Milos Prudek
Paul E. Ahlquist, Jr. <pea@ahlquist.org>
Developer: Cornelius Schumacher
Developer: Preston Brown
Reviewer: Lauri Watts
Revision 2.20.00
Copyright © 2000 Milos Prudek
Copyright © 2001 Paul E. Ahlquist Jr.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
KOrganizer is an easy to use personal information manager (PIM). You can schedule appointments, events, and to-do tasks. KOrganizer will remind you about pending tasks, and help you keep your schedule.
Table of Contents
Introduction
KOrganizer is a personal information manager (PIM). You can schedule appointments, events, and to-do tasks. KOrganizer will remind you about pending tasks, and help you keep your schedule.
Main features of KOrganizer:
To-Do's and Events supported
Easy editing and change from one type of event to another
Categories can be assigned to events
Category color highlighting
Multiple calendars can be open
Reschedule by drag-and-drop
Numerous options for generating repeated events
Emerging group scheduling support
vCalendar open standard native support
Calendar merging and import
Full PalmPilot™ synchronization
Drag-and-drop between open calendars
Embedding collaboration with Konqueror
Customizable icon sets
Drag-and-drop tool panels
Command line parameters
Now take a Five-minute fly-over course of KOrganizer, or delve into reference documentation!
Five-minute Fly-over Course of KOrganizer
Pressed for time? Let's kick you started with a fast, hands-on overview of KOrganizer!
If you ever worked with a personal information program before, you'll be right at home with KOrganizer. You can enter new events, reschedule existing events, assign categories to your events, devise new categories, enter and modify lists of attendees and their roles, email event invitations automatically and exchange data with other KOrganizer calendars.
This course assumes that you know how to work with the KDE, and that you prefer to explore on your own. Only the basic functions of KOrganizer are covered here.
Procedure 2.1.
Click on the desired date in the Date Navigator.
Click on
. This will bring up the
Day View pane.Double-click the text area beside the desired hour in the main panel.
Enter event details. Use tabs General, Attendees, and Recurrence to move around.
Click on OK to save the event.
Entering To-Do's
Procedure 2.2.
Click on Actions->New To-Do.
Enter To-Do details. Use tabs General and Attendees to move around.
Click on OK to save the To-Do.
Event Types
There are two types of entries in KOrganizer:
Events start and finish at distinct date. You can also specify distinct start and finish times, but you don't have to. While business meetings, personal anniversaries and cinema visits are examples of carefully planned events with exact time scheduling, a holiday is an event that takes several days and thus there is no need to specify exact start and finish times.
To-Do's are events that must take place no later than a certain date, but they can also take place sooner.
Naturally, what began as a To-Do may later require exact timing. Say it is July 1 and you need to go to a hairdresser within a week. On July 3 you talk to your hairdresser and agree on an exact time. Thus the original To-Do becomes similar to an appointment.
KOrganizer makes adding exact time to a To-Do very easy. If you uncheck the No time associated checkbox and enter the appropriate time, your To-Do becomes very similar to an event (but without recurrence tab, which is natural, since a to-do task is supposed to be a one-time only event).
Rescheduling events
Rescheduling events is a simple drag-and-drop operation:
Procedure 2.3.
Using the Date Navigator go to the event that you want to reschedule.
Drag and drop the event to the new date and time location.
You should choose an appropriate view before beginning this operation. Only the Day, Work week and Week views show individual hours and are suitable for rescheduling exactly-timed events (appointments), while the Month view only shows days. Therefore the Month view is most suitable for long-time events like holidays.
If you wish to reschedule more precisely, double-click the event and change the start and end time using the drop down menus that divide the day into quarter hours. If that is not enough precision, you can enter the desired time directly.
Rescheduling To-Do's
To reschedule a To-Do, right click the To-Do in the To-Do panel. This will bring up a context menu. Select Edit... Reschedule the To-Do.
Alternatively, if the main panel holds List View or To-Do View, you can locate and right click the To-Do there.
Conclusion
This five-minute course covered only the basic operation of KOrganizer. Now you should go on and read the rest of this manual to unleash the full power of KOrganizer's capabilities. But if you don't feel like it, you should at least skip through the FAQ.
Configuration
You can change KOrganizer's behavior if you wish. To display the configuration dialog window, click on Settings-> Configure KOrganizer.... You can get more information in the Preferences window description.
You can also modify the toolbars. For visual appearance changes, right click on the toolbar and select from the presented menu. To customize the set of tools available on the bar, click on Settings->Configure toolbars and read the detailed description.
You can also drag both toolbars around the screen. Point your mouse over the toolbar handle and drag the toolbar to a new position on your the KOrganizer window.
Localization information like date and time formats can be configured from KControl within the Personalization->Country & Language module. This control module can be accessed from within KOrganizer; select Settings->Configure Date & Time.... KOrganizer has to be restarted for changes done in KControl to take effect.
Entering Data
Events are future appointments, like business meetings, personal anniversaries and cinema visits. Events can also take several days, like holidays.
Entering a new event is very easy. Just click on Actions->New Event. A window with General, Attendees, and Recurrence tabs appears.
If you wish you can use a different way to start a new event:
Procedure 4.1.
Use the Date Navigator to go to the event date.
Click the desired view's icon on the View Toolbar or select the desired view from the View menu. Since your event starts at a particular time, you should choose a view that displays hours of the day. You may choose Day, Work Week view or Week view. The Month view is more suitable for To-Do tasks, described below.
In the main panel, double click on the time and date when your event starts.
A window with General, Attendees and Recurrence tabs appears. Enter your data as described below.
This is a thorough description of the individual event window fields and widgets. Not all fields have to be filled in; some can be left empty. Read the Required fields section for detailed information. And if you prefer to learn by example, there's one in the Entering event section.
- Owner:
Please note that your name is displayed above the Summary field. This means that the task is owned by you. Initially the name is “Anonymous” who has an email address of “nobody@nowhere”. This can be changed. In Settings->Configure KOrganizer;... ->Personal there are two methods of setting your name and email address.
