• FrequentlyAskedQuestions

(Feel free to add your own questions by editing this page; click the "Edit" link below.)

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General Usage and Display

Can I automatically display holidays?

Yes - you can use "Add-In" files for this. Add-In files are pre-defined lists of events you can include into your calendar. You can choose from a standard set available to anyone, or you can load your own private Add-Ins. To see the ones already available, go to the "Settings" page for your calendar, and click the "Add-Ins" link. Then, choose which Add-Ins you'd like, optionally set colors and/or text to display with them, and press the "Save" button at bottom.

To load your own Add-In files, see the "Manage Add-In Files" link from the "Settings" menu. Add-In files should be in the standard iCalendar format.

How can I edit or delete just one instance of a repeating event?

When you double-click an existing event to edit or delete it, if it's a repeating event you'll normally effect the entire series of events - i.e. edit or delete them all*. To modify only a single instance of the series, click the date displayed on the calendar for the instance you're interested in. (I.e. click the number.) That will display a form listing all events on that day, with "Edit" and "Delete" buttons. For repeating events, you'll also see options for "All" or "Only this Date". Make sure "Only this Date" is selected, then press the "Edit" or "Delete" button to edit or delete that one instance.

* There's actually a preference setting in the "Event Edit Form" settings page that affects this - "Default for Repeating Events" - you can choose between "Entire Series" and "Only this Instance".

How do I put an image in my Calendar?

You can use HTML in various places, including in the calendar headers and footers as well as in event text. To include an image, use the HTML <img> tag, e.g.:

• <img src="http://some.server.com/images/myPicture.jpg">

Note that your images must be on an accessible web server somewhere. If you don't have your own site to put them on, you can use any of the numerous free image-repository sites on the web; e.g. you can find some at this Google Search

Can I make the calendar display Monday thru Sunday instead of Sunday through Saturday?

Yes - click the "Settings" link below the calendar, and choose "Display Settings" from the menu. The first item on that page is "First Day of Week"; change it from "Sunday" to "Monday".

How do I change the size of the Month, Year displayed above the calendar?

As you may have found, there's currently no setting for this on the "Fonts" setting page. However, you can use some simple CSS directives to make that display however you like. To do that, click the "CSS" link on the "Settings" menu for your calendar, then enter something like this into the "Inline CSS" section:

• .DateHeader {font-size: 15pt;}

You can specify other things too, such as making it big, bold, and blue:

• .DateHeader {font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; color: gold;}

(Note: make sure you do include the leading period in .DateHeader)

Can I change the display order of events?

Yes. There are a few different options for the event sorting order, including alphabetically, by time, or by category name. Click the "Settings" link you'll see below your calendar, and then choose "Display Settings". You'll see a form; in the third section of settings there's a line labelled "Event Sorting". You can use those options to change the sort order of events. (Be sure to press the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.)

If you want to directly specify the order of events for a particular day, you'll need to use an HTML trick. You can prepend your events with some text that won't actually appear when the calendar is displayed, but which will effect the sort order. You can use HTML tags for this.

For example, assuming the calendar is set to sort alphabetically, you can have an event with text "Top" come before "Bottom" by entering the events like so:

• <x1/>Top

  <x2/>Bottom

Since <x1/> and <x2/> are not valid HTML tags, they will just be ignored by your browser when they are displayed. However, they will effect the sorting order of events.

Can I put a link to my web site on the calendar?

But of course, just put an HTML link in the Title, Header, or Footer section. E.g. something like:

• <a href="http://your.website.com">Go to My Website</a>

You can find the "Title, Header, Footer" options in the "Settings" menu for your calendar.

How do I set different default display options?

Go to the "Settings" menu for your calendar, and click the first link - "Display Settings"; you'll find "Default Display" options there.

How can I change the order of what is displayed in each entry (e.g. to Event text, Time, then Category)?

You can't currently do this, unfortunately.

How can I display the "Location" information for events?

