendar to change it. Once that is done, quit iCal and start it again, and when it syncs, it will pick up the new color. Now the trick is getting everyone to pick a different color. Sorry, I can’t help with that.

I want to sync my Google/Gmail or Google Apps calendar to iCal, but I get errors

To set up CalDAV support for Google Calendar in Apple’s iCal, follow these steps:
Open Apple iCal, go to iCal > Preferences and then the Accounts tab.Click on the + button to add an account.Under Account Information, enter your Google Account username and password.Under Server Options, add the following URL:
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/charlietheguide@gmail.com/user

Replace ‘charlietheguide@gmail.com’ with the email address that you use to log in to Calendar. Make sure to include the ‘@domain.com’ portion (which is @gmail.com for Gmail users) in this section.Click Add.Under the Delegation tab, select the calendars you’d like to add to iCal by checking the boxes next to them. You may need to hit refresh to get the latest list of calendars.Add your email address to your Address Book card by selecting Add Email. You’ll be prompted to add your email address only if your address is not already in your Address Book.
The two main points of clarification here are:

– removing the space from the end of the URL
– making sure you include the ‘@domain.com’ portion in the URL

You can also check this web site for future updates or changes to these instructions.

iCal just won’t work

Sometimes, try as you might, you can’t get iCal to function AT ALL. If you want to reset iCal, first, make sure you’ve backed up your data by selecting each calendar and choosing File -> Export. Then, open the Terminal application (found in the Utility folder (Go – > Utilities) and paste in this line:

rm -rf ~/Library/{Caches,Caches/Metadata,Preferences,Application\ Support}/*iCal*

This will remove all your calendars, caches, and other data from iCal so you can start from scratch.

Then you can re-set up your Caldav accounts and import your previously backed up/exported calendars and get a fresh start.

You should use this only as a last resort.

Address Autocompletion in iCal with Kerio Mail Server

How to get iCal to know your Address Book exists. It’s a “simple” as telling your Mac to look at the Kerio Mail Server as an Open Directory Server. Follow me here, it’s simpler than it sounds.

 

Open the web interface to your mail server

Usually you do this by entering https://mail.mycompany.com in either Safari or Firefox. Don’t log in! Click the link “Integration with Mac.”

Use the Auto-configure iCal option

Click the Auto-Configure iCal link. It says it needs Mac OS X 10.5, but I have tested this in 10.6 and it works.

Enter your Email username and password

Make sure you enter your email username (and depending on your mail server it might just be the part before the @ symbol, or your entire email address. If you don’t know your email password because your computer stores it for you, click here to learn how to retrieve it from the Keychain.

Click OK to save the file to your computer.

It will go to your Downloads folder, which is the folder that your web browser saves files to. It could be a folder called Downloads in your Home directory, the Desktop, or elsewhere. Read on if you don’t know where this is, I’ll explain further how to find the resulting file. This picture is from Firefox, but Safari is nearly identical.

Firefox Downloads Window

If this window does not pop up after you hit OK in the previous step, navigate to the Tools menu and select Downloads. Note – this file should not be shared among users, because it may contain some information specific to your email account. Each user should download this file individually.

Reveal the download

After the download completes, control-click (or right click if you have a two button mouse) and select Show in Finder. This will switch to the Finder and open the folder that the file was saved to.

Double click on the file

Double click on the Kerio-iCal-Config-Tool.zip to decompress the file and you will then zee the Kerio iCal Config Tool.mpkg. Then double click on the Kerio iCal Config Tool.mpkg to open the Installer.

Install iCal Config Tool

Click Continue

No changes here

Click Install

Enter your COMPUTER password

NOT your email password.

Close iCal

If iCal was running when you started this process, it will stop and ask you to quit that program before you continue. Once iCal is closed, click OK

Enter your Email username and password

This is where the program is configuring your computer for your access to the Mail Server.

Wait a while…

This step can take a few minutes, so allow it to complete. On the two machines I tested this on, it took 4-8 minutes, so be patient.

Open iCal…

and if it asks you for a password, enter your Email password.

Create a new Event

And click Add Attendees….

Type in the name of the person you want to invite

And autofill should now be working. Type as much as you need to identify an attendee, or use the mouse to select an attendee. After the first attendee has been entered, start typing again to add another attendee. Once you hit Done, an email with the event is sent to those users.

iCal: Understanding symbols

Symbols next to calendars, events, and to-do items provide information about the item.