Enter your name and email in the provided fields.
Set the check box for Use Email settings from Control Center . This uses your name and email address as specified in KDE Control Center, under Network->E-mail.
- Summary:
Enter short description of the task into the Summary field. This description is the text shown on the KOrganizer main panel.
- Start Date and End Date
The KOrganizer suggested Start and End dates of your event. Events are expected to start and end on the same date. Change these dates as desired. Enter the dates directly or use the Calendar Widget. Choose time from quarter hour intervals, or enter the desired time directly into the time fields.
- No time associated
Check the No time associated if your event is not scheduled on an exact time.
Tip
Most events are scheduled to an exact time. If your event does not need specific time, perhaps it belongs to To-Do tasks
- Start Time and End Time
These fields only appear if the No time associated checkbox is not checked. Change the suggested times as desired. Enter the times directly or use the drop down menu to choose time from quarter-hour intervals.
- Recurring event
Check the Recurring event checkbox if this event happens regularly. You can later specify the exact schedule in the Recurrence tab window.
- Reminder
Check the Reminder checkbox if KOrganizer should remind you about an event. KOrganizer can also run a specific program at that time.
Tip
Make sure, however, that you have sufficient rights to run that program; if you do not, the program will not run.
Choose how many minutes, hours or days before the event you want to be reminded. Click on the musical Note symbol to choose the alarm sound. Click on the Running Man icon to browse for a program that should run at the alarm time.
- Show Time As:
The duration of the event may be shown as Busy or Free in your schedule. Choose it from the Show Time As menu.
- Private
Check the Private box to keep the event private. Currently, this checkbox has no real effect. However, when group scheduling features of KOrganizer are completed, private tasks will only be visible to you. The checkbox may also have an effect when the calendar file is loaded in another calendar understanding the vCalendar format.
- Details:
Enter a long description of the event in the large, untitled rectangle. You can write as many details as you wish here. For example, If the event is, say, planned general repair of your car, you can list all items that need repairing. Later on you can print this list and hand it over to the serviceman. If the event is shopping, you should list the goods that you need to buy. Print the event and take it to the shop with you.
- Categories
You can assign the event to several categories. Get more information in the Categories description.
When you want to confirm, call off or revert the entered data, choose among the Action Buttons, OK, Apply and Cancel.
Some tasks may require more people. You can list those people here. Get more information in the Attendees section of the Windows reference.
When you want to confirm, call off or revert the entered data, choose among the Action Buttons, OK, Apply and Cancel.
Some events take place regularly. You can specify exact scheduling here.
Warning
Make sure that the Recurring Event checkbox in General tab window is checked. If it is not, you will see a message This event does not recur in the middle of the Recurrence tab window.
The Recurrence tab window is divided into four groups: Appointment Time, Recurrence Rule, Recurrence Range, and Exceptions.
This is a copy of the General tab window time specification.
Choose if you want to repeat this event daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. More detailed options are as follows:
- Daily
Specify whether the event occurs every day (1), every other day (2) and so on.
- Weekly
Specify whether the event occurs every week (1), every other week (2) and so on. Also specify the days (Sunday ... Monday) on which the event occurs.
- Monthly
You can either have the event occur on the same day of the month, or in a specific week on a specific day of the week. You need to choose between these two possibilities. By default, KOrganizer assumes you want to repeat on the same calendar day of the month (for instance the 15th). You can also adjust the period, so you can repeat monthly, tri-monthly and so on.
- Yearly
This is similar to Monthly. You need to choose whether or not you are indicating a calendar day of the year (i.e., the 250th day of the year) - Recur on this day, or this day of the month in a particular month of the year - Recur in the month of. By default, KOrganizer assumes you mean the actual day of the year. You can adjust the period to reflect events that occur bi-annually, every four years, and so on.
By default, events which repeat will do so forever; there is no “end” to the repetition. This may or may not be desirable, so you are provided with two ways of terminating the repetition: either by giving an ending date, or by specifying a total number of recurrences. In this area, you can choose the method that is suitable for this event.
You may have a very nice recurrence rule set up, but realize that there are a few exceptions. If you set up your college class schedule for instance, you may want to make exceptions for holidays and the like. In this area, you can add, change, and delete dates from the list of exceptions (i.e. times when even if the recurrence rule matches, the event will not be scheduled). Pick a date with the date selector, and press Add to include it. For removing dates, highlight them in the box on the right side, and then click Delete.
When you want to confirm, call off or revert the entered data, choose among the Action Buttons, OK, Apply and Cancel.
To-Do
The To-Do list is a place for you to write down notes to yourself about things that you need to do. To-Do entries are tasks that do not have to be scheduled. There are short-term and long-term tasks. For instance you should go to a hairdresser within a week, and you should sell your old car within a year. You do not want an alarm go off at a particular time, you just want to have a list of things that you must do, and dates when they must be finished at the latest (date due).
To enter a new To-Do, click on Actions->New To-Do. A window with General and Attendees tabs appears.
- Owner:
Please note that your name is displayed above the Summary field. This means that the task is owned by you. Initially the name is “Anonymous” who has an email address of “nobody@nowhere”. This can be changed. In Settings->Configure KOrganizer... ->Personal there are two methods of setting your name and email address.
Enter your name and email in the provided fields.
Set the check box for Use Email settings from Control Center. This uses your name and email address as specified in KControl, under Network->E-mail.
- Summary
Enter short description of the task into the Summary field.
- No due date
Uncheck the No due date checkbox if your task should be finished by a certain date. Enter the date in the Due date field.
- No time associated
Similarly, uncheck No time associated if your task should be finished at a certain time, and give that time in the field provided.
Tip
The date and time are initially hidden, because To-Do tasks do not have the character of a fixed event. Some of them do not need a due date at all. Most of them certainly do not need the exact time of fulfillment. If your task requires exact time, maybe it actually belongs to events.
- Due Date
The date the task is to be completed. Enter the date directly or use the Calendar Widget. If No time associated is unchecked, a time drop down menu is also offered. Set the time from quarter hour intervals or enter the time directly.
