Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 24: Using StarSchedule |
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The StarSchedule event calendar enables you to arrange your appointments and tasks on a visual calendar, and coordinate that calendar with other users and with the task list that you define. (See the first half of this hour.)
The Events calendar is best accessed from the Explorer. Open the StarSchedule item and double-click on the Events icon to view the Events screen as shown in Figure 24.15.
Figure
24.15
The
Events screen shows a calendar where your events are displayed.
The Events screen includes a dizzying array of viewing options. These viewing options are selected either by using the icons on the Object menu or by using the pop-up right-click menu.
To begin with, you can move from the current day (the default starting place in the calendar) to any day, week or month. Use the arrows on the Object toolbar to move to the next period in the calendar (see Figure 24.16)
Figure
24.16
The
arrows on the Object toolbar enable you to move to the next or previous
calendar period.
Note - The amount that the arrows move depends on whether you're viewing a day, a week, or a month. |
You can also change how many days are shown in the onscreen event calendar. Use the buttons in the Object toolbar to select one day, a five or seven day week, or a full month. The buttons are labeled 1, 5, 7, and 31, respectively.
With any of these time frames shown in the event calendar, you can select how time is divided onscreen. While viewing a single day, for example, if you right-click the Select from the Time Scale menu, your time during the day can be broken down into one hour blocks, or into smaller blocks if you prefer.
Tip - One of our favorite options is the Colors item on the pop-up menu. It enables you to assign colors to different task/event categories so that they appear color coded on your event calendar. |
The event calendar also has other sections that can be displayed or hidden. You'll want a big screen to use them all (as the figures show).
The sections that you can turn on for display include
The details area --Shows the details for the selected event, much like the details described for tasks earlier in this hour.
The task list --Can be displayed in a separate window. This enables you to drag tasks to spots on the event calendar so that you can plan when to work on them.
A calendar --Not the event calendar, but a small calendar to find or track dates.
The Address book --You can drag and drop peoples' names or companies into time slots on your event calendar.
All these display options can be turned on using the icons on the Object toolbar (see Figure 24.17).
Figure
24.17
These
icons on the Object toolbar enable you to open other tools to help you plan
your event calendar.
Tip - These icons open or close the indicated screen area, except the Address book. To close the Address book, deselect Beamer from the View menu. |
Figure 24.18 shows the event calendar with all these areas open (but the Explorer closed to leave more room).
Figure
24.18
The
Event calendar with other screen areas displayed.
Adding items to the Event calendar can be done whenever it's visible. You can either double-click on a time slot, or single-click on a time slot and then choose the New Event icon on the Object toolbar (the far left icon).
The time slot displays a cursor where you can enter text describing the event for that time slot. Press Enter when you've completed the description.
If you want to indicate that a task lasts longer than a single time division on your calendar, click on the border of the text entry area while typing an event description, and then drag the border down to fill in the time you want the event scheduled for: one hour, two hours, or whatever it takes.
If you have the Details section of the Event calendar displayed, you can select any event by clicking on it, and then edit the details of that event, including priority, category, participants, and so on.
Calendar events can be filtered just like the task list. Filter criteria can include other items, however, such as out-of-office events.
To define an event filter, choose Define Event Filter from the View menu. The Event Filter dialog box shown in Figure 24.19 appears. The filter definition follows the same procedure as the Task list filter definition described earlier in this hour.
Figure
24.19
Defining
event filters is just like defining task list filters.
Additional layouts can also be defined for the Event calendar screen by choosing Define Event Layout from the View menu.
From the Event Layout dialog box you can set how a workweek is defined, which colors to assign to event categories, and how the display of events in the calendar is autosized for easy reading.
When you have an important event coming up, it can be helpful to have a reminder to get you to the event on time. StarSchedule enables you to define pop-up dialogs or email messages as a method for receiving a reminder about an important event.
Not all events require a reminder, of course, so you'll have to explicitly set the reminder option for events that warrant it.
To set a reminder for a calendar event, follow these steps:
1. Enter the event in your calendar.
2. Turn on the Details area of the screen. Notice that the Details for an event includes additional buttons compared to Details for a task.
3. Click the Reminder button to display Event Reminder options.
4. Choose Dialog to display a pop-up dialog box before the event time (you select how far in advance from the drop-down list).
5. Choose the Play sound checkbox to play a tune as the dialog box appears (this helps if you might not be in front of your computer).
6. If you prefer an email reminder (this is a good idea for recurring events--see the next section), choose the Email button.
7. Define the amount of time before the event to send the email (allow time for your email server to deliver the message).
8. Define the email address to which to send the reminder.
9. Click on another time slot to indicate that you've finished setting up details for this event.
If StarSchedule is not started automatically when StarOffice begins (this is the default case), a dialog box warns you that reminders require StarSchedule to be started with StarOffice. You can select a button to make this happen.
Caution - If you haven't defined any email settings, including an email Outbox, the email reminder features can't function. See Hour 23, "Using StarOffice Email and Newsgroup Features," for information on setting up email in StarOffice. |
Some events assigned to a particular day or week occur at regular intervals. StarSchedule enables you to mark those recurring events so that they appear automatically in your event calendar. To set up a recurring event, follow these steps:
1. Enter the new event in your calendar.
2. Click the Recurrence button to display recurring event options. None is selected by default.
3. Choose the radio button that matches how often this event is to be automatically scheduled in your event calendar: daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. The options to the right change according to your selection (see Figure 24.20).
Figure
24.20
Recurring events can be defined precisely in the Details for any calendar event.
4. Choose the appropriate settings for when you want the recurring event to be scheduled.
5. Click in another time slot in the calendar to indicate that you've finished defining the details for this event.
Tip - A recurring event is often a good place to use an event reminder. Weekly or monthly events are often easily forgotten. |
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 24: Using StarSchedule |
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