If an event has something in the "Location" field, that will always be displayed in event Popup windows. If an event doesn't have other 'details' though, a Popup window isn't available.

But, you can choose to have the 'Location' displayed with the event directly on the calendar. To do that, go to the "Settings" page for your calendar, and click the "Display Settings" link. Then, look for the line labeled "Event Tag Display" - that has a checkbox you can select to have the Location field displayed with the event.

In the Block View, can I have one day of the week display wider than others?

Yes. By default, all days are the same width - about 1/7th of the page width. However, you can specify a different width for any day column by using some simple CSS. To do that, go to the "Settings" page for your calendar and click the "CSS" link. On that form, enter something like this in the "Inline CSS" section; this example will make the Sunday column twice as wide as the other days of the week:

• .BlockView .Sunday {width: 28%;}

Normal column width is 14%; that makes the Sunday column twice as wide.

Also, it's important to note that the column for a day of the week will always be as least as wide as the longest unbreakable text string in it. For example, the text "this will wrap nicely" might wrap around onto two lines. However, the text "this_will_not_wrap_at_all" will not wrap onto two lines, since there are no spaces in the string. Text wraps onto new lines only where there is a space.

Common Problems

When I access my calendar, it always shows an old date. Can I make it open with the current month?

Certainly. What's likely happening is that the link or saved/bookmarked URL you're using has the Date specified in it. If you remove those parameters from the URL, it will go to the current date. E.g. if your calendar name is "MyCalendar" use this:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar

not something like:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar?Date=2005/12/1

Where did all the events on my calendar go? They disappeared! - or - When I add a new event, it doesn't show up on the calendar. What gives?

This probably has to do with the color settings on your calendar. It could be that events are displaying with the same background and foreground colors, e.g. white text on white background. So, the events are there - you just can't see them. Try clicking and dragging with your mouse to select the text, and see if it shows up.

To fix this, go to the "Colors" settings page for your calendar. Try choosing (and saving) one of the preset color pallettes, or click the "More Color Options" link to see all your color settings on one page.

Why doesn't my calendar print in color?

This is likely due to print settings in your web browser. One important thing to note is that most of the colors you see on your calendar are actually *background* colors; in most browsers, there's a separate print setting for that. For instance, in Internet Explorer on Windows:

• From the IE browser menu select "Tools/Internet Options..."
• Click the "Advanced" Tab
• Check the box labeled "Print background colors and images"

If you're using a different browser, there's likely a similar setting.

Passwords and Security

I forgot my passwords - how do I find them?

Go to this form, enter the name of your calendar, and the passwords will be mailed to the address on record for your calendar.

Why can everybody still see my calendar without entering a password? I did specify a password for "View" in the password settings page.

What's probably happening is that no password has been configured for the other security levels. If no password is specified for "Administer", everybody will have Admin permission - and anyone w/admin rights can always view the calendar. (As well as Edit and Add events.)

So, you need to set passwords not only for 'View', but also for the other levels. Go back to the "Passwords" Settings page, and take a look at the "Notes" at the bottom.

Also, note that once somebody logs in by entering a password, they won't have to re-enter it unless they exit their web browser and then come back to the calendar again. It will remember that you have logged in for the duration of your browser session.

How do I set the calendar so that only the web administrator can add events? I have linked my calendar to my site, but it seems that anyone can edit it. How do I stop this? Can I?

Sure, just set Passwords for the "Add", "Edit", and "Administration" levels. See previous question.

Can I have multiple users for my calendar, with individual usernames and passwords?

Not in the free version. There will eventually be a "premium" version of the calendars available that will support this, along with other features such as multiple calendar merging, custom fields, etc.

How does one log in to edit an event? I have different passwords set for Admin and for Edit, yet there is no link to log in to edit. The only way that I have found to edit an event is to go to settings and log in with the admin password. What is up with this?