- Completed
This is a percent completed pull down menu initially set at 0% complete. Later on, you can indicate your progress by adjusting the percent completed in steps of 20%.
- Priority
Assign a priority to your task. This drop down menu offers priorities from one to five, one being the highest. Initially tasks are set to priority three (midrange).
- Details
Enter a long description of the task in the large rectangle.
For example, If the event is, say, planned general repair of your car, you can list all items that need repairing. Later on you can print this list and hand it over to the serviceman. If the event is shopping, you should list the goods that you need to buy. Print the event and take it to the shop with you.
If you enter at the end of the description a # character followed by a few characters (like #002), this appears in the To-Do view in the column SortID. This can be used to order the to-do's in an user-definable way.
- Categories
You can assign the task to several categories. Get more information in Categories description.
- Private
Check the Private box to keep the To-Do task private. Currently, this checkbox has no real effect. However, when group scheduling features of KOrganizer are completed, private tasks will only be visible to you. The checkbox may also have an effect when the calendar file is loaded in another calendar understanding the vCalendar format.
When you want to confirm, call off or revert the entered data, choose among the Action Buttons, OK, Apply and Cancel.
Some tasks may require more people. You can list those people here. Find more information in the Attendees section of the Windows reference.
When you want to confirm, call off or revert the entered data, choose among the Action Buttons, OK, Apply and Cancel.
Required fields
This is an overview of what fields are required and what fields can be empty when entering events:
In the General Tab, you should at least fill the Summary field and the description (the large rectangle), even though neither is mandatory. If you check the Reminder checkbox, you should also specify the time, and either the sound to be played or the program to be run.
The Attendees Tab may be left completely empty.
The Recurrence tab must only be filled if you checked the Recurring event checkbox.
Group Scheduling
Currently KOrganizer can only schedule events using the IMIP-protocol for group scheduling. IMIP is a standard used by many other clients too. For example Microsoft® Outlook, Lotus Notes and Evolution. This means that you can share events with other users using one of these clients.
In day and week view a little icon showing one tux is placed in the event, if you are the organizer of an group scheduling event.
If you simply want to send some other people an event, then click publish in the schedule menu, when the event is marked. Then a dialog appears, asking you for the email addresses you want to send this event.
Publishing events does not request an answer from the attendees.
Being the Attendee in a Group Scheduled Event
In day and week views, a little icon showing three tux penguins is placed in the event, if you are the organizer of an groupscheduling event.
If you have an event-request in your inbox you can either press Reject to ignore the request, or press Accept, and insert it to your calendar. You should then edit your status in the event's attendee tab. And then send a reply by marking the event, and pressing Schedule->Reply. If you want to change the date/time of this event, change them, and then send back your proposal by pressing Schedule ->Counter.
Examples
In this example, you'll enter an event. You need to arrange a meeting on February 12, 2001 regarding launch of your new Product. Your boss Joan Holden will be the event chairwomanowner, and you, Jack Smith, will be the event organizer. There'll be two more attendees (participants): Peter Krzinski and Kirsten Friese. Joan gave you the program of the meeting. The appointment will start at 12 noon and end at 1 pm . The same appointment should be scheduled (recurred) each Monday.
Procedure 6.1.
Using the Date Navigator go to February 12, 2001.
Click on Actions->New Event
Enter a suitable summary. It's important to choose the right brief description, because this is the only field that can be searched. We suggest that you enter Product launch event.
Enter the detailed event program into the largest rectangle area. For the sake of this simple example, enter Introduction, The Plan, Conclusion on three separate lines.
Check the Recurring event checkbox.
Click on the Recurrence tab.
Note
Most work has been done for you automatically. KOrganizer defaults to recurring weekly. Also note that No ending date is chosen. This means that this event will be repeated each Monday (starting, of course, on Monday February 12, 2001) until the end of time (that is, until you delete it).
Since everything is all right here, click on the Attendees tab.
In the Attendees tab you should do the following:
In Attendee Name field, enter Jack Smith.
Choose Organizer as the role, and change the Need Action item to Accepted. Uncheck the Request Response checkbox.
Click Add.
In Attendee Name field, enter Joan Holden. In Email Address field, enter jholden@thiscompany.com.
Choose Owner as the role.
Click Add.
In Attendee Name field, enter Peter Krzinski. In Email Address field, enter pkrzinski@thiscompany.com.
Click Add.
In Attendee Name field, enter Kirsten Friese. In Email Address field, enter kfriese@thiscompany.com.
Click Add.
Click the Categories button.
Choose Appointment in the Available Categories. Click the Add>> button. Then click the OK button.
Check the Reminder checkbox. Set the reminder time to 15 minutes—just long enough to brew a cup of tea prior to the meeting start.
You'll be back in the main event entry window. Review the event setup by clicking on the General, Attendees, and Recurrence tabs. If you are satisfied, click OK.
Congratulations, you've scheduled your first event!
Reference
This section contains description of the following windows:
Categories tab window that is part of both Event and To-Do entry window.
Attendees tab window that is part of both Event and To-Do entry window.
Configure toolbars window that is accessed by clicking Settings->Configure toolbars menu item.
Preferences window that is accessed by clicking Settings->Configure KOrganizer... menu item.
You can assign several categories to the task. Click on Categories button. Check the boxes to assign suitable categories to the task. You can also add a new category in the New Category field.
Tip
For instance your language lesson at work belongs to both Business and Education categories, while the anniversary of your marriage belongs to either Personal or Special Occasion - it's your choice.
- Attendee Name field
Fill in the Attendee Name and Email address fields. To use your Address Book, see the Address Book... entry below.
- Role
Choose the role of the attendee (Attendee, Organizer, Owner, Delegate) from the drop down menu. The role is a simple reminder of what part the attendee plays in this event. It can be used for sorting (see below).
- Status
Choose the status of the attendee (Needs Action, Accepted, Sent, Tentative, Confirmed, Declined, Completed, Delegated). The status, which is displayed in the details list window gives you quick overview of what should be done to make the event successful. It can be used for sorting (see below).
