Meet Calendar

Softball games, project deadlines, parties, and pickup times—Calendar is the place where you can keep track of it all. By default, the macOS Catalina version includes two built-in calendars—Home and Work. The calendars appear in the Calendars list on the left (Figure 3). If the list isn’t visible, click the Calendars button on the toolbar to reveal it or choose View > Show Calendar List. (To hide it, choose View > Hide Calendar List or click the Calendars button again.)

Figure 3: By default, the app includes two calendars, ready for you to fill up with events. If you can’t see the left-hand calendars list, click the Calendars button (boxed).
Figure 3: By default, the app includes two calendars, ready for you to fill up with events. If you can’t see the left-hand calendars list, click the Calendars button (boxed).

You can use Calendar to view, edit, and share calendars from iCloud, Google, Exchange, and more. These appear under their own categories in the Calendars list. In fact, if you’re signed in to iCloud, you’re likely to see the Home and Work calendars under an iCloud header.

If you’re using Apple’s Family Sharing service, you also see a Family calendar (see Use iCloud Family Sharing, later).

You can also add a few special calendars, which I describe in Tap into Special Calendars and Add a Lunar Calendar.

Day View

Need to get a closer look at a day’s commitments without distractions? Switch to Day view:

  • Click the Day button at the top of the Calendar window.

  • Choose View > By Day (or press ⌘-1).

  • When you’re in Week or Month view, double-click the date you want to zoom into. (Make sure to click the number itself to avoid accidentally creating a new event.)

When you’re in Day view, it’s easier to see event names without them being cut off (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Get a close up look at your commitments in Day view.
Figure 4: Get a close up look at your commitments in Day view.

In Day view, a mini calendar appears on the right (Figure 5). To move to the current day, click the Today button next to the mini calendar; to move to the next or previous day, click the forward or back arrow. You can also click a date in the mini calendar to jump straight to it.

Figure 5: Click the Day button (A) to switch to Day view. Click the Today button (B) to jump to the current day, or the forward or back arrow to move to the next or previous day.
Figure 5: Click the Day button (A) to switch to Day view. Click the Today button (B) to jump to the current day, or the forward or back arrow to move to the next or previous day.

If you’ve selected an event on the left, you’ll see its Info pane on the right, below the mini-calendar (Figure 6). You can Include More Information about your event, such as its location, here.

Figure 6: If you select an event in Day view, event information conveniently appears to the right, under the mini calendar.
Figure 6: If you select an event in Day view, event information conveniently appears to the right, under the mini calendar.

The Info pane is available in other views as well. The options are always the same, but the appearance is sometimes a little different.

Week View

When you need to get an idea of what the whole week holds, use Week view. To switch:

  • Click the Week button at the top of the Calendar window.

  • Choose View > By Week (or press ⌘-2).

It’s easier for event descriptions to get cut off in Week view, as you can see in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Click the Week button (boxed) to enter Week view.
Figure 7: Click the Week button (boxed) to enter Week view.

To see more of your event descriptions, view Calendar full screen by clicking the green button near the upper-left corner of the Calendar window. (To exit full-screen view, hover at the top of the window to reveal the green button and click it. Or, press Esc.)

Fine-tune how Week view works in Calendar > Preferences > General with the options in the “Scroll in week view by” menu:

  • Day: You’ll move in a more freeform manner when you swipe left or right using your trackpad or Magic Mouse.

  • Week: When you swipe left or right using your trackpad or Magic Mouse, the view snaps forward or back by a whole week.

  • Week, Stop on Today: A swipe left or right using your trackpad or Magic Mouse stops whenever you pass over the day’s date.

Month View

In Month view, you see the entire month at once, much as you once would have with a paper calendar. To switch to it:

  • Click the Month button at the top of the Calendar window.

  • Choose View > By Month (or press ⌘-3).

It’s convenient to see everything that’s coming up when you’re planning your time, but in Month view, event descriptions are almost certain to appear truncated—or not at all (your only indication a note like “8 More”) (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Month view can leave out a lot of detail unless you look at Calendar in full-screen mode.
Figure 9: Month view can leave out a lot of detail unless you look at Calendar in full-screen mode.

To show more of your descriptions, view Calendar full screen by clicking the green button in the upper-left corner of the window.

Year View

Year view shows a grid of tiny monthly calendars. This can be helpful, for example, if you’re wondering on what day of the week a date falls or want a visual idea of how much of the year is left. It’s also handy to use the Year view to quickly jump to a date in the future. For example, when you’re scheduling next year’s doctor appointment.

To switch to Year view:

  • Click the Year button at the top of the Calendar window.

  • Choose View > By Year (or press ⌘-4).

Click any date to see a pop-up window with what’s in store that day. Sounds easy enough, but a problem with Year view is that you can’t tell at a glance which dates have events. You can fix that and get an idea of when your events are clustered with an often overlooked feature. Choose Calendar > Preferences > Advanced and select the “Show events in year view” checkbox. Now click a highlighted date to see a pop-up window with event details (Figure 10).

Figure 10: When you enable the Show Events in Year View feature, you can see where events have stacked up. The more events there are, the darker the highlighting.
Figure 10: When you enable the Show Events in Year View feature, you can see where events have stacked up. The more events there are, the darker the highlighting.

When you want to jump from Year view to a different vantage point, use these shortcuts:

  • Switch to a month in Month view by double-clicking the month’s name.

  • Switch to a day in the last view you used by double-clicking the day.

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