This is a bug; we'll soon be adding a separate "Edit" link for calendars w/this situation. In the meantime, you can get to the "Enter Password" screen by specifying the "Op=GetPassword" parameters in your calendar's URL, e.g. something like http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar?Op=GetPassword. It will prompt for the "View" password, but you can enter the password for any level.

Using with other web pages

How do I link to the calendar from my own web page?

To add the calendar to your own web site, you can just use a link that points to the calendar. E.g. if your calendar is named 'MyCalendar' you'd add a link to:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar

The HTML for that would look like:

• <a href="http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar">Display My Calendar</a>

When somebody clicks on the link on your page, they'll see the calendar in their browser.

How do I make the calendar come up in a new browser window?

Just use target="_blank" in the HTML link to the calendar, e.g.

• <a href="http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar" target="_blank">My Calendar</a>

Can I include the calendar so it displays inside my existing web page?

Yes, the easiest way to do this is using an HTML IFRAME. Put something like this in the HTML source of your page:

• <iframe src="http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar" width="600" height="400"></iframe>

Search Engines

Will these calendars be listed by search engines - will they be found by spiders/robots?

Yes - if you want them to be. Search engines are not blocked, so if they can find and view your calendar it will be indexed. Two things are necessary - first, the search engines must be able to see your calendar, so make sure you don't have a "View" password set. Also, they have to find it. If you have a link to your calendar on your own web page, that will work, or if your calendar is specified as "public", the search engines can find it via our web site.

Help! My private calendar data is showing up in search engines!

First, see the previous question. It's easy to prevent search engines or any unauthorized parties from accessing your calendar; you just need to put a password on it.

To do that, click the "Settings" link at the bottom of your calendar, then click "Passwords". You can set passwords for "View", "Add", "Edit", and "Administer" levels. (And note that you do need passwords set for all higher levels to have a lower level work; please see the "Passwords and Security" section above.)

If a search engine - like Google - has already indexed your calendar, the data may remain in their results until the next time they update things. How long that takes depends on them; something like a week is typical. There's usually no way to immediately remove data from a search engine once it's in there.

Deleting and Renaming Calendars

How do I completely delete my calendar?

You can't - but unused calendars will be automatically removed after a few months. If you like, you can delete all your data; see the "Delete Events" option in the "Settings" menu for the easiest way to do that. And/or, you can set passwords so nobody can View your calendar.

Can I rename - i.e. change the URL - for my free calendar?

No, but if you ask nicely we can probably do it for you. Use the contact form, and be sure to specify the existing name and the new name you want.

Miscellaneous

Can I remove the advertising?

Yes, we offer an ad-free option for a small monthly charge. In addition to displaying you calendar without any advertising - or links to Brown Bear Software - there are some other enhanced features. Please see the AdFreeCalendars page for more information.

Can I prevent just certain types of ads from appearing?

Sorry, no. We don't have control over which particular ads are displayed. While the idea is that the advertisements should be relevant to the content of your calendar, that doesn't always happen. The only way to remove some ads would be to remove them all (see previous question.)

Can you answer my question about the content of a calendar? Can you tell me who 'owns' a calendar?

Sorry, no. We - Brown Bear Software - provide the calendar service, but don't have information about the content of any particular calendar. And while a calendar may or may not have an email address associated with it, our privacy policy prevents us from disclosing that. You'll need to check the calendar header or footers for contact information for someone other then Brown Bear Software. The calendar might also have links to a different web site, or there might be information in events that will help.

Can I change the "From" Address for mail sent from my calendar?

Yes - go to the "Settings" menu, and click "Email Settings". You'll find a place to set the "From" address on that page.

Is there a way to have two separate conference room scheduling slots and not allow events to be entered that have time conflicts for a particular room?

While you can set your calendar to not allow events that have time conflicts, you can't currently do this for different classes of events. But eventually there will be a couple different ways to do this - first, there will be a setting to have Time Conflicts check only for events in the same categories. Also, multiple merging calendars will be available, so you can have a separate calendar for each room, and each calendar can check for its own time conflicts. You'll be able to view/edit events for all your related calendars on one display.