- Request Response
Check the Request Response checkbox if this attendee should respond to your schedule plan. Consequently the attendee will be emailed with the event schedule information. A small envelope will appear in the details list to indicate this. This feature will be more useful when full group scheduling is implemented.
- Add
Click on the Add button to add the attendee to the list.
Repeat the above procedure for all attendees.
- Address Book
If the attendee is in your Address Book, you do not have to remember his email address. Just click on the Address Book... button and choose the attendee from the list. Please note that this is the standard KDE address book, which is also used by KMail and can also be called as a separate application (KAddressBook).
- Sorting
Please note that you can change the order of attendees. Click on any of the column headings (Name, Email, Role, Status, RSVP) to sort the list according to that column.
- Changing the Status
As the attendees send you feedback (they confirm, decline, delegate the event), you will need to edit the status and perhaps other information. First select the attendee from the list (click on his/her line). Attendee name, email and other data will appear in the appropriate fields. Now edit the information and change the status as needed. When finished, click on the Modify button to save your changes.
KOrganizer has two toolbars: a Main toolbar (with New, Open, Print, Cut, Copy, Paste, Goto Today, New Event and Mail Event icons, and with actions specific to KOrganizer, like Find and Print preview) and a View toolbar (for selecting between List view, Day view, Workday view, Week view, and Month view). You can customize these toolbars in various ways: you can add new icons, change the icon size, change toolbar position and add text description to the icons.
There are two ways to change the position of the toolbars:
You can right click on the toolbar to bring up the Toolbar Menu . The style can also be adjusted from this menu.
You can simply drag the toolbar by the handle on the left border of each toolbar, and drop it whenever you wish. Also look at other easy drag-and-drop operations.
The toolbars are configured in two places:
The graphic style is adjusted through the Toolbar Menu. Right click on the toolbar to access this menu.
The tool set is configured in the Settings->Configure toolbars menu.
This dialog allows you to customize the selection of tools on the toolbar.
First you need to choose the toolbar that you want to modify. All actions apply to the toolbar that is selected from the drop down menu at the top of the window.
There are two rectangles below the toolbar title: Available actions and Current actions. Using the left and right arrows (located between the rectangles) you can add icons from the Available actions group to the Current actions group. The toolbar will have every icon that is in the Current action rectangle. The up and down arrows allow you reposition an icon.
Tip
Remember that less icons may be better, because the screen is less cluttered and therefore looks cleaner. For instance if you always cut and paste with the keyboard hotkeys, you do not need the Cut, Copy and Paste icons.
This menu allows you to change the look of the toolbars. Right click on the toolbar to access this menu.
Initially, icons do not have any text assigned. You may prefer having text under each icon, or text alongside each icon. You can also have plain texts without any icons.
You can have the toolbar at the top, bottom, left or right side. If you choose Floating position, the toolbar will be displayed outside the main KOrganizer panel and you can move it around. If you choose Flat, the toolbar will collapse into a tiny rectangle. You can later click on that rectangle and the toolbar will appear again.
The options dialog lets you configure a number of different areas of KOrganizer.
The personal options relate to your personal identity, and other miscellaneous things that don't fall under any of the other general categories.
- Your Name
Your Name is initially set to “Anonymous” with an email address of “nobody@nowhere”. You can change your name by directly entering it here or you can use your Email Settings from KControl (see below). This name will be displayed as Owner in To-Do tasks and Events.
- Email address
Email address will be used to identify the owner of the calendar. When another person opens your calendar or events, he/she will not be able to modify it because it will be read-only.
- Use Email settings from Control Center
Check this to use your name and email address as set in KControl (Network->E-mail in KControl)
- Send copy to owner when mailing events
When you check the Send copy to owner when mailing events, you will get a copy of all e-mail messages that KOrganizer sends at your request to the event attendees.
- Holidays
Holidays menu defines public holidays automatically according to the chosen country. In the Date Navigator, public holidays and weekends are displayed in red color.
- Auto-save calendar
When Auto-save calendar is checked, calendar is saved automatically when you exit KOrganizer, without asking. Furthermore, the calendar is saved periodically as you work to prevent the loss of valuable data. You can also specify the save interval in minutes.
- Confirm Deletes
When you check Confirm Deletes, KOrganizer will ask you to confirm each deletion. If this is not checked, KOrganizer will never ask before deleting events.
- Time Zone
Time Zone specifies your time zone in hours offset from UTC (GMT). For the US East Coast, that means -0500 when Daylight Savings are not in effect, and -0400 when they are. KOrganizer will automatically adjust for daylight savings.
- Default Event Time
When you choose New Event from the Action Menu, or create an event in some other manner such that KOrganizer cannot guess when you would like your event to start, KOrganizer will put this hour in the start time editor as the default value.
- Default duration time of a new appointment
When you choose New Event from the Action Menu, or create an event in some other manner such that KOrganizer cannot guess the duration of your event, KOrganizer will use this as the default value.
- Default Alarm Time
In Default Alarm Time you decide how long before the actual event's scheduled time will alarm activate.
Click the Time Bar Font button to choose Font, Font style and Size for the time bar.
Click the Month button to choose Font, Font style and Size for the Month View.
Click the Agenda button to choose Font, Font style and Size for the Day View, Week View and Work Week View.
Choose the color used for holidays, for highlighting, and for specific event categories. You can choose different color for each category. Of course too many colors may be confusing, so use common sense.
You can also choose a default event color and agenda view background color.
- Day Begins At
Day Begins At is the hour that KOrganizer will display at the top. You can of course scroll to an earlier hour, but the Day Begins At should be the earliest time that you use for events. It could be the time when you usually get up, or the time when you start working.
- Show events that recur daily in the Date Navigator
If the Show events that recur daily in Date Navigator checkbox is checked, the days containing daily recurring events are shown in bold typeface in the Date Navigator.
- Show events that recur weekly in the Date Navigator
If the Show events that recur weekly in Date Navigator checkbox is checked, the days containing weekly recurring events are shown in bold typeface in the Date Navigator.
