7. The Calendar

In general, the calendar in SpinOffice does not differ very much from any other calendar client, but our calendar has some smart tools that make it very useful and distinctive from others. We will discuss them in this chapter.

7.1 Screen layout

7.2 Create a new appointment

7.3 Set up recurrence

7.4 Linking appointments to contacts, folders, or colleagues

7.5 Showing birthdays

7.6 Sending appointments by email

7.7 Marking appointments as private

7.8 Calendar sharing

7.9 Calendar preferences (the gear icon)

7.10 Synchronization of the calendar

7.1 Screen layout

SpinOffice contains a shared calendar. All users have access to it, and it looks as follows:

In the top bar, there are several options that we will point out.

• New appointment: create a new event.
• < date/period >: allow you to go through the months/week/days. 
• Today: navigate to today when you are on another month/week.
• Calendar icon: toggle through the months/week/days, depending on the view. Click on the icon to select your preferred view.
  
• Users: where you can select the calendars of your colleagues whether to show or not in your calendar screen (paragraph 7.8 below).
• 'Gear' icon: extra options and preferences, which will be discussed in paragraph 7.8 below as well. 

In the calendar, you see different colors for each event. These are based on the type of the event, the so-called 'Activity.' Manage these activities when you're on the main Contacts screen, menu option Administration > Activity codes. Once the activities are made there, you can select them in your calendar. Add an activity to an appointment to make clear that the event is sales-related, internal, service, etc...

Appointments can be sent to any contact in the database by email, attached as a .isc file, and appointments can be marked as private and linked to any contact and folder.

In the following paragraphs, we discuss all the features of the calendar.

7.2 Create a new appointment

1. Open your calendar via the menu option Go To -> Calendar.
   
   
2. Click on New Appointment on the top left of the screen or double-click on the desired day/time to get the following ‘Appointment’ screen.
   
3. Set all details related to the appointment: specific date & time, location, participants, a reminder, and recurrence.
   
   
4. Click on ‘Save' to confirm.
   
   
5. Created appointments are instantly shown in the calendar of the assigned user(s). 
   
   
6. Use the right-click on a calendar item for many options (e.g. delete, duplicate, mark private, print, jump to contact, or link the event to other contacts, folders, or colleagues)

7.3 Set up recurrence

The ‘Recurrence’ option allows you to have recurrence on a daily, weekly, monthly, or monthly basis with all possible variations. Click on Repeat on the left tab, check the Repeat checkbox, and set it all up.

Once you make an exception in a recurrence, the individual event is disconnected from the series.

7.4 Linking appointments to contacts, folders, or colleagues

When creating an appointment, you have the option to link 'participants' (=contacts in your database) to an event. This is useful for three reasons. When a contact is linked to an appointment, the event will be stored in the contact’s archive. Besides that, it is clear to you and your colleagues with whom the appointment will take place. After creating the event, you can send the appointment by mail to all linked contacts (see paragraph 7.6 below for how to do that)

Besides linking an event to a contact, the appointment can be linked to folders. This makes a folder more complete than just a collection of files. For instance, if you are working on a project with multiple contacts, it is easy to retrieve information on when you had any appointments and with whom. Use the right-click on any event in the calendar and select the 'Link to folder' option. 

When you assign an event to multiple colleagues, the event will be shown in their calendar as well. 

7.5 Showing birthdays

Activate ‘Show birthdays’ via the Preference option on top of the calendar screen. The date of birth field on the contact card will be picked for all active contacts in the database and will be shown in the calendar.

7.6 Sending appointments by email

When creating a new appointment and including any contact link to the appointment, you can send it as an attachment by email. On any event in the calendar, use the right-click option 'Send as attachment'. The event will be sent as a .isc calendar file by email. In SpinOffice, a new tab is opened where you can select an email template and add a personal message. 

• When only one contact is linked; SpinOffice opens a new email window with the appointment in the attachment.
• When multiple contacts are linked with it, SpinOffice asks if the mail can be sent. If you choose Yes, SpinOffice will jump to your Drafts folder where the messages are ready.

The participant/receiver of the mail can add it to his calendar simply by opening the attached file in the email.

Do you are planning to use the option to send the appointment as an attachment more often? Then create a standard email template and add it in the menu option Administration > Action types as action type "Calendar". When done, this template will automatically be called in the future if you want to send the appointment as an attachment.

7.7 Marking appointments as private

After the appointment has been made and saved, use the right-click on an appointment to have the option to mark the appointment as private. Nobody, unless you have admin rights, will see the content of the event. A hand icon is shown and only the time is blocked.

Colleagues who are linked to a private appointment can see the content of the appointment.

7.8 Calendar sharing

In the free version of SpinOffice, you share your calendar with all users. As a Pro user, you can define with which colleague(s) you want to share your calendar with. 

Go to the Calendar preferences via the Gear-icon on top, click on 'Calendar sharing', and define with whom you share your calendar:

Tick the users that may get access to your calendar and click on 'Save' to confirm.

In your SpinOffice calendar, click on 'Users' you see the list of all calendars that you have access to. Thus those are all users that granted you access to their calendar. See below an example:

Check and uncheck calendars at any time to manage which calendars you want to see, or click on 'My calendar' to see only your items.

So this mechanism works both ways; you give access to others (they have your calendar in theirs) and they should give you access to their calendar to see it in yours.

7.9 Calendar preferences (the gear icon)

Adjust all the settings of your choice. All changes are only applicable to you. 

You all have the 'Print' and 'Import calendar' option here.

The option to define with whom you want to share your calendar is also available here. We have explained this option in paragraph 7.8.

7.10 Synchronization of the calendar

In both the free Limited and the Pro edition it is possible to sync your calendar in SpinOffice with your mobile devices via a CalDAV account. The sync works both ways.

Go to Chapter 14 to read how to activate this.