5 Ways to Make iCal Work for You
iCal is a fairly simple app, and many people use competing programs in place of Apple’s bundled calendar app. I for one am looking forward to replacing it with Leopard’s to-do-list featured Mail.app, or hopefully even sooner with whatever else comes along and surprises me. However, in the meantime it’s the best I’ve found, so here are 5 ways to make it work, if not perfectly, at least a little better.
1. Due Dates
Putting in due dates for iCal “to-do’s” is far too cumbersome to be worth your time. Instead, create 7 new tasks with the name of each day of the week in all caps. They’ll show up with your real tasks, and you can use them as dividers to keep track of what day you need to do things. Make them in a different calendar with a black color so they stand out. Then, you can sort your tasks by putting them under the day you do them, and above the day they’re due.
2. Take a Shortcut
To get the full potential of the app, make sure you know how to quickly get things done. ⌘+K makes a new task, and ⌘+N makes a new event.
3. Get the Big Picture
Month view is the only way to go. Week view and Day view are way too zoomed in on your schedule. Is your day really so complicated that you need to see it in an hour-by-hour break down? Put the time for your event in the description, that way you can see it at a glance from the broader view.
4. Keep it Down!
If you have a pink calendar, a red calendar, and a maroon calendar, you won’t be able to tell them apart at a glance. However, if you have 28 calendars then you’re going to have to squeeze them together on the color wheel. Make only as many calendars as you absolutely need, and unless it’s something that you have things to put in regularly, just use a catch-all “General” calendar.
5. Shrinkage
iCal functions very poorly as a daily planner, but it works pretty well as a task manager. Make the window as small as you can without loosing the space you need to view your events.
What do you use as an organizer? Which is better, iCal or Entourage? Why?
[...] MacApper Post I’m taking a short blogging hiatus for final exams, but I do have a new post up at MacApper if you want to check it out. 5 Ways to Make iCal Work for You. [...]
I like iCal…Like you said handy for simple task management. Good tips Will.
I like iCal because I can sync my schedule with my iPod. But yea, it’s not the best tool out there; it doesn’t use the GTD concept. Argh…
But that’s a nice set of tips you’ve got there Will, really liked the first one.
You can also get iCal to open applications at a specific time.
@Marvin
I’ve never used it to sync with my iPod, mostly just because I don’t carry it around, but for someone who does, that’s a really great tip.
@Mason
Nice idea! I’d never thought of using alarms like that. I normally use Awaken for my alarms.
Gcal is the best there is. And with the right Firefox extensions, it integrates well with the best email program there is: Gmail.
I recommend a switch to Gcal.
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Just switching from Entourage’s Calendar to iCal – Entourage database proved too unstable especially after I got Snow Leopard. Also (probably due to the same database problem) the sync between Entourage and iCal stopped working or was very weird and hence my iPod Touch syncing wasn’t working either.
iCal interface is more fiddly and before i some keyboard shortcuts, I was seriously considering moving back to Entourage (newest keyboard shortcut: shift and tab to get from title to notes in two steps + esc afterwards to get out of the event).
And I’m subscribing to a Gcal on my iCal
- I can update the Gcal from iCal
- my colleague subscribes to the same Gcal on his iCal and it syncs!!
(best sharing tool so far)
But at the same time I am keeping my emails in Entourage and I’m using the Project Centre all the time to have easy and access especially to current project documents – the add / delete feature is great. So iCal wins on calendar, other organising still in Entourage