- Enable ToolTips displaying summary
If your summary for an event is longer than would fit in the current View, the remaining characters are not displayed. Check Enable ToolTips displaying summary if you want the full summary displayed when the mouse pointer remains over the appointment for a few seconds.
The Preview Program field tells KOrganizer what program you want to use when you choose Print Preview from the File Menu. To be able to use the Print preview... feature, you need a program that can accept printing output of KOrganizer and display it on the screen. Since KOrganizer uses the PostScript® language to talk to your printer, you need a program that understands PostScript® and that can show it on your screen. Historically, the best results have been achieved with gv, but KDE-specific program KGhostView is quite mature and therefore is the default. You may of course specify gv if you wish, or any other PostScript®-to-screen software.
- Scheduler mail client
This field tells KOrganizer what mail-clinet you want to use groupscheduling. Mail Client uses a real client you can choose in personal preferences. With Dummy groupsheduling is disabled.
- Scheduler mails should be
Here you can choose if the event-messages should be cached in the outbox, or should be sent immediately.
- Additional email addresses
This tells KOrganizer what further emailaddresses you have in addition to the one set in personal preferences personal preferences. This is needed, if you are an attenddee of one event, but have another emailaddress there.
Menus
When KOrganizer starts, the main KOrganizer window appears. The window has several components: a menubar, a toolbar, a month calendar, a main panel with the current “view” of events, and a tasklist. The calendar initially displays today's date.
The menus provide access to all the common operations that can be performed with the calendar, including saving, loading, adding and deleting events, printing and other operations.
The File menu provides access to functions involving the entire calendar.
File->New (Ctrl+N)Opens another main window. This window initially contains unnamed calendar. You can use the new window to:
open the same calendar twice (click on File->Open and choose the same calendar as in the original window)
have two different calendars open at the same time (click on File->Open and choose a different calendar).
create a new calendar (click on File->Save to give your new calendar a filename and to save it).
File->Open (Ctrl+O)Opens a file dialog allowing you to select a new vCalendar to load. If you have made changes to the current calendar, you will be given the option of saving them before loading a new one.
- File->Open Recent
Open Recent provides a list of recently opened calendars for quick access, allowing you to bypass the file dialog entirely.
File->Save (Ctrl+S)When you choose Save or click the Save icon, KOrganizer saves the calendar to disk, and makes sure all changes that you made will be remembered. If the calendar has no name, Save will behave like Save As.
- File->Save As...
Save As displays a file dialog in which you may choose a different name for your calendar than the one currently assigned to it. This is useful if you have made changes to a calendar that you want to save, but also want to keep separate from your “regular” calendar.
File->Close (Ctrl+W)Closes the current calendar. The window itself will remain open, and may be reused to open another calendar.
File->Print (Ctrl+P)Choose Print or click the Print icon to print the current calendar. You can specify the range of dates to be printed (either manually or with Calendar Widget) and the View Type (Day, Week, Month or To-Do).
File->Print PreviewIf you choose Print Preview or click the Print Preview icon, the current calendar will be printed on your screen, instead of on your printer. Use this feature to check if the printout will be correct before you start printing.
You can specify the range of dates to be printed (either manually or with Calendar Widget) and the View Type (Day, Week, Month or To-Do).
You can choose the program that you use to preview output in the Printing Preferences dialog.
- File->Print Setup
Print Setup brings up the print setup dialog. You can set up the look of your printed output. See the section on Printing Preferences for more information.
- File->Import From Ical
If you have used ical, a popular but older calendar program for UNIX®, you may wish to import your events, events, and to-do items directly to KOrganizer. This action will read the .calendar file from your home directory and merge any entries it contains into your current calendar. If any errors or suspicious things occur during the process, you will be notified via a message box.
- File->Merge
Merge Calendar: If you have a different vCalendar file somewhere, and you would like to include its contents into your own calendar, choose this option. A good time to do this would be if you received a vCalendar with a few entries via e-mail, for instance.
- File->Archive Old Entries
From time to time you should delete your old events.
Tip
Contemporary computers have ample storage space. However, if you synchronize your KOrganizer calendar with a limited-memory machine like the Palm device, you will find archiving useful. The performance of KOrganizer can also become worse when there are many events.
Procedure 7.1.
Click the Archive Old Entries.
Fill in the date in Events older than field or use the Calendar Widget to choose the date.
If you have chosen archiving, you must also provide a filename for the archive in the Archive File field. If you want to re-use an older archive file, click on the Browse button and find an existing archive. It will be overwritten, therefore make sure that you do not need the original data or that you have a backup copy.
- File->Export as web page...
You can export your calendar or a part of it as a HTML file, suitable for publishing on the World Wide Web.
Procedure 7.2.
Click the Export as web page....You will get a window with three tabs: General, Event, and To-Do.
General tab:
Specify the date range that you want published. Enter dates manually or use the Calendar Widget.
Choose the View type: Event List, To-Do List or Both.
Specify the web output file in the Output file field. If you want to overwrite an existing web file, click on the Browse button to find it.
Specify if you want to include categories and attendees in the exported web page.
To-Do tab: specify if you want to list Due Dates, Categories, and Attendees.
- File->Make active
If you opened more than one calendar, only one calendar can display alarms; only one calendar can be active. Click on the Make active menu item to activate the current calendar window.
The active calendar is loaded as default calendar when starting KOrganizer. In other words, if you work with more than one calendar, you should make your main calendar active.
File->Quit (Ctrl+Q)When you choose Quit or click the Quit icon, the current calendar window will quit, prompting you to save if the current calendar has been modified but not yet saved.
This has no effect on other calendar windows which may be opened. You have to quit each calendar window individually.
With the Edit menu you can edit and search events and To-Do entries.
Cut, Copy, and Paste menu items behave in the same fashion as in other KDE applications. With the Find menu item you can find event and to-do entries across the current calendar.
Edit->Cut (Ctrl+X)Cuts the currently selected event(s) to the clipboard, removing them from your calendar.
