To help you keep your daily life organized, your iMac includes the iCal and Address Book applications. iCal is a calendar application that you can use to note down and manage your appointments and tasks. Address Book is a digital address book in which to store your contact information.
Open and Close iCal 148
Find Your Way around the Calendar 150
Create a New Calendar 152
Create a One-Shot Appointment 154
Create a Repeating Appointment 156
Create a To-Do Item 158
Share Your Calendar with Other People 160
Subscribe to a Calendar Someone Is Sharing 162
Open and Close Address Book 164
Add Someone to Your Address Book 166
Change the Information for a Contact 168
Organize Your Contacts into Groups 170
iCal is a sleek and streamlined calendar application that makes it easy to enter and track your appointments, events, and tasks. You can launch iCal either from the Dock or from the Applications folder.
Open and Close iCal
Open iCal
Note
If iCal does not appear on the Dock, click the desktop, and then choose Go and Applications. In the Finder window that opens, double-click iCal.
The iCal window opens, showing your existing calendars.
The iCal menu opens.
iCal closes.
Tip
How can I make iCal run each time I log in?
If you use iCal in every computing session, set the application to launch automatically when you log in to your iMac.
iCal has a streamlined user interface that makes it easy to move from month to month and day to day. You can use the month readout to choose the month or the Go to Date dialog to jump directly to a specific date.
Find Your Way around the Calendar
Navigate to the Month You Need
iCal displays the month you chose.
iCal displays the day in the appointments area.
The View menu opens.
The Go to Date dialog opens.
Note
You can also type the date into the Go to Date dialog.
iCal closes the Go to Date dialog and shows the date you chose.
iCal comes with two calendars already created for you, the Home calendar and the Work calendar. You can create new calendars as needed. For example, you can create a calendar specifically for sports or for family events.
If you have a MobileMe subscription, you can choose between storing a new calendar on your iMac and storing it on the MobileMe Web site.
Create a New Calendar
iCal creates a new calendar and displays an edit box around its name.
The shortcut menu opens.
A dialog opens showing information for the calendar.
The pop-up menu opens.
Note
Click Ignore alarms (
The dialog closes.
You can now add events to the calendar.
Tip
How do I create a new calendar on MobileMe?
To create a new calendar on MobileMe, do not click Add (
How can I organize my many calendars?
You can organize your calendars by creating calendar groups.
To organize your time commitments, create an event in iCal for each appointment, meeting, or trip. iCal displays each event as an item on its grid, so you can easily see what is supposed to happen when.
You can create an event either for a specific length of time, such as one or two hours, or for an entire day.
Create a One-Shot Appointment
Tip
How do I create an all-day event?
To create an all-day event, click the calendar that will contain the event, and then double-click in the all-day area at the top of the day (
Many events occur only once, but others occur repeatedly on a schedule — for example, once a week, once every two weeks, or once a month.
iCal enables you to set up repeating appointments for your events that recur regularly. iCal then maintains and updates each repeating event until the stop date you choose or until you delete the event.
Create a Repeating Appointment
Tip
How do I make a repeating event end?
After your set up the repeat schedule, click
As well as events, iCal enables you to track your tasks — to-do items, as iCal calls them. You can add to-do items to iCal, assign them priorities, and sort them into order.
When you have completed a to-do item, you mark it as complete, and iCal removes it from the list of uncompleted tasks.
The File menu opens.
Note
You can also press
iCal opens the To Do list at the right side of the window and adds a new to-do item, putting an edit box around its name.
The to-do item takes on the name.
A pop-up menu opens.
A pop-up panel opens.
Tip
How do I mark a to-do item as completed?
When you have done a to-do item, click the Completed check box to its left (
How can I sort my to-do items differently?
Click
As well as keeping your calendar on your iMac, iCal enables you to share your calendar with other people so that they know when you are busy.
The easiest way to share your calendar is by publishing it to your MobileMe account. You can also publish your calendar to a private calendar server – for example, a server that your company runs.
Share Your Calendar with Other People
Note
Make your calendar's name descriptive so that people can identify it easily. For example, publish it as John Brown's Work Calendar rather than just Work.
