Start the calendar

Click on the calendar icon to start the calendar. It should look something like the illustration to the right during startup. Note the yellow line near the top; this is the network status line. When the program first starts, it will say something like “Connecting to network, please wait”. The network connection should succeed or fail within about 20 seconds.

Step 2

Network status

The illustration to the right shows the calendar after a successful network connection, as indicated by the blue line. When connected to the network, any changes you make in your calendar will be shared with administrators when you quit the program.

Step 2

Repeatable entries

Times during which you have no appointments and are free to attend a new meeting or event are shown in green. Click on a time block to mark an entry as “busy”. Clicking once will mark the time as a “repeatable” entry. A red mark with a little circle icon indicates a repeatable entry.

Step 2

Non-repeating entries

Clicking on the time block a second time will change the time to a “non-repeating” entry. Non-repeating entries are also red, but have no circle icon. If you click on the time block again, the mark will turn back to green.

Step 2

Repeatable patterns

To save typing, entries that repeat (such as classes, or committees with a fixed meeting date during each month) can be quickly copied. Entries are repeated by reading patterns in your schedule. The illustration to the right shows the recognized patterns. Monday shows a single, non-repeating entry. Tuesday shows a single repeatable entry on the first Tuesday of the month. Wednesday shows repeatable entries on every other Wednesday. Thursday shows a single repeatable entry on the second Thursday of the month.

Step 2

Repeating first day entries

To repeat entries, click on the day button at the top of the calendar column over the entry you wish to repeat. The illustration to the right shows that entries in the first week of the month will be repeated for all remaining weeks in the month. Clicking on the day button again will reverse the change.

Step 2

Month navigation

To navigate to another month, use the arrow keys, or click on the arrow icons at the top of the calendar. As the illustration to the right shows, repeated entries are not automatically copied to other months; the only changes applied to the calendar are the ones you can see on the screen in front of you.

Step 2

Repeating last month entries

To repeat patterns from the previous month, click on the day buttons at the top of each column. The illustration to the right shows the result for our sample entries, after clicking on the buttons for each day in the week. The Tuesday entry has been copied to every Tuesday in the month. The Wednesday entry has been repeated in alternate weeks. The Thursday entry has been placed in the second Thursday. Pattern repetition is a guess made by the computer; be sure to check times and dates against your main calendar to be sure they are correct.

Step 2

Undoing repeated entries

All repeating entries for a day can be removed by clicking again on the day button at the top of a column. The illustration to the right shows the result of clicking the Wednesday button one more time.

This concludes our short introduction to the FreeTime Calendar.