Edit->Copy (Ctrl+C)Copies the currently selected event(s) to the clipboard, leaving them untouched in your calendar.
Edit->Paste (Ctrl+V)Paste inserts the contents of the clipboard into your calendar. The clipboard must contain a valid vCalendar, provided either by a previous Cut/Copy operation or from a selection made outside of KOrganizer. You will be warned if the contents of the clipboard cannot be understood.
Tip
However, you can safely use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V hotkeys to copy text data from any outside application to a KOrganizer Edit Event window and vice versa.
Edit->Find (Ctrl+f)Choose Find from the Edit or click the Find icon to find an event according to it's summary description. The Find will only search in the summary field.
Tip
You can use wildcards if you do not remember the exact summary. If you don't know single character of the summary, put ? instead of the missing character. If you don't know more characters, use *. For instance if you know that the summary has work in the middle, you would write *work* in the Find dialog. KOrganizer will locate summary entries like “Must go to work”, “Wine workshop” and similar. Letter case is ignored.
The result of the Find operation is a list of events with the specified summary description. The columns shown in the list are the same as the List View columns.
This resulting list is active. You can double-click on a line to display or edit the event details. Get more information about these details in the Entering events and Entering To-Do's sections.
There are several different “views” available for displaying your list of events, including a “list” view, a “day” view, a “week” view, and a “month” view. KOrganizer is smart enough to remember in between sessions what the last active view was, and the next time it is started, it will display that view.
In general, each view will provide a way of displaying your events and events constrained to a particular time period or style of display. Click on any event to select it for further action. Right click an appointment to bring up a menu with options such as edit, delete, and so on. You can also use the Action menu to perform similar operations.
View->ListSwitch the display to the List view.
This view displays all your events for the day as a list. Events are displayed one per line. The first column of the appointment will have a bell icon displayed in it if an alarm is set for the appointment. The second column will display a chasing-arrows icon if the appointment repeats multiple times. Holding the mouse over the arrows icon will bring up a tool tip with more detailed recurrence information. The third column displays start and end time information, and the fourth column gives a summary of the appointment.
The list view is good for displaying many events on a single day in a compact fashion. It is also useful if your events are spread out over a long time period that would not be displayed completely on the screen when using one of the other views.
-
View->Day
Switch the display to the Day view.
This view presents your event for a single day, sorted chronologically. You can also see the length of each event. Time is indicated on the left side of the view. A scrollbar on the right is provided when the whole day cannot be displayed on a single screen (which is the usual case). Each rectangle in the view represents an individual appointment, and displays the appointment's start and end time and summary. A bell icon is displayed if an alarm is set for the appointment. A chasing-arrows icon is displayed if the appointment repeats multiple times. Holding the mouse over the arrows icon will bring up a tool tip with more detailed recurrence information
Since the Day View cannot contain the whole day on most screens, you can scroll up and down to see the whole day. However there is a useful hint that tells you if there is any currently invisible event above or below your current position; it is a small down-pointing or up-pointing arrow at the bottom, respectively at the top of the main panel.
Any event can be resized with your mouse. Simply move the mouse pointer near the top or bottom edge of the event, and drag the edge up or down. This way you can visually modify the starting and ending time of your event. This also works in the Week and Work Week views. In other words, it is possible to change start and end times with the mouse by just moving the upper or lower border of the event to the new time.
Any event can be rescheduled with your mouse. Move the mouse pointer over the event, and drag it to a new time location. This also works in the Week and Work Week views.
Events can be moved to other, presently non-visible dates. Move the mouse pointer over the event, and drag it to the Date Navigator on the left side.
Tip
There is a useful shortcut for adding events: double-click on any open region of time, and KOrganizer will automatically create an event with default duration (which is customizable in the preferences dialog). You can immediately edit the description. The events “snap” to half-hour increments, rounding off to the closest half hour from where you clicked.
View->Work
WeekSwitch the display to the Work Week view.
This is the same as the week view, except only the working days of the week are shown.
View->WeekSwitch the display to the Week view.
The week view provides a view similar to the day view. Events for seven days are shown next to each other. All of the functions available for the day view are available in the week view, too. See the Day View section for further information.
- View->Month
Switch the display to the Month view.
The month view shows all the events for the current month in a familar calendar layout. Each day contains all of the events that can fit in the area provided (maximizing the window will enable you to see more appointments). Information on repeating and alarm status is indicated through bell and chasing arrows icons, just like in other views.
You can navigate inside the month view using a set of buttons along the right side of the screen. By pressing the appropriate upwards-facing button, you can navigate to the past by week, month, or even year. The downwards-facing buttons will navigate to the future.
View->To-do
listSwitch the display to the To-Do view.
The To-Do list provides a place for you to jot down quick (or long-term) notes to yourself about things that you need to do. The to-do list always appears right below the Date Navigator. You can also display it in the main panel if you click on the To-Do View icon or if you choose View->To-Do list.
You can give your to-do task a “date due”, in other words a date when the to-do should be finished.
You can also assign priorities to to-do events, and they will appear sorted in order of priority. The lower the number, the higher the priority, except that zero (0) is defined as “no priority.”
To make a new to-do entry, right click in the to-do box. You will get a menu with the option to create a new entry. If you clicked on an already existing to-do, you will get more choices: you can Show the summary, Edit the task details, Delete the task altogether, or you can create a sub-todo. You could for example make a large to-do task like building a house, and make sub-tasks like choosing the right building site, hiring an architect, hiring workers and finally arranging a party for your friends.
When you choose New Todo, a new to-do will be created and you will be able to enter all neccessary information.
Click on any to-do task in the list to highlight it. If you click on the thick-line box on the left of the task description, you will change the “completed” status of the task. If you double-click the task description, you will be able to edit all the details of this to-do task.
You may also pick Purge Completed from the right mouse button menu to delete all to-do entries that you have marked completed. This is handy for quick cleanup.
To-do tasks can also dragged around with the mouse to rearrange the hierarchy or to exchange to-do tasks with other calendar windows. You can also read an overview of all available drag-and-drop operations.
