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Lotus Notes Calendar Tips

LAST UPDATED: 22 May 2006 01:17:27 +0200

MARK YOUR CALENDAR ENTRY WAY PUBLIC VIEWING UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

ANOTHER VIEW TIME HIDERS TIME TRAVELER MAIL MESSAGE ENTRY ENTRY BY DEFAULT

PENCIL PUSHER CHECK THE REPEAT REPEAT BUSINESS FREE ASSOCIATION

CONFLICT AVOIDANCE SNOOZE BUTTON SOUND THE ALARM PRINTING CALENDARS

PRINT LIST PEEK AT THE CALENDAR FULL DISCLOSURE ALLOW OTHERS TO SEE YOUR CALENDAR

ALLOW OTHERS TO LOOK UP YOUR FREE TIME BEST WAY TO ASSIGN VIEWING RIGHTS TO A CALENDAR

DELETE FROM INBOX--MISSING FROM CALENDAR GROUP CALENDARS

HOW DO I ADJUST CALENDAR INVITATIONS FOR TIME ZONES PENCIL IN AN APPOINTMENT

PRIVATE APPOINTMENTS--A THING OF THE PAST SET THE SCHEDULE

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Notes' mail database includes a calendar view that's similar to Organizer. It allows you to schedule meetings, manage appointments, and more within the Notes mail database. To access the calendar view, click the Calendar icon in the view navigation pane. The calendar view has four displays--two days, one week, two weeks, and one month. To access these, click the appropriate button on the toolbar. If you don't have the buttons, select View, Calendar, then make a selection from the View menu. When you make a calendar entry, it shows up in the appropriate time slot on the day.

ENTRY WAY

There are two ways to make an entry in the Notes calendar view. You can click the New Entry button, or you can double-click the day you want to make the entry for. Either way, the Calendar Entry form opens. The information you put in the entry depends on the type: Appointment, Invitation, Event, Reminder, or Anniversary. The Brief Description field is where you enter the text that appears in the calendar entry, so you should be brief (it's like the Subject field of a memo). The calendar also displays a descriptive icon next to the subject after you save the entry.

PUBLIC VIEWING

One of the best things about the Notes calendar feature is that you can share its information with other Notes users. For example, if your coworkers need to know your schedule, they can consult your calendar directly. To set this up, open your mail database and select Actions, Mail Tools, Delegation Profile, which opens the Delegation Profile form. Select the option Everyone Can Read My Calendar in the Calendar Access section. This allows all users to have Read Public Documents access to your mail database. If you want to give only certain users or groups access, enter their names in the Only The Following People/Groups Can Read My Calendar field. Click OK to save and close the form.

Don't worry about invasions of privacy. Users may be able to read your calendar, but they have no other access to your mail database. You can also specify that certain calendar entries are not for public viewing.

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

You can use your delegation profile to give users Read Public Documents and Write Public Documents access to your mail database. This way, users can read, create, edit, and delete calendar entries (appointments, meeting invitations, meeting responses, events, reminders, and anniversaries) but cannot read, create, edit, or delete any other documents in your mail database.

To set this up, open your mail database and choose Actions, Tools, Delegation Profile, which opens the Delegation Profile form. In the section Calendar Access, select the Everyone Can Manage My Calendar option, or enter the names of specific people that you want to give access to in the Only The Following People/Groups Can Manage My Calendar field. Click OK to save your settings and save the form. Now the named users (or all users if you selected that option) can read, create, edit, or delete calendar entries in your mail database, but they cannot read, create, edit, or delete any other documents.

ANOTHER VIEW

If you have access to read or manage someone else's calendar, you can open it from your own mail database. To open another calendar, open (or select) your own mail database first, then choose Actions, Calendar Tools, Open Another Calendar. In the Open Calendar dialog box, select the Address Book containing the user, then select the user's name. Click OK, and Notes opens the calendar.

TIME HIDERS

The Notes calendar display shows the time slots for each day. You can hide the slots, however, for a cleaner, easier-to-read calendar page. To do this, click the clock icon in the top-left or right corner of the calendar entry (or select View, Calendar, and deselect Show Time Slots in the database menu). The empty time slots disappear, but any filled time slots remain.

TIME TRAVELER

For a quick way to navigate through your calendar, click the Calendar icon that appears at the top of the view. A box showing the entire current month appears. Click any date to go to that date immediately. You can click the arrows beside the month's name to move forward or backward one month.

MAIL MESSAGE ENTRY

The Notes calendar allows you to copy existing mail messages entirely into a new calendar entry. This is extremely helpful for managing your mail and your calendar. If, for example, someone sends you a confirmation message for an appointment, you can copy this directly into the new appointment entry. To do so, open or select the message that you want to copy, then choose Actions, Copy Into, New Calendar Entry. This opens a new calendar entry with the message information entered in the entry fields. The Subject appears in the Brief Description field; the Body appears in the Detailed Description field; and the current date and time appear in the Date and Time fields, respectively. You can change any of this if you want, and you can also change the calendar entry type. Click Save And Close and you're all set--the new entry appears in your calendar.

