Java Desktop System Email and Calendar User Guide

Chapter 6 Using Calendar

The information in this chapter describes how to use the calendar features in Email and Calendar.

Introduction to Calendar

You can use Calendar to schedule appointments, meetings, and tasks. This chapter describes the features of a local calendar. Most of the features in a Sun Java System Calendar Server are the same as those in a local calendar. See Chapter 9, Using Sun Java System Calendar Server Accounts and Folders for more information about the differences between a local calendar and a Java System Calendar Server calendar.

Figure 6–1 shows a typical Calendar window.

Figure 6–1 Typical Calendar Window

Typical Calendar window. Callouts: Schedule pane, Date pane, Task pane.

The Calendar window contains the following panes:

Pane	Description
Schedule pane	The schedule pane is the largest pane in the Calendar window. The schedule pane displays the schedule for the selected dates, using the specified view.
Date pane	In the upper right area of the Calendar window, the date pane displays all of the dates in the current month as dark numerals. Dates in the previous month and next month, if included, are shown as light numerals. The date for today is outlined with a red box. Dates on which an appointment is scheduled are displayed in bold type. Currently selected dates are highlighted.
Task pane	In the lower right area of the Calendar window, the task pane displays the task list from the default tasks folder.

Viewing Your Calendar

You can change the view that Email and Calendar uses to display the schedule, as follows:

View	Description
View -> Current View -> Day View	Displays the schedule for a single day. By default, `Email and Calendar` displays the daily schedule divided into thirty-minute segments. The time segments for work hours have a light background, the time segments for nonwork hours have a dark background. The single-day view is the default view.
View -> Current View -> Work Week View	Displays the schedule for a work week. By default, this view displays the schedule for Monday to Friday inclusive.
View -> Current View -> Week View	Displays the schedule for a week.
View -> Current View -> Month View	Displays the schedule for a month.

Navigating Your Calendar

Email and Calendar automatically displays the schedule for today. You can navigate to another date to display the schedule for that date.

To Go to a Particular Date

Perform the following steps:

Choose View -> Go to Date, to display the Go To Date dialog.
Use the month drop-down list to select the required month.
Use the year spin box to select the required year, or type the year in the text box. Email and Calendar displays the dates in the specified month, in the main section of the Go To Date dialog.
Select the required date. Email and Calendar closes the Go To Date dialog, then displays the schedule for the selected date.

To Return to the Schedule for Today

Choose View -> Go to Today.

Creating an Appointment

You can use Calendar to create an all-day appointment, or an appointment of short duration. You can create a standalone appointment, or a series of appointments.

To Create a Standalone Appointment

Perform the following steps:

Choose File -> New -> Appointment.

Enter the appointment details in the Appointment tabbed section. The following table describes the elements in the Appointment tabbed section:

Element	Description
Summary	Type a short description of the appointment.
Location	Type the location of the appointment.
Start time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the appointment start date and time.
End time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the appointment end date and time.
Globe button	To specify a time in a different time zone, click on the globe button to the right of the drop-down combination boxes. Click on the map in the Select a Time Zone dialog to select a time zone, or select a time zone from the drop-down list, then click OK.
All day event	Select this option to create an all-day appointment. To create an appointment of shorter duration, deselect this option.
Details text box	Type the details of the appointment.
Classification	Select one of the following options: Public: Select this option to enable other users on your network to see all details of this appointment in your schedule. Private: Select this option to specify that other users on your network cannot see any details of this appointment in your schedule. Confidential: Select this option to allow other users on your network to see only that this appointment is in your schedule. The other users cannot see the appointment details.
Show Time As	Select one of the following options: Free: Select this option to indicate to other users on your network that you are free to attend another meeting during the time specified for this appointment. Busy: Select this option to indicate to other users on your network that you are not free to attend another meeting during the time specified for this appointment.
Categories and text box	Type the category name to assign a category to this appointment. If you want to assign more than one category, separate the categories with a comma. Alternatively, click on the Categories button. Use the Edit Categories dialog to select a category.

To schedule an alert to remind you about the appointment, click on the Reminder tab. The following table describes the elements in the Reminder tabbed section:

Element	Description
Basics	Displays the date, start time, and end time of the appointment.
Display a Message	Select one of the following alert types from the drop-down list: Display a message Play a sound Run a program Send an Email
Time-units spin box	Use the spin box to specify the number of time units.
minute(s)	Select one of the following time-unit types from the drop-down list: minute(s) hour(s) day(s)
before	Select one of the following options from the drop-down list: before after
start of appointment	Select one of the following options from the drop-down list: start of appointment end of appointment
Options	Click on the Options button to display an Alarm Options dialog. For more information about the Alarm Options dialog, see Alarm Options Dialog.
Alarm list	This element displays a list of the alarms that are set for the currently selected appointment.
Add	Click Add to add the specified alarm to the Reminders list.
Remove	Click Remove to remove the selected alarm from the Reminders list.

