Why does Apple ignore iCal?

[BWhaler]

iCal has to be the worst iapp of the bunch. It is essential in a business environment to have a industrial caliber calendaring program, yet 10.2 and 10.3 saw only minor improvements. And once again, iCal in Tiger appears to be just another tweak or two.

Is it me? Am I the only one frustrated by the basic functionality missing out of iCal? And if not, what is Apple thinking?

I have sent Apple pages of ideas on basic functionality missing over the past few years. Just basic functionality. I explain we are a business which needs these features. I tell them we want to support Apple in our business but iCal makes it increasing more difficult. I'm really nice about it.

(and we know about the options, but we want iCal because of its ties to the other iapps and .mac)

What's the deal? Is it me?

 

[Mord]

my dad keeps complaining that it looses things and stuff dissaperes off it, and some of the alerts dont work, do you think it's just his memory or is it that bad?

 

[munkle]

I've only just started using iCal and find it pretty good, although it is only for personal use.

Apple is trying to push .Mac for full functionality with iCal but there are lots of third party apps which fill the gaps, namely PHPiCal and a nice little tutorialFileMaker to iCal.

 

[dotnina]

I use iCal all the time, and I've been mostly happy with it. What displeases you?

The following few things annoy me; it seems like at least a few are slated to be fixed in Tiger:

- No way to group calendars

- When you have two "All Day" events in month view, it doesn't let you pick which one goes on top of the other (or at least, I haven't found out how)

- Names of events being abbreviated (not necessary to your liking), notably in month view

- Probably some other things I can't think of right now

Hector -- In the iCal preference pane, there's an option to turn off alarms when iCal isn't open. That could be his issue w/the alarms, if it's not something more obvious.

 

[dongmin]

It is essential in a business environment to have a industrial caliber calendaring program, yet 10.2 and 10.3 saw only minor improvements.

iCal could use a lot of work but as a basic calender program any newbie can use, it works pretty well. it's not anywhere near being a 'business' caliber program, but i don't think that's the intention. My wishlist:

1. Ability to archive calendars. I want to be able to store away old projects without them cluttering up the main list. This could probably be solved by nesting/grouping calendars.

2. Todo items with deadlines should appear under the main calendar, or atleast you should have the option.

3. You should be able to dock the info palette on the left or right columns.

4. Power feature #1: it'd be nice if you could just drag a card from addressbook to ical and it automatically generates an appointment with that person, complete with their photo and everything. And when you double-click that appointment, the addressbook pops up with their contact info (in case you wanted to change the appointment). So yeah, better linking with addressbook.

5. Power feature #2: the ability to schedule appscript/automator events in the calendar. Say if I wanted to send out a certain email after a certain date, it'd be cool if I could just schedule this task in a very easy way.

 

[David Lundgren]

I'd at least like to see the Status list editable so business users can make it applicable to what we might do in our particular industries.

I switched over to Entourage for awhile, in part for heavier duty calendar, but I have to admit that after a month or so, I was back to the Mac applications. I had thought that, for business use, the suite approach of tying mail, calendar and particularly project stuff together was the way to go, but it didn't take long to get tired of the "clunkiness" of the way Entourage does it. Now I'm back where I started, using virtual desktops for the different functions when I'm just working off the Powerbook without my other monitor.

I think the searching in iCal is much more useful than Entourage's... and the drawer approach on iCal is far better than Ent's popup windows which require a lot of clicking for Save, Close, and all kinds of other extra activity.

If Apple rolled up their sleeves and put some effort into this, I know they could do a hell of a job for the business minded, at least the smaller guys, and probably the scientific and creative communities as well. All these people need to keep track of what they're doing, regardless.

 

[wPod]

i think iCal is a great app. . . . for personal use. thats all i use it for. in a proffesional business envirnment iCal is lacking a lot. or maybe i havent tried it fully. but interconnectivity with other users calendars. i dont know.

but it is a very simple program for the non-proffesional to use at home. ical may lack features, but it works smoothly. i would have to still vote iPhoto as one of the worst programs, because it crashes and loses pics all the time!

 

[munkle]

1. Ability to archive calendars. I want to be able to store away old projects without them cluttering up the main list. This could probably be solved by nesting/grouping calendars.

You can export a calander and basically archive it that way. It saves as an .ics file, so is compatible with other Calendar clients too.

2. Todo items with deadlines should appear under the main calendar, or atleast you should have the option.

If you click the little pin button at the bottom right of your iCal window, a To Do drawer pops out.

3. You should be able to dock the info palette on the left or right columns.

You can undock the info palette, turning it into a seperate window and put it where you wish.

