FirstClass© Web Access Calendar

The FirstClass Calendar feature looks and acts much the same way as the Outlook Express or Outlook Web Access Calendar you are used to.

Access the Calendar from your FirstClass Desktop by double-clicking the Calendar icon in the My Tools pane.

This is the Calendar in Month View:

About calendars

Your personal FirstClass calendar is like a personal organizer. It records calendar events and tasks. Events are things with start and end dates and times, and allow other FirstClass users to be “scheduled” or “invited” for group meetings etc. They can be “repeating” or “recurring” appointments. Tasks are items or things-to-do for your own personal use. Unlike a personal organizer, you can permit other people to view and update your FirstClass calendar. This allows everyone to schedule meetings at mutually convenient times.

FirstClass calendars work much like conferences; your administrator may create public calendars and give you access to them, or you can create your own calendars and give others access to them. Everyone’s FirstClass Desktop includes one personal calendar.

Types of calendars

FirstClass supports the following types of calendars:

Note that the initial implementation of FirstClass (April 2006) will already include many of these types of calendars, and most users will seldom need to create new ones.

personal calendar	Your own calendar. You can limit other users' access to your personal calendar by updating your calendar permissions, just as you would update the permissions of a calendar that you created.
group calendar	A public calendar that lets a specific group of people coordinate their time and tasks.
resource calendar	A public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a projector. A resource calendar is updated when users book the resource as part of creating a calendar event.
location calendar	A public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a meeting room. Location calendars are updated just like resource calendars.

Opening calendars

To open your personal calendar, click Calendar.

To open another user's calendar:

1 Select the user in the Directory or Who's Online list.
2 Click Open User Calendar.

Note that Permissions set in the system profile will determine if this feature is available to you.

Calendar views

You can look at a calendar using the same List view as you use for conferences. This view will list appointments the same way it lists messages and other items in your Mailbox. While in this view, you can do the same things you do with messages, such as viewing deleted items.

To show this view, click View by List.

In addition, there are the following specialized calendar views. Note that you will not see the icon for the View you are currently using (i.e. you will not see the View by Month icon if you are already in it):

View	Description	To display
month	Highlights the current day.	Click View by Month.
week	Highlights the current day.	Click View by Week.
day	Shows events only, in time slots. Tasks and untimed events are displayed at the top of this view.	Click View by Day.

In month and week views, there is a Today list that shows events that take place today, and tasks that are either still ongoing or completed today.

Conflicting events are indicated with a red bar.

Customizing calendar views

You can customize your month and week calendar views in the following ways:

• display week numbers (month view)

• change the day on which the week starts (month and week views).

To customize your calendar views, make the changes you want to your preferences.

Calendar navigation

To	Do this
scroll backward and forward through calendar pages	Click the arrows at either end of the date range at the top of the calendar.
go to the page containing a specific date	Choose the appropriate values from the date fields, then click Go.
go to the current month, week, or day	Click the link beside the date fields.
go from the month view to the week view for a specific week	Click the arrow beside that week.
go from the week view to the day view for a specific day	Click the date.

Calendar reminders

When you create calendar events or tasks, you can tell FirstClass to generate reminders. If you are logged in, reminders appear as Calendar Reminder buttons on your toolbar at the times you specify.

To	Do this
see a calendar reminder	Click Calendar Reminder.
see details of the event or task	Click Details on the reminder form.
make this reminder appear again	Specify when you want the reminder to reappear in the field beside Snooze, then click Snooze.

If you aren't logged in, reminders are sent to your Mailbox as messages.

To specify a default reminder time for all events and tasks that you create, update "Set default reminder" in your preferences.

Viewing calendar events

As is the case for messages, a calendar event that was sent to you is flagged as unread until you open it. Opening an event lets you view all its details.

Responding to invitations

When you receive an event invitation, open the event, then click the appropriate button:

Accept	Accepts the invitation.
Tentative	Accepts the invitation, but indicates that you may be unavailable.
Decline	Declines the invitation and creates a reply message so that you can provide an explanation.

An icon corresponding to your response is placed beside your name in the Scheduling section.

Note

If the person who invited you isn't on your local server, she will neither see this icon nor any indication in the event history that you accepted or declined. For this reason, a reply is always created for that person.

Add a Calendar Event

To add an event to a calendar:

1 Open the calendar.

2 Click New Event.

Shortcuts

To create an event that starts on a particular day, click the New Event icon beside the date. In day view, click the start time you want.

3 Update the basic event information on the New Calendar Event form.

4 Update the Scheduling section to invite participants, book resources that are in the Directory, and check that there are no conflicts.

You can reschedule the event here if there are conflicts.

5 Update the Repeat section, if you want to make the event show up repeatedly on the calendar.

If you make the event repeat, this icon is displayed beside the event:

6 Update the Reminders section, if you want to generate reminders.

If you add reminders to the event, this icon is displayed beside the event:

7 Add content just as you would for a message, if necessary.

If a participant has a personal calendar, this event is added to that calendar. If a participant doesn't have a personal calendar, or doesn't permit you to add events to their calendar, this form is sent to the participant's Mailbox as a message.

8 To cancel entry of the Event, click the word Delete in the left gray menu pane.

Adding Calendar Tasks

Viewing calendar tasks

Overdue tasks are shown in red. Completed tasks have a line through them.

To see task details, open the task.

Adding calendar tasks

To add a task to a calendar:

1 Open the calendar.

2 Click New Task or the New Task icon in the Today list.

3 Update the basic task information on the New Calendar Task form.

4 Update the Reminders section, if you want to generate reminders for a task with a due date.

If you add a reminder to the task, this icon is displayed beside the task:

5 Add content just as you would for a message, if necessary.

6 To cancel the entry of the Task, click the word Delete in the left gray Menu pane.

Updating calendar tasks

To change details about a task, open it and make your changes.

If you change the start date, the task will move to the appropriate date on the calendar.

Changing calendar task status

To change the status of a task, choose the appropriate status at "Task state" on the task form.

Shortcut

If you do not already have the task open, you can change the task status to Completed by clicking the task icon.

Completed tasks drop to the bottom of the list.