SmartCal 3.2 – User Guide

• What’s New in 3.2
• Calendar View
• Tasks View
• Projects View
• History View
• Settings
• Synchronizing Events with iPhone Calendar
• Synchronizing Tasks with Toodledo

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The Basics: Three Views – Calendar, Tasks, Projects

SmartCal is a calendar, task manager and project manager. It  has three main views: Calendar view, Task view, and Projects view.  You can view, create, and edit calendar events in the Calendar view.  You can view, create and edit tasks in either the Task view or the Projects view.  Task view combines all of your tasks from all of your project categories, into one list. You can apply simple one-tap filters, or more advanced context tags, to this view.  Projects view allows you to view and manage the same tasks, but by Project.

One of the unique features of SmartCal is that the tasks from your Task view are automatically integrated directly into the free time in your Calendar. So in Calendar view, you can see exactly which tasks fit, when.  They will appear, in your calendar, in between your appointments, in the exact same order and with the exact same filters, that you applied in Task view.

What’s New in 3.2

SmartCal has improved performance for larger databases, and faster performance for changing views and applying special sort filters.  One of the strongest features of SmartCal is that you can sort all of your Tasks by “Due,” then they are placed directly into the free time in your Calendar. This is a wonderful way to focus on what you must get done – and to find out how much time you need to do it!

New features in 3.2:

• Transparent calendars – now you can designate any calendar as “transparent.” This is useful for if you import shared calendars from family or colleagues, but don’t want those items to get in the way of SmartCals’s logic which places Tasks into the free time in your Calendar.
• Backup by email – this backs up not only your data but also your settings and calendar colors.
• New colors – now you can select from 32 different calendar and category colors.
• Manual Sync Option – if you are using automatic sync, SmartCal will now remind you each time you start up the app. This solves some sync problems for people with large databases.
• Create new calendars in your iPhone calendar – now when you create a new calendar category in SmartCal, it will automatically create a calendar with the same name in your iPhone calendar (To take advantage of this, you must have your iPhone calendar configured to view “Calendars from my Mac” and not any external calendars such as Google or Exchange.)

New features in 3.1:

• Sync Window for Events. This allows you to sync a smaller subset of your large off-line Calendars, which will in turn greatly improve the performance of SmartCal.
• Automatic Background Sync.  When this option is selected, SmartCal will automatically sync with your iPhone calendar each time you load the app, and each time you make a change.
• Filter Memory – SmartCal remembers the last filter tab that you selected, so the next time you load SmartCal, it’s already selected for you!
• “Busy” indicators on the Filter tabs.  These let you know when SmartCal is “working” after you apply a filter.

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3.2 Guide

Calendar View

Calendar Basics

SmartCal starts with a calendar. You can create new appointments and events right from the Calendar View. Just:

• Tap and hold anywhere on the screen, on any time…
• Or Tap the “+” icon.

You can also populate your Calendar with Calendars from the iPhone Calendar and, by extension, from other calendars such as iCal, Outlook, Mobile Me, Google, and Exchange. To learn more, Go to Synchronization.

Event Types

You can create normal Events, Repeating Events, and All Day or Multi-Day Events such as birthdays and holidays.

➤ Note that if you sync with your iPhone calendar, you will automatically have a calendar called “birthdays” which is made up of birthdays in your iPhone’s address book.

Alerts

You can also create Alerts to remind you about Events. Tasks also!

Navigation

• Tap on the date bar to jump to another date or apply a filter.
• Tap and hold anywhere on the time line to create a new Event.
• Swipe left or right with your finger to to go other days.
  
• Flip your iPhone or iPod sideways to see Week and Month views.
• Pull down the Mini Month to see one or more weeks. Tap on any day to go to that day.
  
• Tap on the Mini Month bar (above, far right) to pull down the Task Drawer. See what tasks are Due today, and Start today. Also see detail for any All-Day events.

Tasks Integrated into the Calendar

• SmartCal automatically inserts tasks from the Task view into the Calendar. You will only see the ones that can be fit into your schedule for today. This is a great organizational tool. For more, see Tasks.
• Now, SmartCal inserts Tasks into your calendar for the entire Week!

• If you would like to turn this feature off, just go to Settings -> Tasks -> Show in Calendar and flip the switch to Off.

Moving Items in the Calendar

• You can move Events up and down to change the times, just by dragging them with your finger.
• With Tasks in your Calendar, you have two options for what happens when you drag to move. Moving a task will either re-arrange the order of your tasks, or will automatically convert that task into an Event (see illustration above). You can change your preferences in Settings.

Re-sizing Items in the Calendar

• You can change the duration of Tasks or Events, simply by tapping to select then dragging one of the edges up or down!
  

Mini Month

We designed the Mini Month to satisfy two needs:

✔ “I want to see everything at one glance, on one page. Not just my day, but my week and my month. And my tasks. And what’s due. Yeah, I know, tall order.”