4. Power feature #1: it'd be nice if you could just drag a card from addressbook to ical and it automatically generates an appointment with that person, complete with their photo and everything. And when you double-click that appointment, the addressbook pops up with their contact info (in case you wanted to change the appointment). So yeah, better linking with addressbook.

You can drag an address book contact into a new event. The person will be listed as an attendee and his info will show up the information window.

5. Power feature #2: the ability to schedule appscript/automator events in the calendar. Say if I wanted to send out a certain email after a certain date, it'd be cool if I could just schedule this task in a very easy way.

There are lots of apple scripts for ical available to download already, you could always write your own...or wait for automator to come out to make it a bit easier!

 

[FelixDerKater]

There is little to no profit to Apple in updating or enhancing iCal.

 

[zim]

my dad keeps complaining that it looses things and stuff dissaperes off it, and some of the alerts dont work, do you think it's just his memory or is it that bad?

My wife has said this too. I find it odd, because we share a log in and I use the same calendar and have never lost anything... me thinks it is he user, shh don't tell her that I said that.

I love iCal. Compared to meeting maker, a calendar system that I am forced to use at work, iCal is much easier to navigate and use, in my opinion. I would like to see apple work on emphasizing the shared calendar aspect and also allow for shared calendars that you can give other users the ability to edit... read/write privileges.

 

[Heart Break Kid]

I'm currently running the new build of Tiger - and believe me iCAL is NOT ignored in it. It is superb

iCal could use a lot of work but as a basic calender program any newbie can use, it works pretty well. it's not anywhere near being a 'business' caliber program, but i don't think that's the intention. My wishlist:

1. Ability to archive calendars. I want to be able to store away old projects without them cluttering up the main list. This could probably be solved by nesting/grouping calendars.

GROUPING EXISTS - You can have colapsable groups containing several calander. I have 18 calanders running, split into 4 groups - the main list is no longer cluttered

2. Todo items with deadlines should appear under the main calendar, or atleast you should have the option.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this - but they do appear in the drawer on the right/left side of the main calander. You can drag and drop todos between the the todo drawer and the calander

3. You should be able to dock the info palette on the left or right columns.

You can in this version of iCal

4. Power feature #1: it'd be nice if you could just drag a card from addressbook to ical and it automatically generates an appointment with that person, complete with their photo and everything. And when you double-click that appointment, the addressbook pops up with their contact info (in case you wanted to change the appointment). So yeah, better linking with addressbook.

YES THIS DOES EXIST. I just read this, and i tried it out, and yes you can drag and drop from the address book to the calander. It lists it as Appointment with name.

5. Power feature #2: the ability to schedule appscript/automator events in the calendar. Say if I wanted to send out a certain email after a certain date, it'd be cool if I could just schedule this task in a very easy way.

You can do this too.


WOW - i still cant get over the drag and drop from address book - lol -very cool


Other features - iCal now auto dls birthdays from addressbook and shows them

 

[zim]

I'm currently running the new build of Tiger - and believe me iCAL is NOT ignored in it. It is superb



You can do this too.


WOW - i still cant get over the drag and drop from address book - lol -very cool


Other features - iCal now auto dls birthdays from addressbook and shows them

I just wanted to say, YOU SUCK!

Curious, is there way to do multiple views? Say if I wanted to see a monthly view and a weekly view at the same time?

I can't wait for Tiger!

 

[kainjow]

What iCal needs is the ability to share and view calendars via Rendezvous just like iTunes, and iPhoto. That would make it perfect. Syncing with iSync is slow and requires you to restart iCal to have changes take effect. I really hope they allow sharing/editing of calendars via the network, live/instant.

And I want the Export feature to be AppleScriptable! Anyone know how to do this?

 

[dongmin]

If you click the little pin button at the bottom right of your iCal window, a To Do drawer pops out.

You misunderstood me. I want the to do items to actually appear in the body of the calendar itself, not as a separate window/bar.

You can undock the info palette, turning it into a seperate window and put it where you wish.

Is this in Panther (v. 1.5) or Tiger? In 1.5, the info palette is not dockable to anything, as far as i can tell. I want that palette integrated somewhere for easier access.

You can drag an address book contact into a new event. The person will be listed as an attendee and his info will show up the information window.

Again, is this in Pather or Tiger? I can't do this in 1.5.

There are lots of apple scripts for ical available to download already, you could always write your own...or wait for automator to come out to make it a bit easier!

Where do you find these scripts???

Another wish: I wanta little thing integrated into the menu bar so that I can see what the upcoming event is w/o opening up iCal.

