Viewing and Using the Calendars

Anyone can view the calendars currently listed on the calendars page, though in the future we may include some calendars that are only accessible by specific groups of people.

Summary

You can:

• Select a calendar to view
• Change the display
• Navigate to the date(s) you want
• View events
• Change the view before printing
• Use Options
• Sign up to receive e–mail for future events
• Search for events
• Filter events
• Export (download) events
• Subscribe to the calendar
• Change your time zone

Select a calendar to view

Click on the Calendars link or the Select Calendar link (pop–up window) at the bottom of each calendar.

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Change the display

The display of each calendar is highly customisable, both in terms of layout and time–span. The initial, default, display is set to the most appropriate choice for each calendar but this can easily be changed. Scroll down to the bottom of the calendar and locate the display area. Here you will find the following options (select them from the drop–down list):

Time–span (up to 5 choices):

1. Day
2. Week
3. Month
4. Quarter
5. Year

Layout (up to 5 choices):

1. Block: in day, week or month view there will sometimes be a link to click for additional information (in a pop–up window)
2. List: here, the further information (if any) will appear in the details column on the right (rather than in a pop–up window)
3. Condensed: this is like list view, but only shows the dates where there are events
4. Time Plan: (day, week and month only) if you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see that you can also adjust the start time, the number of hours to display and blocks of 1 hour down to 1 minute
5. Planner: (day and week only) this view is available when several calendars are grouped together, such as the IT Room Booking calendars; if you scroll to the bottom of the page when in day view, you will see that you can also adjust the start time and the number of hours to display

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Navigate to the date(s) you want

You should see a navigation area at the top and bottom of each calendar from where you can click to go forwards or backwards in time, in intervals of anything from 1 day to 10 years, depending on which display time–span has been selected. At the bottom of each calendar you will also see a navigation bar:

• Absolute: navigate using specific dates
• Relative: navigate by time periods relative to today
• Both: both absolute and relative navigation are displayed
• Neither: the navigation areas will be turned off

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View events

If you are in Block layout in Quarter or Year view, you will need to click on the name of the month (or change to another layout or view) in order to see details of events or bookings.

All events include a Category and the name of the Event Owner (i.e. the person who added the event to the calendar). Other information can include times, location, teacher in charge, pupils involved, etc., depending on the nature of the event. In some calendars, additional information can be added (including links). Such information usually appears in a pop–up window but is also displayed on the right–hand side when in List or Condensed layout.

Change the view before printing

NB These print options are in addition to those available in your browser:

1. Select the calendar together with the date range and layout that you wish to print
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Print or Options followed by Printable View (NB to avoid pop–up windows, select the Calendar Options link)
3. Make your selections from the drop–down boxes
4. Click the Display Printable View button
5. Back on the calendar page, use Print Preview, Print Options and the Page Setup Options in your browser for further refinement
6. Print the page(s)
7. Click Done followed by Close in the pop–up window (or, if you used Calendar Options, click on Calendar Options again, followed by Return to the Calendar or first use the Back button in your browser if you elected not to display a header or footer)

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Use Options

Each calendar offers various options. To select these, you either click on Calendar Options (use this method if you want to avoid or cannot use pop–up windows) or on Options from the This Calendar area. Once you have made your choices, you should click on appropriate buttons or links, such as: Done, Close, Return to the Calendar.

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Sign up to receive e–mail for future events

For some calendars (such as the Term Dates calendar), you can sign up to receive an e–mail reminder about events:

1. Click on Calendar Options / Options
2. Select E–mail Subscriptions
3. Add your e–mail address (unless already displayed)
4. Make your choice from:
   1. Every event in the calendar
   2. All events from selected categories (CTRL+click to select more than one category)
   3. Only events specifically requested (when an event owner adds further information in a pop–up window, you will see that there is an option to receive an e–mail reminder just about this specific event)
   4. None (remove all existing subscriptions in this calendar for this e–mail address)
5. Click Save, then Done

When you receive a reminder e–mail, you will notice an .ics file is attached to it. If you wish, this file can be imported into your desktop calendar (such as iCal, Sunbird or Outlook) by following the export events instructions (from no. 8) below.

