Help Document

About calendars
Your personal FirstClass calendar is like a personal diary. It records calendar events and tasks.
Unlike your personal diary, you can permit other people to view and update your FirstClass calendar. This allows everyone to schedule meetings at mutually convenient times.
FirstClass calendars work much like conferences; your administrator may create public calendars and give you access to them.

Types of calendars

FirstClass supports the following types of calendars:

•       personal calendar

This is your own calendar. You can limit what others can see on your personal calendar.

•       group calendar

A public calendar that lets a specific group of people coordinate their time and tasks.

•       resource calendar

A public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a projector. A resource calendar is updated when users book the resource as part of creating a calendar event.

•       location calendar

A public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a meeting room. Location calendars are updated just like resource calendars.

Opening calendars

To open your personal calendar, choose File > Open > Calendar. A personal calendar is placed on your Desktop, if it is not already there.
To open another user's calendar, select the user from the Directory listing, then choose Open User Calendar from the shortcut menu.

Calendar views

You can look at a calendar using the same views as you use for conferences. While in these views, you can do the same things you do with messages. For example, in List view you can sort calendar events.
In addition, there are the following specialized calendar views:

•       monthly (shows the least detail) - choose View > View by Month

The current day is highlighted.

•       weekly - choose View > View by Week.

The current day is highlighted.

•       daily (shows the most detail) - choose View > View by Day
•       Today list - choose View > View Today List.

Shows events that take place today and tasks that start today or are still ongoing.

To see two different views of a calendar simultaneously, turn on the horizontal or vertical split bar, then select the view you want for each pane.

Calendar navigation

The navigation buttons in the special calendar views let you scroll backward and forward through calendar pages. You can also return to the current month, week, or day, or go to the page containing a specific date.
To go to the page containing a specific date, click this button to open a popup calendar:

In the popup calendar, click the double arrow buttons to scroll years, or the single arrow buttons to scroll months. To select a date, click it, then click OK. To select today, click Today.
To open the first unread item, choose Conferencing > Navigation > Next Unread.

Customizing calendar views

You can customize your monthly and weekly calendar views in the following ways:

•       display week numbers
•       change the day on which the week starts.

To customize your calendar views:

1       Choose Edit > Preferences.
2       Make the changes you want on the Calendaring tab.
3       Click OK.

Calendar reminders

When you create a calendar event or task, you can tell FirstClass to generate a reminder at the time you specify. The reminder appears as a dialog box if you are logged into a server. This dialog box contains a Details button that opens the event or task details when clicked.
If you are not logged into a server, the reminder is sent to your Mailbox as a message.

Forwarding calendar reminders to pagers

FirstClass can notify you of calendar reminders through your pager, if you have an email-based paging system. To forward calendar reminders to your pager:

1       Choose Edit > Preferences.
2       Fill in the fields on the Messaging - Paging tab.
3       Choose Yes or Urgent Only at "Calendar items".
4       Click OK.

Calendar events

Adding calendar events

To add an event to a calendar:

1       Open the calendar.
2       Choose Message > New Calendar Event.

Shortcut

To create an event that starts on a particular day, double-click either within the blank space under the day you want or on the date itself.

3       Fill in the basic event information.
4       Fill in the fields on the Repeat tab, if you want the event to show up repeatedly on the calendar.

If you make the event repeat, this icon is displayed beside the event:

5       Fill in the appropriate fields on the Participants tab to invite participants or book resources.

6       Fill in the fields on the Reminders tab, if you want to generate reminders.

If you add reminders to the event, this icon is displayed beside the event:

7       Attach files or add content just as you would for a message, if necessary.

8       Close the calendar event form.

To make the event urgent
Choose Message > Priority > Priority Urgent with the event selected. The event will appear in bold on the calendar.

Adding events from other calendars

You can copy events from one calendar to another. This can be useful for adding events from group calendars to your personal calendar.
To copy an event to another calendar, drag it from the source calendar to the appropriate date on the target calendar.

Deleting calendar events

If you are creating a calendar event and decide you do not want it, you can delete it while it is still open, just as you would an open message.
If you delete an event that you created previously, the event is removed from all participants' calendars.

Viewing calendar events

As is the case for messages, a calendar event is flagged as unread until you open it or turn the unread flag off.
Opening an event lets you view all its details. You can also see some details in a popup window by hovering your cursor over the event.
You can view event history, just as you would the history of a message, to check whether participants have accepted or declined invitations.
If the event includes a mail list as a participant, you can see who belongs to the mail list by selecting it from the Participants tab, then choosing Open User Info Form from the shortcut menu.