- View->Update
Updates or refreshes the currently displayed view.
- Actions->New Event
Choose New Event to start writing a new event. Initially the appointment window will have current time and date.
Read detailed description of the event window in Entering Events section.
- Actions->New To-do
Choose New To-Do to start writing a new To-Do task. Initially the task has no Due date, but you can specify one.
Read detailed description of the event window in Entering Events section.
To-Do screen is quite similar to the event screen, except there is no recurrence tab window. To-Do tasks are supposed to be one-time only.
- Actions->Delete Event
Choose Delete Event to remove the currently selected event or To-Do task. You will be asked for confirmation.
However, if the Settings->Preferences->Personal->Confirm Deletes checkbox is not checked, you will not be prompted for confirmation, and the event will be deleted immediately.
- Actions->Mail Event
Choose Mail Event to mail the currently selected event to it's attendees.
- Schedule->Outgoing Messages...
Open the outbox-dialog.
- Schedule->Incoming Messages...
Open the inbox-dialog.
- Schedule->Publish
Publish an event.
- Schedule->Request
Send the marked event as a group-event to the attendees.
- Schedule->Refresh
Get the latest version of the active event from the event's organizer.
- Schedule->Cancel
Cancel the groupscheduling-event.
- Schedule->Reply
Answer to an event-request.
- Schedule->Counter
Answer to an event-request an make a proposal for new date/time.
- Settings->Show Toolbar
Click on this to enable or disable the toolbar.
- Settings->Configure Toolbars...
Click on this to display the Toolbar Configuration Window.
Settings->PreferencesChoose Settings->Preferences or click the Preferences icon to display Preferences window.
- Help->KOrganizer Handbook (F1)
Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KOrganizer help pages. (this document).
- Help->What's This? (Shift+F1)
Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KOrganizer will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.
- Help->Report Bug...
Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a “wishlist” feature.
- Help->About KOrganizer
This will display version and author information.
- Help->About KDE
This displays the KDE version and other basic information.
HotKeys
This is a reference to all hotkeys and their corresponding description in the handbook.
| Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+C | Edit->Copy equivalent; copy the selection to clipboard. |
| Ctrl+F | Edit->Find equivalent; Find data in current calendar. |
| F1 | Help->Contents equivalent; help for KOrganizer. |
| Ctrl+N | File->New equivalent; create and open new calendar. |
| Ctrl+O | File->Open equivalent; open a calendar file in the current window. |
| Ctrl+P | File->Print equivalent; print current calendar. |
| Ctrl+Q | File->Quit equivalent; quit current calendar. |
| Ctrl+S | File->Save equivalent; save current calendar. |
| Ctrl+V | Edit->Paste equivalent; paste data from clipboard. |
| Ctrl+W | File->Close equivalent; close current calendar. |
| Ctrl+X | Edit->Cut equivalent; cut the selection to the clipboard. |
| Description | Hotkey |
|---|---|
| Close: File->Close equivalent; close current calendar. | Ctrl+W |
| Copy: Edit->Copy equivalent; copy the selection to clipboard. | Ctrl+C |
| Cut: Edit->Cut equivalent; cut the selection to the clipboard. | Ctrl+X |
| Find: Edit->Find equivalent; Find data in current calendar. | Ctrl+F |
| Help:Help->Contents equivalent; help for KOrganizer. | F1 |
| New: File->New equivalent; create and open new calendar. | Ctrl+N |
| Open: File->Open equivalent; open a calendar file in the current window. | Ctrl+O |
| Paste: Edit->Paste equivalent; paste data from clipboard. | Ctrl+V |
| Print: File->Print equivalent; print current calendar. | Ctrl+P |
| Quit: File->Quit equivalent; quit current calendar. | Ctrl+Q |
| Save: File->Save equivalent; save current calendar. | Ctrl+S |
Action Buttons
Many windows contain buttons Default, Delete, OK, Apply, and Cancel. With these buttons you will decide whether the data that you entered into the window will be saved or forgotten.
- Default
If you click the Default button, changes you have made will be forgotten, and all choices will be returned to their default values.
- Delete
Click on Delete to completely remove the event or event that you are editing from the calendar.
- OK
When you click the OK button, your changes will be remembered and KOrganizer will close the window.
- Apply
When you click the Apply button, your changes will be remembered, and the window will remain onscreen for further editing.
- Cancel
If you click the Cancel button, your editing will be forgotten, and KOrganizer will close the window.
vCalendar Format
KOrganizer is the first free PIM for UNIX® which implements the vCalendar protocol for personal data interchange. This vendor-independent, open standard allows different programs and devices to share/synchronize event and calendar information without proprietary standards. The data is stored in ASCII and is easily human-readable. While some Windows® programs have implemented a limited import/export ability from their native formats to vCalendar, KOrganizer's native file format on disk is vCalendar, so it bypasses this middle-step entirely. It also allows you to easily access your data without the program itself, in the spirit of other UNIX® programs.
Other Features
In this chapter, you'll learn other useful features of KOrganizer: the parameters you can specify on the command line (when invoking KOrganizer from a shell), what tricks you can do with a click of your mouse, what interaction between KOrganizer and Konqueror is possible.
You'll also learn about merging and importing data, and about synchronizing with your PalmPilot™ or compatible handheld computer.
While KOrganizer supports the full score of options that are common to all KDE programs, it also supports two options of its own: it can list the events for the current day, and it can show the list of events for a specified number of days.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --help | Shows a brief options help text. |
| --help-qt | Shows numerous generic Qt-specific options. |
| --help-kde | Shows numerous generic KDE-specific options. |
| --author | Shows the names and email addresses of KOrganizer authors. |
| -V, --version | Shows the running versions of the Qt library , KDE and KOrganizer. |
| -l, --list | Lists the events for the current day. |
| -s, --shownumdays | Shows the list of events for a specified number of days |
Drag and Drop Operations
KOrganizer can be easily controlled with your mouse. The supported drag-and-drop operations are detailed below.
