<!-- <!DOCTYPE Chapter PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.1//EN"> --> <chapter id="usage-calendar"> <title>Managing your Schedule</title> <para> This chapter will show you how to use the Ximian Evolution Calendar to manage your schedule alone or in conjunction with peers. To learn about importing calendar data, see <xref linkend="importing-mail" />, which covers the Import tool. </para> <sect1 id ="usage-calendar-view"> <title>Ways of Looking at your Calendar</title> <para> The toolbar offers you four different views of your calendar: <itemizedlist> <listitem> <para> Day </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Work Week </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Week </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Month </para> </listitem> </itemizedlist> </para> <para> Press the calendar-shaped buttons on the right side of the toolbar to switch between views. </para> <para> You can also select an arbitrary range of days in the small calendar at the upper right. To do this, click and drag on the days that you wish to view in your calendar. </para> <para> The <guibutton>Prev</guibutton> and <guibutton>Next</guibutton> buttons will move you forward and back in your calendar pages. If you're looking at only one day, you'll see tomorrow's page, or yesterday's. If you're looking at your calendar by week or month, you'll move around by just that much. To come back to today's listing, click the <guibutton>Today</guibutton> button in the toolbar. </para> <para> To visit a specific date's calendar entries, click <guibutton>Go To</guibutton> and select the date in the dialog box that appears. </para> </sect1> <sect1 id="usage-calendar-apts"> <title>Scheduling With the Evolution Calendar</title> <para> Of course, you'll want to use the calendar to do more than find out what day it is. This section will tell you how to schedule appointments, set alarms, and determine appointment recurrence. If you have installed the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange, you can also read <xref linkend="full-advantage"/> to learn about how to take full advantage of the collaborative group scheduling functions available on the Microsoft Exchange Server. </para> <sect2 id="usage-calendar-apts-basic"> <title>Creating appointments</title> <para> To create a new appointment, select <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Appointment</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> or click the <guibutton>New Appointment</guibutton> button on the left end of the toolbar. The <interface>New Appointment</interface> dialog will pop up with the menu bar, tool bar, and window full of choices for you. </para> <tip id="new-appointment-shortcut"> <title>Shortcut</title> <para> If you don't need to enter more information than the date and time of the appointment, you just click in any blank space in the calendar and start typing. You can enter other information later with the appointment editor. </para> </tip> <para> Your appointment must have a starting and ending date (by default, today) but you can choose whether to give it starting and ending times or to mark it as an <guilabel>All day event</guilabel>. An <guilabel>All day event</guilabel> appears at the top of a day's appointment list, in the grey header under the date, rather than inside it. That makes it easy to have appointments that overlap and fit inside each other. For example, a conference might be an all day appointment, and the meetings at the conference would be timed appointments. Of course, appointments with specific starting and ending times can also overlap. When they do they're displayed as multiple columns in the day view of the calendar. </para> <para> <application>Evolution</application> supports the use of timezones. If you share calendar files with friends or co-workers, it is quite possible you will need to configure your timezone. To configure your timezone: <orderedlist numeration="arabic"> <listitem> <para> Select <menuchoice> <guimenu>Tools</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Settings</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>, and click the <guilabel>Calendar And Tasks</guilabel> icon in the settings dialog. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click the <guibutton>Globe</guibutton> button in the <guilabel>Time</guilabel> section, located in the <guilabel>General</guilabel> tab. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Each red dot represents a major city. Click a dot and click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to select your time zone. </para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </para> <para> You can also configure timezone information specific to the Start and End time in each appointment. To do that, simply create a new appointment and click on a globe to customize the timezone that the time exists in. For example, if you live in New York but have a telephone meeting set for noon with someone in California, you need to make sure that you're not calling each other a few hours off. Setting time-zones on a per-appointment basis helps avoid that potential confusion. </para> <note> <title>Multiple Simultaneous Appointments</title> <para> If you create calendar appointments that overlap, <application>Evolution</application> will display them side by side in your calendar. However, <application>Evolution</application> cannot help you do multiple things at once. </para> </note> <para> You can have several <guilabel>Reminders</guilabel>, any time prior to the appointment you've scheduled. You can have one reminder of each of the following types: <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term><guilabel>Display:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> A window will pop up on your screen to remind you of your appointment. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><guilabel>Audio:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> Choose this to have your computer deliver a sound alarm. