Appointments & settings (6)

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 >: allows you to go through the months/weeks/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 Open your calendar via the menu option Go To -> Calendar. 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. Set all details related to the appointment: specific date & time, location, participants, a reminder, and recurrence. Click on ‘Save' to confirm. Created appointments are instantly shown in the calendar of the assigned user(s).  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 yearly 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 calendars 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. Are you 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 who 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) Click on the gear icon in the right corner on top for preferences like the option to 'Show shared events separately' instead of combined, and the option to disable/enable the right list view. But also the day to start the week with (Sunday or Monday), the time interval on a day (15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes), and the times the day starts and ends. Adjust all the settings of your choice. All changes are only applicable to you.  You all have the 'Print' and 'Import calendar' options 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.

Go to Go to -> Calendar. Click once on the date on which the appointment should be made. Enter the related contact, time date, and location of the appointment. Click on “Save”, the popup will close and the appointment will be added. Use left options for more settings, for instance, to link the appointment to multiple other contacts, multiple folders, or your colleagues.

Choose from import from Apple Calendar and Office 365 to populate the database.  All appointments from the last and upcoming 30 days will start. So easy. In SpinOffice, go to your Calendar. Click the gear icon at the top right of your Calendar and choose Import Calendars. You will also find the import option within your Home Dashboard, within the Calendar widget the burger icon, menu option Import calendars. In both cases the following screen is displayed: Click on the desired option to import all appointments from the last and upcoming 30 days. This is not (yet) a sync but an import of calendar appointments. If you want to synchronize the calendar, activate the calendar sync. Go to your Calendar to view all appointments. To explore the features in your Calendar, go to manual chapter 7. Calendar.

All appointments can be scheduled and made recurrently, and notifications can be set.  But these notifications do not appear in SpinOffice yet, only on each mobile phone/tablet on which our CalDAV calendar sync is configured.

Yes, of course! All team members have an individual calendar in SpinOffice. Within the calendar, everyone can indicate with whom they want to share their calendar.  IN YOUR CALENDAR Click on the gear icon at the top right of your calendar  Choose Share calendar. The super-admin user has the right to manage the visibility of all users via the option menu:  Administration -> User Settings. All appointments of your colleagues are visible unless marked as private. To keep things clear, each colleague has its color. All appointments, also for the other team members, can be made and modified by anyone with the correct user rights.

The calendar in SpinOffice can sync with your Mac Calendar, iOS, or Android device. To have it up and running, you first have to activate the sync in SpinOffice. After that, you can configure the details of the so-called CalDAV account on your Mac to have your SpinOffice calendar in sync. 1. Activate the Calendar sync in SpinOffice Go to the Contacts screen to the menu option Administration -> User settings -> Synchronization. Click on 'Synchronize my calendar' and choose 'Save'. A CalDAV account is created. You will receive a confirmation by email with a link to the manuals on how to set up the sync on all your devices. 2. Configure the CalDAV account on your Mac On your Mac, go to Launchpad and open System Preferences -> Internet Accounts. In the right frame, click on Add Other Account. Choose the type of CalDAV account. Select the account type: Manual. Fill in the following information: User name: [enter the email address where you received the activation email] Password: [your SpinOffice login password] Server: https://sync.spinoffice-crm.com Click on Sign in in the bottom right corner, and the account will be verified. The sync account is now added as an Internet Account. Give your description of this account, for example, ‘Business calendar’. The reminders option does not need to be ticked. Open the Calendar on your Mac to display your SpinOffice appointments. It may take a few minutes to get all items in the calendar, so please do not adjust settings too fast!  All changes made here will sync on every device where this CalDAV sync account has been configured.