ENTRY BY DEFAULT

There are several types of calendar entries, but you may use one more often than any others. If this is the case, you can select one calendar entry as the default when you add new entries to your calendar. To set the default entry, open your mail database and select Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile to open the Calendar Profile form. Scroll down the form, then click on the arrow beside the Advanced Calendar Options section to open it. Select one of the types from the Calendar Entry Options field. Click OK to save your settings and close the form.

PENCIL PUSHER

All calendar entries (except Reminder) allow you to "pencil in" the entry. You should use this when you have the entry but haven't confirmed it. To pencil in an entry, select the option Pencil In when you add the appointment, meeting, event, or anniversary to your calendar. This adds the entry to your calendar but keeps the time free until you confirm the entry. That is, if someone looks up your free time, they'll see you are still available for the specified time slot.

CHECK THE REPEAT

If you have a repeating calendar entry, you can check all the information about the set. To do this, open any one of the repeating entries, then select Actions, View Repeat Info, which opens the Repeat Info dialog box. If the repeat info doesn't appear, click the Repeating Meeting Information section to display it. Click OK to close the dialog box.

REPEAT BUSINESS

If you have a calendar entry that occurs on a regularly scheduled basis, you can set your calendar once and have the entry repeat at your specified interval. Of course, this is best for entries like anniversaries or regular meetings.

To set the repeating schedule, open your calendar and create a new entry. Select the entry type and enter the entry information. Click Repeat to open the Repeat Rules dialog box. First, select how often you want the entry to repeat from the Repeat field (specific options will change depending on the interval you choose). Next, select the date of the first entry in the Starting Date field. Finally, if you want the repeating schedule to end on a specific date, click Until and enter the ending date. Or if you want the repeating schedule to go on for a set period of time, click For and select the time period. Click OK to close the Repeat Rules dialog box, then click Save And Close to close the calendar entry.

FREE ASSOCIATION

The Notes calendar entry type Invitation allows you to invite others to a meeting or event. Better yet, it allows you to look up the time that the invitees have available, so that you can schedule the meeting for the best time. To do so, open your mail database to the calendar view, then create a new Invitation calendar entry or open an existing one in edit mode. Enter a date and time for the meeting, then enter the names of the people you want to invite (in the Send Invitations To and Optional Invitees fields). Finally, click Find Free Time. Notes looks up the free time schedules of all the invitees and lets you know if everyone is free for the meeting.

CONFLICT AVOIDANCE

You probably don't remember offhand every single calendar entry that you make, but fortunately, Notes does. Because of this, you can set Notes so that it warns you when you create a new calendar entry that conflicts with an existing one. To do this, open your mail database and select Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile, which opens the Calendar Profile form. Scroll down, then open the Advanced Calendar Options section. Select the calendar entry types (Appointments/Meetings, Anniversaries, Events) under Enable Conflict Checking For, then click OK to save your settings and close the form. Now Notes gives you a warning if you create an entry for a time when one already exists.

SNOOZE BUTTON

Our previous tip showed you how to set an alarm for your calendar entries. When the alarm goes off, Notes displays an Alarm dialog box that displays a description of the calendar entry. You can treat the alarm just like you do your alarm clock at home. If you want the alarm to go off again in a few minutes, click the Snooze button. By default, the alarm goes off again in ten minutes. If you want another interval, enter the number of minutes in the Snooze For field, then click the Snooze button. Click OK if you just want to clear the alarm. Note: Notes clears the alarm automatically if you click Snooze, but exit Notes before the alarm goes off again.

SOUND THE ALARM

Notes allows you to set an alarm for your important calendar entries. This is most useful for big meetings, appointments, or birthdays and anniversaries.

To set the alarm, create a new entry or open an existing entry in edit mode. Click Alarm Options on the button bar. (A dialog box appears asking if you want to enable the alarm system, if you have not done so already.) Then, the Set Alarm dialog box appears. You can set the alarm to go off before or after the event, or at a specific time. To set the former, select the option Before or After, then enter the time period. To do the latter, select the option On and enter the day and time that you want the alarm to go off. If you want a message to appear, enter it in the Alarm Message field. If you leave this field blank, Notes uses the entry's description as the alarm message.

Finally, click OK to close the dialog box. Notes sets the alarm when you close and save the entry. When the alarm goes off, Notes displays the Alarm dialog box, which displays a description of the calendar entry in question.

PRINTING CALENDARS

Having a hard copy of your calendar is pretty important sometimes. Printing the calendar is the same as printing any other Notes view. To do this, open your mail database to the calendar view, then display the calendar interval that you want to print (Two Day, One Week, Two Weeks, One Month). Choose File, Print to open the File Print dialog box, then select Print View. Click OK, and Notes sends the calendar view to your printer.

PRINT LIST

In addition to the calendar view, Notes allows you to print just a list of calendar entry titles for a set number of days. This gives you a way to keep a hard copy of your entries at a glance. To do this, open your mail database to the Calendar view, then choose File, Print to open the File Print dialog box. Select the View option Print Selected Days, then enter the first and last days that you want to print. Click OK to send the job to your printer.