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><guilabel>Program:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> Select this if you would like to run a program as a reminder. You can enter its name in the text field, or find it with the <guibutton>Browse</guibutton> button. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </para> <note id="reminders-when-not-running-evo"> <title>Reminders Without Evolution</title> <para> If you have stored reminders in a local calendar, they will work from the moment you log in. However, for reminders stored on an Exchange server, you must run Evolution at least once after logging in. No matter where the reminders are stored, you can quit Evolution and still be reminded of an upcoming appointment. </para> </note> <para> <guilabel>Classification</guilabel> only applies to calendars on a network. <guilabel>Public</guilabel> is the default category, and a public appointment can be viewed by anyone on the calendar sharing network. <guilabel>Private</guilabel> denotes one level of security, and <guilabel>Confidential</guilabel> an even higher level. </para> <para> <application>Evolution</application> can handle free/busy scheduling Using the Ximian Connector on a Microsoft Exchange 2000 server. For more information about Ximian Connector, see <xref linkend="usage-exchange"/>. </para> <para> To set your appointment to be free or busy, simply click the box in the <guilabel>Show Time As</guilabel> section in the <guilabel>Appointment Editor</guilabel>. </para> <para> <application>Evolution</application> lets you categorize your appointments, which can help if you lead a busy life. The bottom section of the <guilabel>Appointment</guilabel> tab is where your categorization is done. </para> <tip> <title>Adding a New Appointment Category</title> <para> You can add a new category to your category list by clicking on <guibutton>Edit Master Category List</guibutton> and single-clicking on <guilabel> Click here to add a category</guilabel>. </para> </tip> <para> The purpose of categories is to let you view all appointments which have similar activities. To do this, change <guilabel>Any field contains</guilabel> to <guilabel>Has category</guilabel> and enter your category at right. </para> <para> Clicking on the <guibutton>Categories</guibutton> button opens up the category list. To associate a category to an appointment, simply click the check box. </para> <para> Once you've selected your categories, click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to assign these categories to the appointment. The categories you selected are now listed in the text box to the right of the <guibutton>Categories...</guibutton> button. </para> <para> The <guilabel>Recurrence</guilabel> tab lets you describe repetition in appointments ranging from once every day up to once every 100 years. You can then choose a time and date when the appointment will stop recurring, and, under <guilabel>Exceptions</guilabel>, pick individual days when the appointment will <emphasis>not</emphasis> recur. Make your selections from left to right, and you'll form a sentence: "Every two weeks on Monday and Friday until January 3, 2003" or "Every month on the first Friday for 12 occurrences." </para> <para> Once you're done with all those settings, click on the disk icon in the toolbar to save and close the appointment editor window. If you want, you can alter an appointment summary in the calendar view by clicking on it and typing. You can change other settings by right-clicking on the appointment then choosing <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>. </para> </sect2> <sect2 id="usage-calendar-rsvp"> <title>Sending an RSVP with the Calendar</title> <para> <application>Evolution</application> can be used to schedule group meetings and help you manage responses to meeting requests. </para> <para> When you create a meeting or group appointment, you can specify the attendees in several categories, such as "chair" or "required." When you save the appointment listing, each attendee will be sent an email with the appointment information and gives them the option to respond. </para> <note id="meeting-announce"> <title>Simple Announcements</title> <para> If you don't need to collect attendance information when you're scheduling an event, and would rather just announce it, select <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>Forward as iCalendar</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. That will open a new email message with the event notification attached as an announcement. Recipients will be able to add the event to their calendars with one click, but won't automatically send you email about whether they'll attend. </para> </note> <para> To schedule a meeting: <orderedlist numeration="arabic"> <listitem> <para> Select <menuchoice> <guimenu>Actions</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Schedule Meeting</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. The <guilabel>Scheduling</guilabel> and <guilabel>Meeting</guilabel> tabs open. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> If you have multiple Evolution email accounts, choose the one you'll use by selecting an item in the <guilabel>Organizer</guilabel> field. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click the space labeled <guilabel>Click here to add an attendee</guilabel> to enter the names and email addresses of people you will invite, or click the <guibutton>Invite Others</guibutton> to select them from your addressbook. