Monday, January 30, 2012

TIP: CALENDARS - REVISITED

Having added an iPad in October, to the technology I had last June (newly-purchased iPhone, 2005 Windows IBM laptop, and family 2004 Windows IBM desktop), I have the following to add to my June posting on the subject of calendars:

- Apple's iCloud support released in October has the ability to set up automatic sync of many data types that Dropbox does (so I use both methods, to have multiple backups). This automatic sync is especially useful for the Apple calendar app, keeping calendars in sync on multiple devices (including laptop & desktop calendars if you wish - but I'm finding phone & pad sufficient for my uses).

- With iPad, the Apple calendar app allows defining "sub" calendars with different colors, so when viewed together, events are color-coded. By sync'ing calendar, those definitions are then available on iPhone as well - it's the only way to get color-coding on iPhone according to Apple folks, at least at this date.

As a strong visual, I *love* the color-coding, which I use as follows:
- orange = errands
- yellow = appointments
- green = exercise & home
- blue = fun
- purple = genealogy (also fun!)
The colors quickly give me an overview of how well I'm balancing the different parts of my life.

Another thing I've learned about the Apple calendar app, experienced only by crossing time zones since then, is that whenever you enter a new time zone, ALL your entries will automatically shift to display in THAT time zone, which I find really disorientating! I'd really prefer times to remain as I entered, relative to whatever time zone I would be in that day - but I haven't found a way to do that. Please let me know if you find a way!

No comments:

Post a Comment