Note –

Email and Calendar uses time zone settings from various sources. In each of these sources, the time zones must be set to the same value for reminders to function correctly. For more information about how to set time zones, see Setting Calendar and Tasks Preferences.

To save the appointment, choose File -> Save.

To save the appointment and then close the Appointment window, choose File -> Save and Close.

To save the appointment in a file, choose File -> Save As to display the Save as window. Type the filename, then click OK.

To close the Appointment window without saving the appointment, choose File -> Close.
To preview the details of the appointment, choose File -> Print Preview.

To print the details of the appointment, choose File -> Print.

Alarm Options Dialog

Use the Alarm Options dialog to specify additional options for an alarm. The following table describes the elements in the Alarm Options dialog:

Element	Description
Repeat the alarm	Select this option to show the alarm more than once.
extra times	Use this spin box to specify the number of times to repeat the alarm.
every	Use this spin box to specify the number of time units between each repeated alarm.
minutes	Select one of the following time-unit types from the drop-down list: minutes hours days
text box	The title of the text box depends on the alarm type, as follows: Display a Message: Type the message text in the Message to Display text box. Play a Sound: Enter the name of the sound file in the Play sound drop-down combination box. Alternatively, click Browse to display a Select file dialog. Use the dialog to specify the sound file that you want to use. Run a Program: Type the program name in the Run program text box. Type the program arguments in the With these arguments text box. Send an Email: Type the email addresses to which you want to send the email reminder, in the text box beside the Send To button. If you want to send the reminder to more than one address, separate the addresses with a comma. Alternatively, click on the Send To button. Use the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog to select addresses. Type the message text in the Message to Send text box. Note – The Alarm Repeat functionality is not supported in this release.

To Create an All-Day Appointment

Perform the following steps:

Choose File -> New -> All Day Appointment. An Appointment window is displayed, with the All day event option selected. The Appointment window is similar to that displayed when you choose File -> New -> Appointment, except that the start time and end time are not displayed.
Enter the appropriate details in the Appointment window, as described in To Create a Standalone Appointment.
Choose File -> Save and Close. Email and Calendar saves the all-day appointment and then closes the Appointment window.

To Create a Recurring Appointment

Perform the following steps:

Create an appointment as described in To Create a Standalone Appointment.

In the Appointment window, click on the Recurrence tab to display the Recurrence tabbed section. The following table describes the elements in the Recurrence tabbed section:

Element	Description
Basics	Displays the date, start time, and end time of the appointment.
Recurrence Rule	Select one of the following options: No recurrence: Select this option to schedule one appointment only. Simple recurrence: Select this option to use predefined settings to schedule a series of appointments. Custom recurrence: If this option is selected, the appointment contains recurrences that you cannot edit in `Email and Calendar`.
Every	Use this spin box to specify the number of time units between each appointment in the series.
day(s)	Select one of the following time-unit types from the drop-down list: day(s) week(s) month(s) year(s)
forever	Select one of the following options from the drop-down list, to specify when the series of appointments ends: forever: Select this option to specify that the series of appointments continues indefinitely. for: Select this option to display the occurrences spin box. Use the spin box to specify the number of appointments in the series. until: Select this option to display a drop-down combination box. Use the drop-down combination box to specify the date of the last appointment in the series.
Exceptions	Use this drop-down combination box to specify the dates in the series when you do not want to schedule an appointment.
Add	Click Add to add the specified date to the list of exceptions.
Modify	Click Modify to make the specified changes to the selected date in the list of exceptions.
Remove	Click Remove to remove the selected date from the list of exceptions.
Preview	The Preview section displays all of the dates in the current month. The current date is outlined in red. Dates on which an appointment is scheduled in the current series are displayed in bold. Figure 6–2 shows a typical Preview section. Click on the left arrow, to the left of the month name in the Preview section, to display the previous month. Click on the left arrow several times to scroll back through several months. Click on the right arrow, to the right of the month name in the Preview section, to display the next month. Click on the right arrow several times to scroll forward through several months.

Choose File -> Save and Close. Email and Calendar saves the series of appointments and then closes the Appointment window.

Figure 6–2 Typical Preview Section

Typical Preview section. Callouts: Current date, Scheduled date

Deleting an Appointment

You can delete a standalone appointment, a series of appointments, or an appointment within a series of appointments.

To Delete a Standalone Appointment

Perform the following steps:

Double-click on the appointment in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Choose File -> Delete.
If a confirmation alert appears, click Yes.