✔ “I need to view, edit, manage, change, re-schedule, and re-prioritize ‘hand free’ – that is, using just the hand that I’m holding my iPhone in. Because I do other things with my other hand. But I promise that does not include driving.”

To Navigate: Pull down the Mini Month and tap on any day.

To view what Starts or is Due on any day: Dap on the bottom drag bar, and the Task Drawer drops down.

To Re-schedule Events from the main Calendar: Touch an Event then, in the same motion, drag it up into the Mini Month and drop it into the day that you want to reschedule. Note that the item becomes smaller so that you can see where it fits into the Mini Month calendar. You will automatically jump to that day in the underlying day calendar, to confirm the move.

To Re-schedule Tasks from the main Calendar: Touch a Task then, in the same motion, drag it up into the Mini Month to the day that you would like to reschedule. A pop-up will give you a choice of there actions: Start On, Due By, and Do On.

Start On changes the Start Date to the date that you dragged to;
Due By changes the Due Date to the date that you dragged to;
Do On changes both the Start and Due Dates to the date that you dragged to.➤ Okay, but what does this actually do?

– It changes which day the item appears in the drop-down Task Drawer.

– It changes the task’s appearance in the “Start” or “Due” sort filters in the Tasks Folder (see below).

– It changes the date of any Alerts that have been assigned to the Due date/time of your Task.

➤ And what does it not do?

– It does not change the sort order of your Tasks, because you alone determine that. (Unless you quick sort by Start or Due.)

– It does not change whether a Task show up in your Task list or not. Best use the one-tap “Star” filter for that.

Task Drawer

Touch the bottom of the Mini Month and the Task Drawer drops down. It shows you tasks that are Due, or that Start, on the day that you have selected in the Mini Month. It also shows you which All Day Events apply to that day.

Actions that you can apply in the Task Drawer:

• Double-tap any Task or All Day Event to edit its detail.
• Drag any Task from the Task Drawer into the Mini Month to change its Start or Due dates.

Transparent Calendars – New in 3.2

SmartCal places tasks in the free time in-between your calendar events. However, some times calendar events can “get in the way” of this logic. For example, if you are sharing a calendar from a family or team member just for information. Now, you can designate any calendar category as “transparent.”  This allows tasks to overlap them in the calendar, as shown below.

To designate a calendar as “transparent”, just go to Settings -> Categories, tap on the calendar category that you wish to change, then select the “transparent” check-box.

Week Calendar

The Week Calendar has several unique and helpful features. See illustrations below.

• You can see all of your “busy” time at a glance, by looking at the ‘busy bars’ for each day. The colors correspond to your different Calendars.
• You can tap on a day to expand it. It zooms out to show detail and the time line.
• When the day is expanded, you can tap on the time line just like in the Day Calendar, to create a new Event.
• Tap on the “Month” button to go to the Month Calendar
• From any selected day, if you flip your iPhone back to portrait view, you will see that day in the Day Calendar.
• Tap on the Date Bar to Jump to any other date, or to apply Filters
• Tap on the Month button to view the Month calendar.

Month Calendar

The Month calendar also has several unique and helpful features.

• The busier your day, the darker the shading. In this way, you can get a quick overview of your entire month.
• You can select any day in the calendar, and see a list summary of meetings in the Day Panel on the right side.
• If you tap on the Day Panel to expand it, you will see a time line. Tap anywhere on the time line to create a new Event.
• Likewise, select any day then flip your iPhone back to portrait and you will see that day in the Day Calendar. This is a useful navigational device.

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Tasks View

Task View Basics

You can certainly use it as a basic Task list. But it does so, so much more…

• You can create new Tasks simply by entering them in the “Quick Add New Task” bar at the top of the view.
• You can add more detail to the task by tapping on the blue arrow-circle.
• Details that you may wish to add to a Task include: Duration, Start date, Due date, Repeating task feature, Calendar/Project color, Pop-up alerts, Notes, and Contexts. Wow!
• You can prioritize by dragging tasks up and down the list with your fingertips.
• When you create a new Task, it is helpful to estimate roughly how long you think it will take. SmartCal provides you with three easy-tap buttons: 15 minutes, one hour, and three hours. The default is 30 minutes. Or you can specify other durations if you prefer. Just double-tap to edit.

Task Types

There are many different types of Tasks that you can create. It’s helpful to understand each one separately. One thing they all have in common is an estimated duration. If you do not estimate a duration when you create it, the default will be used.

Active Tasks

These have no specific Start or End; they can be done at any time. By default, the Start time of a Normal Task is the moment that you create it. That means, you can “start” doing it at any time.

Inactive Tasks

These are Tasks that have a Start date in the future. For example, if today is Monday and you want to mow the lawn at some point over the weekend, you do not really want to see that task in your list until Saturday. So you can assign it a Start of Saturday. Then, if you tap on the “Star” filter, you will tasks sorted by when they are set to Start.

