Lesson 7. Working with iCalendar

In this lesson, you learn how to integrate your Basecamp milestones with external calendars.

Understanding iCalendar

Although you can easily view your project milestones in Basecamp, there are times you might want to view this data on an external calendar. To support this need, Basecamp generates an iCalendar feed for each of your projects, as well as a global iCalendar feed that includes all your projects. You can subscribe to one or more feeds from any calendar that supports the iCalendar format to stay updated on your Basecamp milestone and to-do activity.

Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed

The way you subscribe to a Basecamp iCalendar feed varies based on the browser and calendar system you use. As you recall, you can subscribe to an iCalendar feed for a specific project or to a global feed that includes all your projects.

To subscribe to a feed for a specific project, follow these steps:

1. On the Basecamp Dashboard, select the project you want to open from the Your Projects list on the right side of the screen.
2. Click the Milestones tab to open the Milestones page.

   Note

   Consider the Global iCalendar Feed

   To subscribe to the global iCalendar feed that includes all projects, click the Global iCalendar link at the bottom of the Basecamp Dashboard. The subscription process works exactly as it does with a project-specific feed. Although subscribing to your global iCalendar might save time initially, many calendars highlight individual project calendar feeds in a different color, which can be a useful project management tool.

3. Click the Subscribe to iCalendar link that appears on the right side of the Milestones page (see Figure 7.1). Basecamp opens a dialog box prompting you to take action on subscribing to your iCalendar feed. The format and content of this dialog box varies depending on your browser and available calendars on your computer.

   Figure 7.1. Subscribe to the iCalendar feed for any project in Basecamp.

   

The rest of this section provides step-by-step instructions for several calendar systems. Even if these instructions don’t describe the specific calendar you use, they should give you an idea of how the subscription process works.

Subscribing to Your iCalendar Feed with Mozilla Calendar

If you use Mozilla Thunderbird with the Lightning Calendar add-in, follow these steps to subscribe to your iCalendar feed:

1. In Basecamp, right-click the Subscribe to iCalendar link or the Global iCalendar link. See “Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed” earlier in this lesson for more information about where to locate these links.
2. Select Copy Link Location or Copy Shortcut from the menu that appears. The exact wording of this text depends on the browser you use.
3. Log in to Thunderbird and click the Calendar button in the lower-left corner of the screen. Your calendar opens.
4. From the menu, select Calendar, New Calendar.
5. In the Create New Calendar dialog box, select the On the Network option button and click Next to continue to the next screen.
6. Select iCalendar (ICS) as your format (see Figure 7.2).

   Figure 7.2. Select the iCalendar format in Mozilla Thunderbird.

   

7. Paste the link you copied from Basecamp in the Location text box by pressing Ctrl + V. Click Next to continue.
8. On the Customize Your Calendar screen (see Figure 7.3), enter a name for this calendar and select a color to apply to it.

   Figure 7.3. Color code your Mozilla calendar for easier identification.

   

9. Optionally, specify whether you want to Show Alarms. Click Next to continue.
10. Click Finish to add milestones to your calendar. Figure 7.4 shows a sample calendar.

    Figure 7.4. View your Basecamp milestones in your Mozilla calendar.

    

Subscribing to Your iCalendar Feed with Windows Calendar

If you use Windows Calendar with Windows Vista, follow these steps to subscribe to your iCalendar feed:

1. Log in to Basecamp using Internet Explorer.
2. Click the Subscribe to iCalendar link or the Global iCalendar link. See “Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed” earlier in this lesson for more information about where to locate these links.
3. If a warning dialog box opens, click the Allow button to continue.
4. In the Subscribe to a Calendar dialog box, click the Next button. Your Basecamp feed loads to Windows Calendar and the Calendar Subscription Settings dialog box opens (see Figure 7.5).

   Figure 7.5. Determine how often you want to update your calendar.