To Delete a Series of Appointments

Perform the following steps:

Double-click on any appointment in the series, in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Choose File -> Delete.
If a confirmation alert appears, click Yes.

To Delete an Appointment Within a Series of Appointments

Perform the following steps:

Choose View -> Current View -> Day View.
Right-click on the appointment that you want to delete, in the schedule pane.
Choose Delete this Occurrence from the popup menu.

Creating a Meeting

You can use Email and Calendar to create a meeting, to invite others to the meeting, and book the necessary resources for the meeting.

To Create a Meeting

Perform the following steps:

Choose File -> New -> Meeting. An Appointment window is displayed similar to that when you choose File -> New -> Appointment, except that the window contains two additional tabs: Scheduling and Meeting.
Enter the appropriate details in the Appointment, Reminder, and Recurrence tabs in the Appointment window, as described in To Create a Standalone Appointment and To Create a Recurring Appointment.
To enter more details about the meeting, click on the Meeting tab to display the Meeting tabbed section.
Select the organizer of the meeting from the Organizer drop-down list.

Email and Calendar automatically enters the name of the current user in the Organizer text box. If you maintain several Email and Calendar accounts, select the appropriate account from the drop-down list.

The meeting attendees are listed in table format. From left to right, the meeting attendees table contains the following columns by default:

Column	Description
Attendee	`Email and Calendar` automatically enters the current user as the first entry in the attendee list. To add another attendee to the list, click on the Click here to add an attendee text below the attendee list. Type the name or email address of the person or group that you want to invite to the meeting, or the name of the resource or room that you want to book for the meeting. If you want to send the meeting information to the attendee, you must type the email address of the attendee in this field.
Type	Click on the field under the Type column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following types from the drop-down list: Individual Group Resource Room Unknown
Role	Click on the field under the Role column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following roles from the drop-down list: Chair Required Participant Optional Participant Non-Participant Unknown
RSVP	Click on the field under the RSVP column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following options from the drop-down list, to specify whether a reply should be sent to the meeting organizer: Yes No
Status	Click on the field under the Status column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following status options from the drop-down list: Needs Action Accepted Declined Tentative Delegated

Press Return to add the new entry to the attendee list.

To delete an attendee from the list, right-click on the entry in the attendee list, then choose Delete from the popup menu.

For information about how to change the current view, save the current view, or create custom views, see Using Views.

Click on the Invite Others button to create a new entry in the table. Email and Calendar also displays the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog, which you can use to select attendees.

Click on the Scheduling tab to display the Scheduling tabbed section. You can use the Scheduling tabbed section to identify a time period when all attendees are free to attend the meeting, and when the necessary resources are available for the meeting. The following table describes the elements in the Scheduling tabbed section:

Element	Description
Attendee list	Displays the list of meeting attendees. This attendee list is the same as that in the Meeting tabbed section, except that the Role and RSVP columns are not displayed. You can customize the contents of this table, as described in Using Views.
Legend	Describes the color codes that are used in the schedule to indicate the following: Tentative: The attendee has another appointment but has marked the time as free, so the attendee might be able to attend this meeting at the indicated time. Busy: The attendee has another appointment and cannot attend this meeting at the indicated time. Out of Office: The attendee is out of the office and cannot attend this meeting at the indicated time. No Information: The attendee has not published their free or busy information, so `Email and Calendar` cannot determine whether the attendee can attend this meeting at the indicated time.
Schedule	Displays the schedule for each of the meeting attendees. The time segments for the currently selected time period have a light background, all other time segments have a dark background. The free or busy time for each attendee is indicated by colored squares.
Invite Others	Click on the Invite Others button to create a new entry in the attendee list. `Email and Calendar` also displays the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog, which you can use to select attendees.
Options	Click on the Options button to display a popup menu that contains the following menu items: Show Only Working Hours: Select this option to change the schedule to show only the work hours in each day. Deselect this option to show all hours in each day. Work hours are defined as the hours between Day begins and Day ends. Show Zoomed Out: Select this option to change the schedule to show a summarized schedule for several days. Deselect this option to show a detailed schedule for each day. Update Free/Busy: Choose this menu item to update the free or busy information in the schedule, for each attendee in the attendee list.
<< button	Click on the << button to highlight in the schedule the previous time period that meets the selected Autopick criteria. `Email and Calendar` automatically updates the Meeting start time and Meeting end time values.
Autopick	Click on the Autopick button to display a popup menu that contains the following menu items: All People and Resources: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the specified people and all of the specified resources are free. All People and One Resource: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the specified people and any of the specified resources are free. Required People: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the required people are free. Required People and One Resource: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the required people and any of the specified resources are free.
>> button	Click on the >> button to highlight in the schedule the next time period that meets the selected Autopick criteria. `Email and Calendar` automatically updates the Meeting start time and Meeting end time values.
Meeting start time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the meeting start date and time.
Meeting end time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the meeting end date and time.