Updating calendar events

To change details about an event, open it, make your changes, then close the event form.
If you change the start date, the event will move to the new date on the calendar.
If you delete a participant, the event is removed from that participant's calendar.
Shortcuts

To move an event, you can drag it to the new date. Dragging an event to the Today list is the same as dragging it to today's date on the calendar.

To change the time of an event, you can hover the cursor over it and drag, just as you can in an opened event form.

Responding to calendar events

If you are invited to an event, the event is added to your personal calendar. If you see Accept and Decline buttons on the event form, click the appropriate button:

•       Accept accepts the invitation*
•       Accept with Reply accepts the invitation and creates a reply to the event sender

This allows you to ask the sender questions or to make comments.

•       Decline declines the invitation*
•       Decline with Reply declines the invitation and creates a reply to the event sender.

* If the person who invited you is not on your local server (and therefore cannot view the history of the event to check whether you accepted or declined), a message is generated for that person.

Sending event invitations over the Internet

If you invite someone who has an Internet address (an address that contains @) to participate in your event, the recipient will receive a message with a vCalendar attachment. This attachment can be imported into the recipient's own calendaring application.

Calendar tasks

Adding calendar tasks

To add a task to a calendar:

1       Open the calendar.
2       Choose Message > New Calendar Task.

Shortcut

Double-click within the blank space in the Today list.

3       Fill in the basic task information.
4       Fill in the fields on the Reminder tab, if you want to generate a reminder for a task with a due date.

If you add a reminder to the task, this icon is displayed beside the task:

5       Attach files or add content just as you would for a message, if necessary.

6       Close the calendar task form.

Adding tasks from other calendars

You can copy tasks from one calendar to another. This can be useful for adding tasks from group calendars to your personal calendar.
To copy a task to another calendar, drag it from the source calendar to the appropriate date on the target calendar.

Deleting calendar tasks

If you are creating a calendar task and decide you do not want it, you can delete it while it is still open, just as you would an open message.

Viewing calendar tasks

Overdue tasks are shown in red. Completed tasks have a red line through them.
To see task details, open the task. You can also see some details in a popup window by hovering your cursor over the task.

Updating calendar tasks

To change details about a task, open it, make your changes, then close the task form.
If you change the start date, the task will move to the appropriate date on the calendar.
Shortcut

To move a task, you can drag it to the new start date. Dragging a task to the Today list is the same as dragging it to today's date on the calendar.

Changing calendar task status

To change the status of a task, choose the appropriate status at "Task state" on the task form.
If you choose Completed, today's date appears at "Completed on". You can change this date if necessary by clicking the date to open a popup calendar. If you drag a completed task to another date, the "Completed on" date changes accordingly.
Shortcut

If you do not already have the task open, you can change the task status to Completed by clicking the task icon. Clicking this icon again changes the status back to Not Completed.

Creating public calendars

Creating public calendars

You can create group, resource, and location calendars just as your administrator does.
To create a public calendar:

1       Open the location (for example, a conference) where you want the calendar.
2       Choose File > New, then the appropriate type of calendar.

The new calendar opens.

3       Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS).
4       Type the calendar name at "Name".

Shortcut

Click the name of the new calendar icon twice to make it editable, type the calendar name, then press Tab.

5       Type a short description of the calendar at "Subject", if desired.
6       Click OK.
7       Set calendar properties and permissions.

Note

You can also change permissions for your personal calendar if you want to give other users more or less permission to use your calendar than is normally allowed.

Setting calendar properties and permissions

To specify the properties for a public calendar and give other users permission to use the calendar:

1       Select or open the calendar.
2       Choose Conferencing > Permissions.
3       Fill in the Permissions form.
4       Close the Permissions form.

Your changes are saved automatically.
Note

Detailed help about calendar permissions is available from the Permissions form. If you require more information on how to set up your calendar permissions, contact your administrator.

Providing information about calendars

You can provide other users with information about a calendar by creating a résumé for it. To do this:

1       Choose Conferencing > Permissions with the calendar open or selected.
2       Click About.
3       Fill in the Résumé.
4       Close the Résumé.

Updating calendars' Directory entries

A calendar's Directory entry shows you the calendar name and location. You can update certain calendar information.
To open the Directory entry for a calendar:

1       Choose Conferencing > Permissions with the calendar open or selected.
2       Click Directory.
3       Update information, if necessary.

To stop this calendar from being listed in the Directory, select "Unlisted".
To assign an alias to this calendar, type the name at "Alias".

4       Click OK.