How can I display only the free/busy time on my free calendar?

This isn't currently possible anybody who can view the calendar can see all event information. At some point there will be a way to hide event details from unprivileged users.

How can I display user-defined help messages, e.g., general instructions, or a list of e-mail addresses or other contact information?

You can put whatever text you like in the calendar headers and footers. It's also possible to add your own text to the Event Entry form; to do that, click the "Settings" link for your calendar, then the "Event Edit Form" link. You'll see a page of settings that affect the Edit form. Using that page, you can set the text used as a prompt for each field; set those to whatever you like. E.g. you can change the text that appears below the "Details" box to your specific instructions.

Can I show a key to my color-coded categories so that users know that, for example, purple always means 'seminars?'

Yes, but not automatically. Since you can put HTML in your calendar's header or footer, you can add a list or table of categories and colors. E.g. try code something like:

• <span style="background-color: purple;">Seminars</span>

Can I group events by category and only display the name of the category once?

Sorry, no. If a category is configured to display its name, it will do so for all events. There's no way to combine the display of multiple events that way.

Can I set a default email address for receiving notices of all events? Can I set an email address for all existing events at once? I know I can set an email address for events as I create them, but I don't see a way to do it for more than one. Thanks!

Yes, but only on the Ad-Free (paid) version. See the email options on the AdFreeCalendars page for more information.

Importing, Exporting, RSS, Subscribing

Can I export my calendar to Outlook?

Yes - click the "Options" link from your calendar, then select "Export Events". From there, you can generate and download an ASCII file that you can subsequently import into Outlook. Be sure to choose one of the "Outlook" choices in the "Format" pull-down menu on the form.

Also, in Outlook 2007 you can try subscribing to your calendar as iCalendar; see the "iCalendar Subscription" link from your web calendar's "Options" menu for info on that.

How do I post just the upcoming events on my webpage?

You can use an RSS feed to get upcoming events. To find the feed URL, you can look for the "auto-discovery" links in your browser, if it supports that, or just use a URL of the form:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar?Op=RSS

That will give you an RSS feed with events for the next 30 days.

Note that if your calendar has a password set for "View", you need to supply it. E.g.:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar?Op=RSS;Password=TopSecret

Can I add events from a database such as MS Access or MySQL?

Not directly; you'd need to get them into an ASCII file, in a format the calendar can import. These include the Internet standard iCalendar format; a Microsoft Outlook-style comma-separated-values format; and two proprietary formats from Brown Bear Software calendars, "Calcium", and "iCal".

I exported my Outlook calendar to icalendar & imported it online. When I look at my calendar with my local time zone correct, the time is about 4 hours off & the times get messed up crossing the time change (Day light savings -> standard). Can I fix this?

Try importing again, but first adjust the time zone on your calendar by 4 hours; then, after importing, change it back.

I am using Mozilla Sunbird, and I can't "subscribe to remote calendar" when I have a password set. How do I subscribe when my calendar has a password set?

If you use the "Options...iCalendar Subscription" links on the web calendar to get the subscription URL, you can specify the username and password and they'll automatically be included. Or, just append them to the subscription URL you're using; use "User" and "Password" parameters, e.g. something like this:

• http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/MyCalendar?Op=iCalSubscribe;User=loginname;Password=topsecret;x=1

When I try to subscribe with Sunbird I get an error message: CAL_UTF8_DECODING_FAILED. What can I do?

Try again; this problem was fixed on Dec. 18, 2006.

How do I export the location field along with the rest of the data? It doesn't seem to appear in exports nor in Sunbird subscriptions.

Works now - this was fixed on Feb. 13, 2007.

I'd like to import events to iCal on a daily basis from my external database. Is there a way to automate the import process? Thanks!

Which "iCal" do you mean? There's currently no way to configure a Free Calendar to automatically retrieve data from another source.

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And here are some NotSoFrequentlyAskedQuestions