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Search for events

1. Click on Calendar Options / Options
2. Select Search for Events
3. Search for specific text, categories of events, within a date range, or any of these in combination
4. Click the Search button and the results will be displayed in the main calendar window

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Filter events

This redisplays a calendar so that it only shows events that match specific text or are in certain categories:

1. Click on Calendar Options / Options
2. Select Event Filter
3. Filter for specific text, categories of events, or any of these in combination
4. Click the Filter button and the results will be displayed in the main calendar window
5. Change the display if necessary
6. To remove the filter, click on the Remove Filter link at the top of the page

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Export (download) events

Although this option is described as ‘export event data to ASCII’, this feature is much more exciting than it sounds as it also gives you the option to download a whole range of events (you select the date range and/or categories) directly into your desktop calendar such as Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Calendar or Sunbird. [Special note to St Mary’s School Staff: you will not be able to import events into your school web–based version of the Outlook calendar.] An even better alternative for Apple and Mozilla users is to subscribe to the calendar.

Download as iCalendar into your web calendar

1. Click on Calendar Options / Options
2. Select Export Events
3. Select the range of dates for the events you want to download
4. Leave the field separator as it is
5. Select the iCalendar format (NB if this format does not work for you, try the vCalendar format instead)
6. If you want events from all categories to be downloaded, then do not select any (or choose select all), otherwise use CTRL+click to select just the categories you require
7. Click the Download Events button
8. Click Save
9. Save to an appropriate place on your computer
10. Open your desktop calendar such as Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Calendar or Sunbird
11. Import the saved event:
    • Sunbird:
      1. File – Import
      2. Select event from saved location
      3. Click Open followed by Import All
    • Outlook Calendar:
      1. File – Import and Export...
      2. The Import and Export wizard opens
      3. Select Import an iCalendar or vCalendar file (.vcs) then click Next
      4. Select event from saved location
      5. Check that iCalendar Format {*.ics) is selected in the Files of type box
      6. Click OK

Download as iCalendar from pop–up window

When you open a pop–up window to see further information about an event, you will notice a link to Download as iCalendar. Select the Download as iCalendar link and then follow the instructions above (from no. 8).

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Subscribe to the calendar

This feature allows you to import events into your Apple iCal or Mozilla Sunbird desktop calendar (as far as I am aware, you cannot dynamically import iCalendar events from a remote calendar into Microsoft Outlook although you can download a static file, as above). Once you have set your subscription up, you will then be able to keep it up to date by reloading the remote calendar at appropriate intervals. This facility is highly recommended!

1. Click on Calendar Options / Options
2. Select iCalendar Subscription
3. Follow the instructions on the next web page and then click the Subscribe to this calendar button
4. Open up iCal or Sunbird (or other, similar, application)
5. iCal users: try clicking the webcal subscription link — you may get to a blank page in the Calcium calendar, but the subscription should have been set up for you in iCal
6. Sunbird users:
   1. Select the subscription URL (web site address) from near the bottom of the page in the calendar and copy it
   2. In Sunbird, click on File — Subscribe to Remote Calendar...
   3. Select Remote in the next window and click Next
   4. Select WebDAV in the next window, paste the URL into the location box and click Next
   5. Enter a name of your own choice in the Name box, e.g. Term Dates for the Term Dates calendar, and click Next
   6. Now click Finish
   7. To keep your calendar(s) up to date, simply click on Reload Remote Calendars or press CTRL+R on your keyboard
   8. Enjoy!

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Change your time zone

If you are viewing these calendars from the UK then you should not need to change this as it should already be correctly set. However, if you are not in the UK and in a different time zone, then you may want to change this setting:

1. Click on Options or Calendar Options and select Time Offset
2. Note the current server time displayed
3. Select your local time and date from the drop–down box (this gives a range of –23 hours to +23 hours)
4. Click Change Time Zone
5. Click Done followed by Close, or Back to Calendar

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