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Save the Appointment. </para> </listitem> </orderedlist> An email is now sent out to all the recipients, inviting them to your event. </para> </sect2> <sect2 id="replying-to-rsvp"> <title>Replying to a Meeting Request</title> <para> Meeting requests are sent as iCal attachments. To view or respond to one, click on the attachment icon and view it inline in the mail window. All the details are shown about the event including time and dates. Then you can choose how to reply to the invitation. Your choices are: <itemizedlist> <listitem> <para> Accept </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Tentatively Accept </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Decline </para> </listitem> </itemizedlist> Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> and an email will be sent to the organizer with your answer. The event will also be added to your calendar if you accept. </para> <para> Note, however, that if you add a meeting to your calendar, there are some limitations: only the organizer of a meeting can add participants in a meeting. Your only options, as a participant, are to accept the meeting, or decline it. </para> <para> Once you have added the meeting to your calendar, you can make changes to your copy-- change the description, mark yourself the organizer, invite more people, and so forth-- but be aware that if the original organizer sends out another update, your changes may be overwritten. </para> <note id="organizer-only-one"> <title>There Can Be Only One</title> <para> A meeting can have only one organizer. You can designate yourself the organizer of the meeting, but unless you coordinate that action with the organizer you are replacing, you could create confusion in the scheduling process. If you want to invite additional people to a meeting without changing the organizer, it's best to forward the first organizer's message to the additional participants. </para> </note> </sect2> <sect2 id="receiving-rsvp-response"> <title>Getting Responses to Meeting Requests</title> <para> Once you get a reply to your meeting invitation, you'll need to view it inline in the email. Click the attachment and select <guibutton>View Inline</guibutton>. At the bottom, you can click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to update your attendee list. </para> </sect2> <!-- ############UNIMPLEMENTED FEATURES ################### <sect2 id="usage-calendar-apts-group"> <title>Appointments for Groups</title> <para> You can use <application>Evolution</application> to mark a meeting request on another person's calendar. To do it, click <guibutton>New</guibutton> in the calendar toolbar, or select <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Appointment</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> to bring up the <interface>new appointment</interface> window. Then describe the appointment as you would any other. When you are ready to send the invitation <guibutton>OK</guibutton> <application>Evolution</application> will automatically send email to each person on the request list, notifying of the time and date of the meeting you have requested with them. In addition, it will mark the appointment on your calendar and on theirs as tentative, rather than a confirmed, appointment. </para> <para> To mark a tentative appointment as confirmed, click once on the appointment in the <interface>calendar view</interface> to select it, and then choose <guimenuitem>Appointment Properties</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> menu. In the <interface>Appointment Properties</interface> dialog window, click the "tentative" button to De-select the appointment. </para> <para> When your meeting attendees get the email inviting them to the meeting, they'll be able to enter the information into their calendars and let you know if they'll be able to attend; if they use <application>Ximian Evolution</application> or another iCal compliant mail client, they can do this with just one click. When you get a response from them, it will include an iCal attachment. Opening and accepting this attachment will change the meeting data in your calendar to indicate that they have responded to your invitation, and whether they will be in attendance. </para> </sect2> <sect2 id="usage-calendar-apts-privs"> <title>Scheduling privileges</title> <para> There are several levels of scheduling privileges. You can set whether people can see your calendar, whether they can request meetings or appointments, and whether they can create appointments. This section may have to be deleted, because I don't know if we are going to support privileges at all. </para> </sect2> ########## END UNIMPLEMENTED FEATURESET ############ --> <sect2 id="usage-calendar-freebusy"> <title>Scheduling Meetings and The Free/Busy View</title> <para> In addition to the standard meeting scheduling tools, you can use the Free/Busy view to check whether people are available in advance. At this time, the Free/Busy feature only works with Microsoft Exchange servers. However, you can still use iCal event invitations to coordinate schedules with other people no matter what server you're using. </para> <para> To access the free/busy view: <orderedlist numeration="arabic"> <listitem> <para> Open or create an appointment in the <guilabel>Calendar</guilabel> window. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click <menuchoice> <guimenu>Actions</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Schedule Meeting</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Open the <guilabel>Scheduling</guilabel> tab. </para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </para> <figure> <title>Appointment Scheduling Window</title> <screenshot> <screeninfo>Appointment Scheduling Window</screeninfo> <mediaobject><imageobject> <imagedata format="PNG" fileref="figures/schedule" srccredit="Kevin Breit"/> </imageobject></mediaobject> </screenshot> </figure> <para> <inlinemediaobject> <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="figures/full-1" format="PNG"/> </imageobject> </inlinemediaobject> <guilabel>Invitee List</guilabel> </para> <para> The <guilabel>Invitee List</guilabel> lists off the people who have been invited to the respective appointment. It also shows their RSVP status. </para> <para> <inlinemediaobject> <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="figures/full-2" format="PNG"/> </imageobject> </inlinemediaobject> <guilabel>Schedule Grid</guilabel> </para> <para> The <guilabel>Schedule Grid</guilabel> shows the invitee's published Free/Busy information. This is where you compare people's schedules to find free time to schedule the