Note
To publish the calendar on a private server, see the tip.
Note
Make sure Publish titles and notes is checked (
Note
To stop publishing a calendar, click the calendar, and then choose Calendar and Unpublish. In the confirmation dialog that opens, click Unpublish.
Tip
How do I publish a calendar to a private server?
Ask your network administrator for the server's base URL and your login name and password. Then click the calendar and choose Calendar and Publish to open the Publish calendar dialog. Click
To learn the details of someone else's schedule, you can subscribe to a calendar that person is sharing. After subscribing, you can view the other person's calendar in iCal.
You can subscribe to a calendar either by entering its URL in iCal or by clicking a link in a message that you have received.
Subscribe to a Calendar Someone Is Sharing
The Calendar menu opens.
The Enter the URL of the Calendar You Want to Subscribe To dialog opens.
Note
If you receive a link to a shared calendar, click the link in Mail. iCal opens and displays the Enter the URL of the Calendar You Want to Subscribe To dialog with the URL inserted. Click Subscribe.
A dialog opens showing the details of the calendar.
Tip
How do I update a shared calendar?
To update a shared calendar with the latest information the shared has published,
How do I unsubscribe from a shared calendar?
Instead of unsubscribing, you delete the calendar from the list. Simply click the calendar and then choose Edit and Delete.
Address Book is a powerful but easy-to-use application for tracking and managing your contacts. You can launch Address Book either from the Dock or from the Applications folder.
Open and Close Address Book
Open Address Book
Note
If Address Book does not appear on the Dock, click the desktop, and then choose Go and Applications. In the Finder window that opens, double-click Address Book.
The Address Book window opens.
The Address Book menu opens.
Address Book closes.
Tip
How can I start an e-mail message to a contact in Address Book?
You can do this in either of two ways.
In Address Book, click the contact's card (
In Mail, click New Message to start a new message, and then click Addresses. The Addresses window opens, showing the contacts in Address Book. You can then add one or more contacts to the message.
To add someone to your Address Book, you create a new card and enter the person's data on it.
Address Book provides storage slots for many different items of information, from the person's name, address, and phone numbers to the e-mail addresses, Web site URL, and photo.
Add Someone to Your Address Book
Note
You can also add a card by pressing
Address Book adds a new card with placeholders for the information, and selects the First placeholder.
Note
Press
The pop-up menu opens.
Tip
Is there a quicker way of adding a contact to Address Book than typing all the information?
Many people include virtual address cards called vCards with e-mail messages. If you receive a vCard in Mail,
How do I delete a contact from Address Book?
To delete a contact, click the card, and then choose Edit and Delete Card or press
People frequently change their phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and even their names, so you will often need to edit your contacts to update their information.
You can add extra fields to a contact record as needed, enabling you to store additional phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or physical addresses. You can even add a photo for a contact.
Change the Information for a Contact
Tip
How can I add information that does not fit in any of Address Book's fields?
The Notes field is useful for adding extra information, but you can also create a custom field name. Click
Like most people, you probably have several different types of contacts — family, friends, colleagues, companies, and so on. Address Book enables you to organize your contacts into separate groups, making it easier to find the contacts you need.
After creating groups, you can view a single group at a time or search within a group. You can also send an e-mail message to all the members of a group.
Organize Your Contacts into Groups
Create a Group of Contacts
Address Book adds a group named untitled group and displays an edit box around it.
The group takes on the name.
Add Contacts to the Group
Address Book displays all your contacts.
Note
To add multiple contacts to the group, click the first, and then
View a Group or Search within It
Address Book displays the contacts in the group.
Address Book displays matching contacts.
Send an E-mail Message to a Group
The shortcut menu opens.
Address Book launches or activates Mail, which starts an e-mail message addressed to the group.
Tip
How do I remove a contact from a group?
Click the group and then click the contact. Choose Edit and Remove from Group. Address Book removes the contact from the group but does not delete the contact record.
How do I delete a group?
Click the group, and then choose Edit and Delete Group. Address Book displays a confirmation message. Click Delete (
