By using the Calendar app on your iPad, you can organize your schedule and set appointments. To make sure you don't forget an appointment, you can set an alarm to alert you.
Since you may be tracking appointments on both your computer and your iPad, you may need to synchronize all your appointments as explained in Chapter 16. By doing this, you can make, edit, and delete appointments on either your computer or iPad and then synchronize this information on both devices.
If you're using Gmail and Google's online calendar service (or another online mail and calendar service, such as Yahoo!), you can sync your calendar when you set up your email account (see Chapter 14).
To store and manage appointments on your iPad, you need to use the following:
The Calendar can display different views, so you can focus on what you need to get done for a particular day or look at a long-range schedule to see what you might have coming up in the next week or month.
These are the four types of views you can see:
Day Displays a 24-hour timeline for all appointments for a single day
Week Displays a 24-hour timeline for all seven days of the week
Month Displays appointments (but not starting or duration times) for an entire month
Year Highlights dates with appointments over a whole year
List Lists all scheduled appointments regardless of starting date, time, or duration
To view the different ways the Calendar can display appointments, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap the Day tab. The Day view displays a list of all your appointments for that day and a monthly calendar on the left side of the screen. On the right side of the screen, the Day view displays a timeline that shows you when each appointment is scheduled, as shown in Figure 26-1.
Tap any date displayed in the monthly calendar on the left side of the screen. The Day view displays your appointments for your chosen date.
Tap Today in the bottom-left corner of the screen. No matter what day you were viewing, the Today button immediately shows you your appointment list for the current day. (The Today button works in all the different views—Day, Week, Month, or List.)
Tap any date displayed at the bottom of the screen. In Day view, the bottom of the screen shows all the days of the month you're currently viewing, as well as buttons for the previous month and the following month.
Tap the Week tab. The Week view displays a list of all your appointments from Sunday through Saturday, as shown in Figure 26-1.
Tap any week displayed at the bottom of the screen. The Week view displays your appointments for your chosen week.
Tap the Month tab. The Month view displays a list of all your appointments for the entire month, as shown in Figure 26-1.
Tap any month displayed at the bottom of the screen. The Month view displays your appointments for your chosen month.
Tap the List tab. The List view displays all your appointments (regardless of when they're scheduled), as shown in Figure 26-1.
Tap any appointment on the left side of the screen. The right side of the screen displays the date for your chosen appointment.
When you want to set an appointment, you can define the following items:
A description of the event
A location
Start time
End time
Whether to define the appointment as a repetitive event
Whether to display and sound an alert before the appointment
What calendar to put the appointment on
Any additional notes about the appointment
You don't need to define all of these items. For example, you might skip defining the location of the appointment. In addition, the Calendar automatically uses default settings for every option except for the event description, location, and any additional notes you might want to add, so you can just focus on typing a description of your appointment, such as “Doctor's appointment” or “Secret meeting with Elvis Presley.”
To create an appointment, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap the plus sign that appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The Add Event window appears, as shown in Figure 26-2.
Tap the Title text field, and type a description of your appointment.
(Optional) Tap the Location text field, and type a description of the location where your appointment will take place.
Tap the Starts/Ends field. The Start & End window appears, as shown in Figure 26-3.
Tap the Starts field, and then scroll through the date picker at the bottom of the Start & End window to choose a date and time.
Tap the Ends field, and then scroll through the date picker at the bottom of the Start & End window to choose a date and time.
(Optional) Tap the All-day on/off switch to read ON if you want to define an appointment to take an entire day.
(Optional) Tap Time Zone to define a time zone for your appointment.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Start & End window.
(Optional) Tap the Repeat field. A Repeat Event window appears, as shown in Figure 26-4. Tap a time period, such as Every Week or Every Month, and then tap the Done button in the upper-right corner of the Repeat Event window.
(Optional) Tap Invitees. The Add Invitees window appears, as shown in Figure 26-5. Tap the white plus sign in the blue circle to choose a name from the Contacts app. You can now invite anyone who has an email address. Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Add Invitees window.
(Optional) Tap the Alert field. The Event Alert window appears, as shown in Figure 26-6. Tap a time period, such as 5 minutes before or 1 hour before, and then tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Event Alert window.
(Optional) Tap Availability. The Availability window appears. Tap Busy or Free, and then tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Availability window.
(Optional) Tap the URL field, and type a URL address such as www.nostarch.com.
(Optional) Tap the Notes text field, and type any additional descriptions or notes you want to remember about this appointment, such as Don't forget to bring birthday present or Remember, Mr. Grutchins is allergic to peanuts.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Add Event window when you're finished typing information about your appointment.
After you have defined an appointment, you can always modify it by changing the start time or date or turning an alarm off or on. You also have the option of deleting the entire appointment. To edit an appointment, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap the appointment you want to modify. The Edit window appears, as shown in Figure 26-7. In the Week or Month calendar view, you may need to tap Edit to see the Edit window.
Make any changes to your appointment.
(Optional) Tap Delete Event at the bottom of the Edit window if you want to delete your entire appointment. A red Delete Event button and a black Cancel button appear at the bottom of the Edit window. Tap Delete Event or Cancel.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Edit window to save your changes.
You can search for an appointment by typing a word or phrase, such as the location or name of the appointment. To search for an appointment, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap the Search field that appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. A virtual keyboard appears.
Type a word or phrase that appears in the appointment that you want to find. A Results window appears, listing all appointments that currently match what you typed (even if it's just one letter), as shown in Figure 26-8.
Tap an appointment in the Results window to view that appointment.
If you have many appointments, you could organize them into different calendars, such as a personal calendar for personal appointments and an office calendar for your work-related appointments. To create multiple calendars, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap Calendars in the upper-left corner of the screen. The Show Calendars window appears, as shown in Figure 26-9.
Tap Edit. The Edit Calendars window appears, as shown in Figure 26-10.
Tap Add Calendar. An Add Calendar window appears, as shown in Figure 26-11.
Type a name for your calendar.
(Optional) Tap a color to identify your calendar, such as Red or Green.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Add Calendar window. The Edit Calendars window appears again, listing your newly created calendar.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the Edit Calendars window. The Show Calendars window appears, letting you select which calendar you want to view. A checkmark means the calendar's appointments are visible.
Tap anywhere on the screen away from the Show Calendars window to make it disappear.
Note
After you have defined two or more calendars, you will need to choose which calendar to store appointments on by tapping Calendar in the Add Event window and choosing a calendar, as shown in Figure 26-12.
To delete a calendar and all appointments stored on that calendar, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Calendar. The Calendar screen appears.
Tap Calendars in the upper-left corner of the screen. The Show Calendars window appears.
Tap Edit. The Edit Calendars window appears.
Tap the calendar you want to delete. Scroll down the Edit Calendars window until you see a red Delete Calendar button.
Tap the Delete Calendar button.
A Delete Calendar button and a Cancel button appear. Tap Delete Calendar. The Edit Calendars window appears again.
Tap Done. The Show Calendars window appears.
Tap anywhere on the screen away from the Show Calendars window to make it disappear.
Calendars can help keep your life organized (just as long as you take your iPad with you so you can see your calendars). If you're trying to achieve a goal, such as losing weight or giving up smoking, you could set a repetitive appointment with words of encouragement.
Since you can store appointments far into the future, take a moment now to set an alert for important dates, such as upcoming anniversaries, birthdays, or other events that you can't afford to forget. Now your iPad can help make you look like a genius when you remember all those birthdays of loved ones.