   

5. In the Calendar Name field, replace the URL string with a name that’s easier to understand, such as the name of your Basecamp project.
6. Select an Update Interval that best matches the frequency of your Basecamp activity. Options include: no update, every 15 minutes, every hour, every day, or every week.
7. If you want to include reminders and tasks on your calendar, select the appropriate checkboxes.
8. Click the Finish button.

Windows Calendar displays data from your Basecamp iCalendar feed, shown in Figure 7.6.

Figure 7.6. View your Basecamp milestones and related to-do items in Windows Calendar.

Subscribing to Your iCalendar Feed with Backpack

If you use 37signals’ collaborative organizational tool Backpack (www.backpackit.com), follow these steps to subscribe to your iCalendar feed:

1. In Basecamp, right-click the Subscribe to iCalendar link or the Global iCalendar link. See “Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed” earlier in this lesson for more information about where to locate these links.
2. Select Copy Link Location or Copy Shortcut from the menu that appears. The exact wording of this text depends on the browser you use.
3. Go to your Backpack URL and log in to your Backpack account.

   Tip

   Use the Open Bar to Access Backpack

   Alternatively, click the Backpack link on the Open Bar if you’ve integrated Basecamp and Backpack using OpenID. See Lesson 16, “Integrating Basecamp with Add-ons and Other Applications,” for more information.

4. Click the Calendar tab to open your calendar.
5. Click the Add a Calendar link on the right side of the screen (see Figure 7.7).

   Figure 7.7. In Backpack, you can add your Basecamp iCalendar feed as a calendar.

   

6. Paste the iCalendar link in the Name the New Calendar text box.
7. Choose a color for your calendar data.
8. Click the Add Calendar button. Your Backpack calendar displays your milestone and to-do items from Basecamp (see Figure 7.8).

Figure 7.8. Basecamp data now appears in Backpack.

Subscribing to Your iCalendar Feed with Apple iCal

If you use iCal on a Macintosh, follow these steps to subscribe to your iCalendar feed:

1. In Basecamp, right-click (or control-click if you have a single button mouse) the Subscribe to iCalendar link or the Global iCalendar link. See “Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed” earlier in this lesson for more information about where to locate these links.
2. Select Copy Link Location from the menu that appears. The exact wording of this text depends on the browser you use.
3. Launch iCal (located in your Applications folder).
4. From the Calendar menu, select Subscribe...
5. Paste the link you copied from Basecamp in the Location text box by pressing Command + V. Click Next to continue.
6. On the Customize Your Calendar screen, enter a name for this calendar and select a color to apply to it. Optionally, specify whether you want to Remove Alarms, Attachments, or To-Do items. You may also choose to have it auto refresh here.
7. Click OK to Continue.

Your new calendar displays according to the criteria you entered.

Troubleshooting Problems with iCalendar

Although the iCalendar feed is a great way to integrate Basecamp data into your calendar, the complexity of dealing with different applications and browsers might cause some confusion. Here are some tips if you’re having trouble subscribing to an iCalendar feed:

• Try subscribing manually. To do so, right-click the iCalendar subscription link, copy, and paste the link in your calendar. See “Subscribing to an iCalendar Feed” earlier in this lesson for more information. Also, read the documentation or online help for your calendar for details on subscribing to iCalendar feeds or adding new calendars.

• Try replacing the webcal://prefix in your feed with http://. Not every calendar recognizes webcal://.

• Verify that your calendar supports iCalendar. Many, but not all, calendar systems support this format.

• Check to see if you have the right software version. For example, Basecamp integrates with Microsoft Outlook 2007, but not previous versions.

• Verify that you haven’t changed your Basecamp password recently. Changing a password resets your iCalendar feeds, so you’ll need to subscribe to your feeds again.

Summary

In this lesson, you learned how to view your Basecamp milestones in other calendars using the iCalendar feed. Next, learn how to master Basecamp’s messaging and commenting features.