Choose File -> Save and Close. Email and Calendar creates the meeting and then asks if you would like to send the meeting information.
Click Yes to send the meeting information to the specified mail addresses.

Click No to save the meeting information without sending the information to the specified mail addresses. You can send the meeting information at a later time, as described in Sending Meeting Information.

Sending Meeting Information

To send meeting information, perform the following steps:

Double-click on the meeting in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Choose Actions -> Forward as iCalendar to display an email message window, similar to the Inbox Compose a message window. Email and Calendar automatically inserts text in the Subject text box and in the message content area. Email and Calendar includes the meeting information in the message body.
Enter the email addresses to which you want to send the meeting information, in the To field. If you want to send the information to more than one address, separate the addresses with a comma.

For more information about the elements in the message window, see To Send a Message.
Choose File -> Send to send the meeting information to the specified email addresses.
Choose File -> Close to close the Appointment window.

Canceling a Meeting

You can cancel a meeting, or revoke an invitation to a meeting for individual attendees.

To Cancel a Meeting

Perform the following steps:

Double-click on the meeting in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Choose Action -> Cancel Meeting to display a confirmation alert.
Click Yes to cancel the meeting. Email and Calendar sends a cancellation notice to the specified mail addresses.

To Revoke an Invitation to a Meeting

Perform the following steps:

Double-click on the meeting in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Click on the Meeting tab to display the Meeting tabbed section.
Right-click on the attendee whose invitation you want to revoke, then choose Delete from the popup menu. Email and Calendar deletes the attendee from the attendee list.

Repeat this step for each additional attendee whose invitation you want to revoke.
Choose File -> Save and Close. Email and Calendar asks if you would like to send the updated meeting information.
Click Yes to send the updated meeting information to the specified mail addresses:
- A message with the subject Cancel:Calendar Information is sent to the attendees whose invitation is revoked.
- A message with the subject Calendar information is sent to the attendees who remain on the attendee list.
Click No to save the updated meeting information without sending a message to the specified mail addresses.

Replying to a Meeting Invitation

Email and Calendar sends meeting invitations to your Inbox, as attachments to email messages. To reply to a meeting invitation, perform the following steps:

Open the email message to which the meeting invitation is attached.
Open the meeting invitation by viewing the attachment in the message, as described in To View an Attachment.
Select one of the following options:
- Accept
- Tentatively Accept
- Decline
If you accept the invitation, Email and Calendar adds the event to your calendar when you close the meeting invitation.
Select the RSVP option to specify that you want to reply to the meeting organizer.

If you select the RSVP option, Email and Calendar sends an email to the meeting organizer with the details of your reply, when you close the meeting invitation.

If you do not select the RSVP option, Email and Calendar does not send a reply to the meeting organizer.
Click on the calendar button to display a popup menu that lists your calendar folders. Select the calendar where you want to save the details of this invitation.
Click OK to close the meeting invitation.
Close the email message.

Updating a Meeting Based on Invitation Replies

When a meeting attendee replies to your meeting invitation, you receive an email with the reply attached. To update the meeting based on the reply, perform the following steps:

Open the email message to which the reply is attached.
Open the reply by viewing the attachment in the message, as described in To View an Attachment.
Click OK to close the reply. Email and Calendar updates the attendee list, based on the details of the reply.
Close the email message.

Refreshing the Meeting Details

When you accept a meeting invitation, you add the meeting to your calendar. You might want to check that the meeting details are still up-to-date. To do this, perform the following steps:

Double-click on the meeting in the schedule pane, to open the Appointment window.
Choose Actions -> Refresh Meeting to send an email message to the meeting organizer. The subject of the email is Refresh: Calendar information.
The organizer decides whether to send you the latest meeting details.

Only the organizer can change the details of a meeting. Any changes made by a meeting attendee are ignored.

Publishing Free or Busy Information

You can publish the free or busy information for an account, so that other users on the network can consult the schedule for that account when they want to organize a meeting.

To Publish Free or Busy Information

To publish the free or busy information for an account, perform the following steps:

Choose Actions -> Publish Free/Busy Information, to display the Calendar information window. The Calendar information window is an email window, similar to the Inbox Compose a message window. Email and Calendar automatically inserts text in the Subject text box and in the message content area. Email and Calendar includes the free or busy information as an attachment to the email.
Type, in the To text box, the email addresses to which you want to send the free or busy information. If you want to send the information to more than one address, separate the addresses with a comma.

Alternatively, click on the To button. Use the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog to select addresses.

For more information about the elements in the Calendar information window, see To Send a Message.
Choose File -> Send to send the free or busy information to the specified email addresses.