appointment. </para> <para> <inlinemediaobject> <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="figures/full-3" format="PNG"/> </imageobject> </inlinemediaobject> <guilabel>Meeting Scheduler</guilabel> </para> <para> The <guilabel>Meeting Scheduler</guilabel> allows you to schedule the meeting in the <guilabel>Free/Busy</guilabel> window. </para> <sect3 id="usage-calendar-freebusy-scheduling"> <title>Scheduling an Appointment</title> <para> To schedule an appointment, you'll first need people's free/busy information. If you're using the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange, all of the information is already available to you in the Global Address List. Otherwise, each person will have to email you their schedule files and you will have to incorporate them into your calendar. </para> <para> Regardless of how you get the information, Ximian Evolution will display it in the <guilabel>Scheduling</guilabel> tab. The pending appointment time will appear in white with bold black borders. Each attendee's free and busy times appear color-coded next to their names in the attendee list. </para> <para> Adjust the meeting time, either by dragging the meeting borders or by using the <guilabel>Autopick</guilabel> buttons to choose a time automatically, then click <guibutton>Save and Close</guibutton>. Attendees on an Exchange server will have the appointment updated automatically; others will receive email notification of any change in plans. </para> <para> Read <xref linkend="full-advantage"/> to learn about how to use this feature with the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange. </para> </sect3> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="usage-calendar-todo"> <title>The Task Pad</title> <para> The Task Pad, located in the lower right corner of the calendar, lets you keep a list of tasks separate from your calendar appointments. You can use the list in a larger window by choosing the <guibutton>Tasks</guibutton> button in the shortcut bar or in the folder tree. </para> <para> To record a new task, click the <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button in the toolbar. <application>Evolution</application> will pop up a small window with five items in it: <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term> <guilabel>Summary:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> The description you enter here will appear in the To Do list itself. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term> <guilabel>Due Date:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> Decide when this item is due. You can either type in a date and time, or select one from the <guibutton>Calendar</guibutton> and time drop-down menus. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><guilabel>Start Date:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> The date you intend to start working. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term> <guilabel>Description:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> If you wish, you can keep a more detailed description of the item here. For example, you can note that a task is in progress, and display how close it is to completion. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><guilabel>Classification:</guilabel></term> <listitem> <para> Sets who will see it if your calendar is shared. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </para> <para> There are more options in the <guilabel>Details</guilabel> tab such as priority and progress settings. </para> <para> Once you've added a task to your to-do list, its summary appears in the <guilabel>Summary</guilabel> section of task list. To view or edit a detailed description of an item, double-click on it, or right click on it and select <guibutton>Open</guibutton>. You can delete items by selecting them and clicking on the <guibutton>Delete</guibutton> button. </para> <para> The list of tasks is sorted in a similar way to the list of email messages in <application>Ximian Evolution Mail</application>. Click once on the message headers to change the direction and type of sorting, or right-click to add or remove columns from the display. </para> <sect2 id="task-folders"> <title>Folders for Your Tasks</title> <para> Like any other component in <application>Evolution</application>, you can create a folder to help organize your tasks. To do this: <orderedlist numeration="arabic"> <listitem> <para> Open the <guilabel>Folders Bar</guilabel>. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click <guibutton>Tasks</guibutton>. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Right click on <guibutton>Tasks</guibutton>. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Create New Folder</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Enter the folder name. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> </para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </para> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="usage-calendar-multiple"> <title>Multiple Calendars</title> <para> <application>Evolution</application> permits you to have and maintain multiple calendars. This is useful if you maintain schedules for other people, if you are responsible for resource or room allocation, or if you have multiple personalities. </para> <example> <title>Keeping Multiple Calendars</title> <para> Lucy, the office manager for a small company, has one calendar for her own schedule. She maintains one for the conference room, to schedule meetings. Next to that, she maintains a calendar that reflects when consultants are going to be on site, and another that keeps track of when the Cubs are playing. </para> </example> <para> To create a new calendar, select <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Folder</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. You'll need to tell the <guilabel>New Folder</guilabel> dialog that the new folder should be of the calendar type. You can place the calendar in any calendar folder and access it from the folder view. </para> <para> Each calendar folder can hold only one calendar. </para> </sect1> </chapter>