Any event can be resized with your mouse. Simply move the mouse pointer near the top or bottom edge of the event, and drag the edge up or down. This way you can visually modify the starting and ending time of your appointment. This works in the Day, Week and Work Week views.
Any event can be rescheduled with your mouse. Move the mouse pointer over the event, and drag it to a new time location. This works in the Day, Week and Work Week views.
Events can be copied to other, presently non-visible dates. Move the mouse pointer over the event, and drag it to the Date Navigator on the left side of the current calendar, or to the Date Navigator of a different calendar.
Tip
However, you cannot drag from agenda view in one calendar to agenda view in other calendar.
Toolbars can be dragged on the screen. Move the mouse pointer over the tollbar's handle, and drag it to a new location on your screen.
Konqueror interaction
Konqueror recognizes the vCalendar format used by KOrganizer. If you use Konqueror to navigate to your calendar, it will be displayed inside Konqueror as a live object. You will be able to perform most operations with your calendar inside Konqueror; you will not need to start KOrganizer. In technical jargon, this is described as “embedding vCalendar as KPart inside Konqueror”.
Merging Data
You can merge data from different calendar. Choose File->Merge Calendar... and find the vCalendar file that you want to merge with the current calendar.
Import
You can import calendar data from the classic scheduling program Ical. The Ical files must reside in your home directory. Choose File->Import from Ical to carry out this task.
Palm Synchronization
### to be written... ###
See the FAQ for one of the most common PalmPilot™ syncing problems.
Questions and Answers
- 9.1. Can I import my old Ical data?
- 9.2. Can I import data from Microsoft Outlook?
- 9.3. I'm trying to sync KOrganizer with my PalmPilot, but nothing happens. What else do I need to do?
- 9.4. Can I use freebusy-time with KOrganizer?
| 9.1. | Can I import my old Ical data? |
Sure! Follow the instructions in Import From Ical section. | |
| 9.2. | Can I import data from Microsoft® Outlook? |
Yes you can, but you must first tell Outlook to export it's data to vCalendar format. Then you must copy this data to your home directory, click File->Open, navigate to the file and double-click it. | |
| 9.3. | I'm trying to sync KOrganizer with my PalmPilot™, but nothing happens. What else do I need to do? |
| |
| 9.4. | Can I use freebusy-time with KOrganizer? |
Unfortunately this is not implemented yet, but planned for one of the next releases. |
Credits and License
KOrganizer
Program copyright 2000, The KDE Developers
Contributors:
Cornelius Schumacher <schumacher@kde.org>
Preston Brown <pbrown@kde.org>
Documentation copyright 2000 Milos Prudek
Documentation copyright 2001 Paul E. Ahlquist, Jr <pea@ahlquist.org>
KOrganizer homepage is at http://devel-home.kde.org/~korganiz
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Installation
KOrganizer is part of the KDE project http://www.kde.org/.
KOrganizer can be found in the kdepim package on ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/, the main FTP site of the KDE project.
Click the Applications menu of the main menu to see if KOrganizer is already installed on your system. If KOrganizer is not there, either it is not installed, or perhaps the administrator of your system has moved it to some other place.
KOrganizer homepage is at http://devel-home.kde.org/~korganiz
Requirements
KOrganizer requires KDE 2.0. It requires roughly 2MB of space in your KDE system directory. Your calendars will require additional space in your home directory. Very large calendars slow down KOrganizer operation, therefore periodic cleanup is advisable.
KOrganizer needs about 5 Megabytes of memory to run, but this may vary depending on your platform and the size of your calendar(s).
All required libraries are part of standard KDE libraries (kdelibs). KDE base package (kdebase) must also be installed to change localisation preferences like date and time formats. KOrganizer itself is in the kdepim package. All packages can be found on KDE home page..
The KOrganizer homepage is at http://devel-home.kde.org/~korganiz
Compilation and Installation
If KOrganizer is not installed and if you are the administrator of your system, your best bet is to use a precompiled binary file.
If your system understands rpm binary package format, you should get a file kdepim-2.2.i386.rpm or similar. The correct installation command is: rpm -i kdepim-2.2.i386.rpm, and the correct upgrade command is: rpm -U kdepim2.i386.rpm
If your system uses different binary package format, you need to read the instructions that came with your system.
If you cannot obtain precompiled binary package, you have to compile KOrganizer yourself from a source file.
In order to compile and install KOrganizer on your system, type the following in the base directory of the KOrganizer distribution:
% ./configure % make % make install
Since KOrganizer uses autoconf and automake you should have no trouble compiling it. Should you run into problems please report them to the KDE mailing lists.
Setting up Groupscheduling
To make groupscheduling work with KOrganizer you need to apply a filter to your mail-client. If you use kmail you have to make a filter, that pipes every email through a skript called korganizerIn, which you should find in the same directory, as the korganizer binary is.
Glossary
- Calendar Widget
A tool for choosing the date inside certain entry windows, like event editing window. It is displayed as a small button to the right of the date field. When you click the button, you will see a month calendar. Use the arrows to go to a desired date, or click on the month name or year number to go directly to the desired month or year.
- Date Navigator
The calendar that is in the upper-left corner of the KOrganizer window. It is the main way provided to navigate among dates, and to select from them. The single-arrow icons move forwards and backwards in time by increments of a month, while the double-arrows allow moving by years at a time. Today's date will be outlined with a small box. Dates which have events scheduled on them will be bold. If you want to select a date, simply click on it. Hold down the Control key and click the dates if you wish to select multiple neighbor dates at once. The dates will be displayed in the main panel.
Recurring events are not always displayed. You can forbid the display of recurring appointments in the Date Navigator. Get more information in the Views chapter.
- Due Date
A due date is simply the date when your task must be finished. For instance, if your To-Do task is that you must return your books to the library by 16th November, that date is called “the To-Do task due date”
- Main panel
Normally the largest part of the screen, to the right of the Date Navigator. It displays the View of the day, workdays, week or month, the List View or the To-Do View.
The right mouse button can be used in the List view and To-Do view only. It displays a local menu. The left mouse button can be used in any view.