 

[zim]

What iCal needs is the ability to share and view calendars via Rendezvous just like iTunes, and iPhoto. That would make it perfect. Syncing with iSync is slow and requires you to restart iCal to have changes take effect. I really hope they allow sharing/editing of calendars via the network, live/instant.

And I want the Export feature to be AppleScriptable! Anyone know how to do this?

This could be useful but only if you are amongst other users. Currently my laptop and computer are synced through .mac. If they did implement something like this, I would hope that there would be a privacy setting for appointments you do not wish to share.

 

[BWhaler]

I love the idea of a widget or menu notification of an upcoming event. maybe just the time which you click on to get more info.

Sadly, while this is a great thread, given the fact that Apple has added less than 10 features in the Tiger build, I suspect Apple is spending no time or energy on iCal.

There are so many great ideas here so far, but I think they will fall on deaf ears.

Apple is really missing the boat. It's a shame.

 

[deral]

Im a hardcore iCal user, and I think it's improved greatly over the past generations. I would love to see transparent effects (like with Stickies) and a more easier way to categorize information.

 

[Arnel]

Somebody has mentioned this before on another iCal thread (there sure seems to be a lot of them!), but I'll mention it again here as I'd find it really useful...

You should be able to set up a default alarm for each calendar, in the info pane for the calendar next to where you set the calendar's colour. For instance, the 'Birthdays' calendar I'd want to remind me of upcoming birthdays a week in advance, whereas the 'Movies on TV' calendar I'd only want the reminders about fifteen minutes before the movie starts.

Neil.
a.k.a. Arnel

 

[BWhaler]

Somebody has mentioned this before on another iCal thread (there sure seems to be a lot of them!), but I'll mention it again here as I'd find it really useful...

You should be able to set up a default alarm for each calendar, in the info pane for the calendar next to where you set the calendar's colour. For instance, the 'Birthdays' calendar I'd want to remind me of upcoming birthdays a week in advance, whereas the 'Movies on TV' calendar I'd only want the reminders about fifteen minutes before the movie starts.

Neil.
a.k.a. Arnel

I can't seem to get this to work. I click on a calendar, and there is no option to set alarms at all in the info panel.

Can you help me out? Thanks so much.

 

[evildead]

Software update

Well... I don't use iCal personaly. But... Apple let loose an update for it yesterday (12.13.2004).

-evildead

 

[gopher]

iCal has to be the worst iapp of the bunch. It is essential in a business environment to have a industrial caliber calendaring program, yet 10.2 and 10.3 saw only minor improvements. And once again, iCal in Tiger appears to be just another tweak or two.

Is it me? Am I the only one frustrated by the basic functionality missing out of iCal? And if not, what is Apple thinking?

I have sent Apple pages of ideas on basic functionality missing over the past few years. Just basic functionality. I explain we are a business which needs these features. I tell them we want to support Apple in our business but iCal makes it increasing more difficult. I'm really nice about it.

(and we know about the options, but we want iCal because of its ties to the other iapps and .mac)

What's the deal? Is it me?

Apple will ignore iCal unless everyone in this thread gets up to vote:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ical.html

Please post your suggestions there. Until you do that, you might as well be blowing hot air.

 

[kirk@kpj2.com]

Print Deficiencies

iCal apparently has no ability to print other than the calendar view.

I use iCal to manage multiple advertising schedules, consulting engagements, and personal appointments.

I need to be able to print a consolidated list of all the items in single or multiple calendars, in a list.

For instance, I have all my sales calls to clients in iCal. I need to print them all out in a list, add milage to this, and use it for tax purposes, or, in some cases, reimbursement or billing.

iCal seems to work well for many things, but output is not one of them. I am hoping that I don't have to manually go through everything, or print 12 months of 10 calendars and manually re-enter everything

Suggestions gladly accepted.

--Kirk

 

[eMac]

iCal reply

i don't see anything wrong with iCal except what other people are saying. iCal is great, other than the minor bugs that i've incuired in the past few weeks. but, other than that, it's a really great program that basically holds my busy schedule. thanks Apple!!!

 

[dduchene]

They have taken out one of the features that I liked most. I used to be able to set more than one alert so I used to set it up to come up on the screen and email now only one is available (I emailed my cell) so that I would know if I was not at the computer. But has to the work world I HATE TO SAY IT. but you have to be able to work with exchange calender exchage is supported in Mail and there is a 3rd party app that is suppose to handle this
I have never had it losse things but after this last update there was some strange behavior in that I didn't get a mothly email reminder set for the 19th till I started Ical yesterday I hope that they didn't break this again. This happened once before that you wouldn't get alerts unless Ical was running I am not a power user so I only open it when I need to make a quick change and then shut it off.