PEEK AT THE CALENDAR

In the last few tips, we discussed the preview view. The preview is also useful in the mail database calendar view. If you want to display the contents of a calendar entry without opening it, select the entry and choose View, Document Preview. The entry displays in the preview pane just like any other document.

FULL DISCLOSURE

The descriptions of calendar entries are sometimes too long to fit in the Calendar view of your mail database. If you want to look at the full description, hold your mouse over the entry. The description appears in a pop-up box. When you let go of the mouse, the pop-up box disappears.

ALLOW OTHERS TO SEE YOUR CALENDAR

You and your department may decide to allow access to each other's calendars in order to facilitate better teamwork. Here's how to set that up in Notes 4.5:

Open your mail file and select Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile. Click the button that says Allow Other Users To View Your Calendar. Click the arrow next to Only The Following People/Groups Can Read My Calendar.

In the pop-up window for the public address book, select the groups or individuals who need access to your calendar and add them to the right side of the screen. Click OK to close the pop-up window. Click OK to close the next screen (this should say Delegation Profile). Click OK again to save your changes and close the Calendar Profile window.

ALLOW OTHERS TO LOOK UP YOUR FREE TIME

This might seem the same as allowing access to your calendar, but is actually quite different. This feature allows others to look up your free time (unscheduled time slots on your calendar) when trying to find appropriate times for meeting invitations. To allow this feature to work, do the following:

Open your mail file and select Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile. Find the area that contains Freetime Options and click the arrow next to it to bring up the public address book. Find the groups or individuals who need to see your free time and add them to the right side of the screen. Click OK to close the public address book window.

Go down the Calendar Profile page to see if there are other options you would like to change (check out Allowable Free Times and Advanced Calendar Options). Click OK at the top of the page to save your changes and close the Calendar Profile window.

BEST WAY TO ASSIGN VIEWING RIGHTS TO A CALENDAR

Always assign rights to your calendar through the Calendar Profile (Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile in versions 4.5X and 4.6X). If you give someone Reader rights through the Access Control List of your mail file, he or she will be able to see calendar entries marked Not For Public Viewing.

DELETE FROM INBOX--MISSING FROM CALENDAR

Let's say you accepted an invitation to a meeting from one of your coworkers. As usual, this immediately put the appointment on your calendar. Now that you've acted on the message in your Inbox, it's time to delete it, right? Wrong. Notes stores this document only once. When you accepted the invitation, it turned the document into a calendar appointment. If you delete the message, you've also deleted the appointment. What's the solution? Lotus recommends one of the following scenarios--depending on your style of working:

Option 1: Select Actions, Calendar Tools, Calendar Profile, Advanced Options, and choose the option to remove invitations from your Inbox after responding to them. As soon as you accept an invitation, it creates a calendar appointment and deletes the message from your Inbox.

Option 2: Create a new folder for invitations. Once you've accepted an invitation, drag the message into the folder and leave it.

GROUP CALENDARS

The Group Calendars folder is new in Notes 5. If your department has been using calendars previously, you probably know how annoying it is to go on a hunt for a calendar. If you've upgraded your mail template to Notes 5, try this.

Change to the Group Calendars View, then click the New Group Calendar button. Give the calendar a name in the Title field, then click the arrow in the lower right side of the Members field to bring up the address book. Select the appropriate address book, add the people or groups you would like to include in this calendar, click OK to view the calendar, then save it. At this point, you can click on the individuals' names to view their calendars. If you have trouble seeing someone's calendar, verify that the other user has given you viewing rights.

HOW DO I ADJUST CALENDAR INVITATIONS FOR TIME ZONES?

Fortunately, you don't have to worry if invitees are in different time zones. Notes does the calculations for each recipient. Just create the invitation as you normally would and send the invitations. If discrepancies occur, they usually result from errors in the Notes client setup on the other computer(s), and your support staff can troubleshoot them.

PENCIL IN AN APPOINTMENT

The pencil-in option allows you to put a tentative appointment on your calendar without blocking it out of your free time. If someone is thinking of sending you a meeting invitation, the time still shows up as available, and a more important invitation may come in as a result.

PRIVATE APPOINTMENTS--A THING OF THE PAST?

If you would like to record personal appointments on your calendar, you can keep them private by choosing the Not For Public Viewing option in the calendar entry. Anyone who has access to your calendar through the calendar profile (as opposed to the Access Control List) can't see these entries.

SET THE SCHEDULE

Scheduled agents are great because they perform routine tasks automatically. However, you may find the schedule doesn't always coincide with the times you actually use Notes. Because of this, you can enable scheduled agents to run every time you start up Notes. This lets you get the most current data out of any scheduled agents. To set this up, open Notes and choose File, Tools, User Preferences, which opens the User Preferences dialog box. Select the option Enable Scheduled Local Agents, then click OK. Click OK again when Notes tells you some preferences won't take effect until you restart Notes. Now any local scheduled agents run whenever you start Notes (local, of course, means specific to your computer, so this option doesn't affect scheduled agents on the server).

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