NOTE: Some symbols, such as those in the title bar of events, may not appear if the event is
too small. To make the event appear larger, drag the corner of the iCal window to enlarge it
or switch to Day view.

Calendar symbols

The events on the calendar (or on all the calendars in a calendar group) are showing in the main calendar view. (To hide the events, click to remove the checkmark.)

The calendar is being published on the Internet so that other people can subscribe to it using iCal. An exclamation point on this icon means the calendar had problems updating, and you should check your Internet connection.

Event Symbols

You’ve added an attendee to an event but have not yet sent the event invitation. Once you send the invitation, or when people reply to your invitation, you see an additional symbol next to the people icon.

There are mixed responses to your event invitation (responses include “accepted,” “declined,” or “tentative”).

In the title bar of an event: You’ve made changes to this event but haven’t notified attendees of the changes.
In the Notifications box: You haven’t yet replied to an updated event notification from another person.

The event has been canceled. The event has been canceled.The event has been canceled.

In the title bar of an event: All invited guests have declined your invitation.
In the event editor: The guests indicated by the “x” have declined your invitation.

In the title bar of an event: All invited guests have accepted your invitation, or you’ve accepted the event invitation from another person.
In the event editor: The guests indicated by the checkmark have accepted your invitation

In the title bar of an event: All invited guests are tentative, or you have replied as tentative to an event invitation from another person.
In the event editor: The guests indicated by the “?” have replied to your invitation as tentative.

To-Do item Symbols

The to-do item has been completed. The to-do item has been completed. The to-do item has been completed.

Shows the priority assigned to the to-do item: one bar means “low,” two bars mean “medium,” and three bars mean “high.”

The to-do item is past its due date. The to-do item is past its due date.The to-do item is past its due date.

Main iCal Window symbols

In Month view, three dots (an ellipsis) at the top of the day indicates there are more events on that day than can be shown. To see all the events in Day view,double-click the ellipsis.

iCal: Checking when attendees are available for a meeting

If your calendar is hosted on a CalDAV server (for example, at your workplace), you can check the availability of people you want to invite to your meeting in order to find the best time for everyone.

To check attendees’ availability and schedule a meeting:

1. Drag in Day or Week view of a calendar to create an event.
2. Double-click the event to open the event editor. Click Edit, and then click Add Attendees.
3. Type the names of the people you want to invite to your meeting.

As you type, iCal completes the names for you. You can select from a list of suggested names by using the arrow keys and then pressing the Return key or the Comma key.

You can also use the Address panel to add attendees to the list, as well as schedule rooms or other resources.

4. To see the availability of your guests, click Available Meeting Times.
   • Drag the meeting backward or forward to find a time when attendees are available.
   • Click the Forward and Backward arrows on either side of the date at the top of the window to see attendees’ availability for the following or previous day.
   • To have iCal show you the next time all attendees are available, select Next Available Time.

In the Availability panel, the hours of the day when each attendee is unavailable are shaded in gray next to the attendee’s name. The meeting you’re proposing appears as a colored block. Times when all attendees are available are shown in dimmed color blocks.

5. When you’ve found the best time, click Done.

In the calendar view, your meeting moves to the time you selected.

6. When you’re ready to invite the attendees, click Send.

iCal: Using the Address panel to invite attendees to an event

If you use Address Book to store email addresses for your contacts, you can use the Address panel in iCal to quickly access their information and invite them to your events.

If your calendar is hosted on a CalDAV server (for example, through your workplace), you can also use the Address panel to easily invite people to meetings, as well as to schedule meeting rooms or other resources that the server administrators have made available through the CalDAV service.

To use the Address panel to invite people to an event:

1. Double-click the event to open the event editor, and then click Edit.
2. Choose Window > Address Panel to open the Address panel.
3. Click Add Attendees in the “attendees” field in the event editor, then select one or more names in the Address panel and drag them to the “attendees” field.
4. You can select multiple names in the Address panel by holding down the Command key as you click each one.
5. If you’re using an Address panel administered through a CalDAV server, you may also be able to add locations and other resources you’ll need for your meeting.
6. When you’re ready to notify people of your event, click Send at the bottom of the event editor.

If your calendar is hosted on a CalDAV server, you can also check the availability of the attendees you’ve invited to your meeting using the Availability Panel.