Deadline Tasks

These are Tasks that must be completed by a certain date. When you assign a deadline to a Task, it does not change the priority but it does show a little badge with the number of days until the Task is due. You can also tap on the “Due” filter to sort your tasks “by Due.” This will not only show just your Deadline Tasks, but it will sort them by due date. For more on this, see Filters.

➤ As an organizational aid, Deadline tasks are always shown in Week and Month view on the date that they are due. In this example you can see “Mow the Lawn” – which is due on Sunday – in both week and month views.

➤ Assign a pop-up Alert to a Deadline task, to remind you that you need to finish it! Alerts are based on number of days or hours before a Task is Due.

Repeating Tasks

This is a unique feature. You can have Tasks repeat. For example, you want to mow the lawn every weekend.

• You can assign your Task to repeat daily, or on specific days of the week, or monthly or yearly.
• You can assign it to repeat based on when it is due (for example, Mow the lawn by Sunday 5:00pm, every week)
• You can also assign it to repeat as soon as the previous one is completed.

GTDo Tasks

GTDo tasks don’t behave any differently than other tasks. They are simply tasks from your Projects list that SmartCal automatically places into the Task View. In each Project, the task at the top of the list is automatically placed into your list in Task View. This way, when you are looking at the list in Task View, you can focus on “What I have to do today.” For more on this, see the section on Project View . GTDo tasks have a cute little flag on the left side, like this:

Oops! I guess mowing the lawn is at the top of my “Personal” projects!

Tip: When you mark a GTDo task as “Done,” guess what happens? Right! The next highest task in that Project becomes the highest task. And so it becomes a GTDo task and automatically moves into the Task View. Shezzam! Now I get to “fix the photocopier.” Ugh.

The Day Manager

The Day Manager our most unique feature. It has a patent pending. Day Manager is the slider bar at the top of the Task screen. At a glance, you can see your default working hours for the current day – it will display your start time and the normal end time.

You can then change your work times by sliding either end of the slider to the left or right. This, in turn, shows you how many tasks you can complete today: The tasks that fit into the current working hours will appear above the day line for the current day.

Now, the Day Manager is a Week manager! Go to Settings, and set your preferred working hours for each and every day of the week, individually. SmartCal then uses those hours to calculate how many tasks can fit into each day, taking into account their sort order, durations, and the appointments that you also have scheduled for the next week. Now that’s Smart!

Completing a Task

When you mark a Task as “Done”, it will disappear from the Tasks View. However, you can find it in two places: In History View, and in Project View inside the Calendar/Project that it belongs to – where it will have a red line through it to show that it has been completed. You can mark a task “Undone” from either of these views, and it will pop back into your Task View. Now that is very cool.

Starring Tasks

Tap the star next to any task to illuminate it. By starring tasks you can select exactly which tasks you want to accomplish on any given day. This is a powerful tool. For example, at the end of your work day, you can “Star” the tasks that you want to focus on the next day. When the next day begins, tap on the “Star” filter to see only those tasks. Simple, quick, easy, efficient.

Quick Filters

The one-tap filters are a great new feature. Its so easy, why do we even have it in this Guide? Task Filters work in concert with the Day Manager to make SmartCal the most flexible organizer on any platform because when you apply a filter, you see your tasks organized in a different way – not only in the Task view, but also in the Calendar for the current day. No other organizer does this.

• You can view tasks that you have Starred. This is the perfect organizational tool for those who want manual control.
• You can view only your GTDo tasks. This will show you, at a glance, the current active items at the top of each of your Project lists. Wow!
• You can view Tasks by Due. This not only shows all Deadline Tasks, but also automatically sorts them by due date.
• You can view Tasks by when they will Start. This shows you everything that is relevant, and nothing that you don’t need to see until later.

GTD-Style Context tags

SmartCal now supports GTD-style Context through a nifty Tags feature. Here’s how it works.

Create Tags

1. Go to Settings -> General -> Tasks list.
2. Create your own Context tags list.
3. Select up to 9 to appear as one-tap Presets. These will be available for quick tagging whenever you create a new Event or Task from any view.

Add Tags to new Tasks and Events

When you create a new Task or Event, be sure to choose from one of your Context Presets. You can also create a new Context tag on the spot.

Apply Tag Filter(s)

Here’s the fun part. To see ONLY those Tasks and Events that have a particular Context tag, just tap on the Action menu at the top of the Calendar or Task view. Select your Context tag to apply it as a Filter. That’s it!

>➤ You can also apply other filters on the fly. Just type in a Keyword.

➤ You can select more than one Context tag or filter. SmartCal will then show all items that have any of those tags.
Now remind yourself, “Why did I even consider any other organizer?”

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Projects View

Project Basics

The Projects View is a place to store all of your Tasks under their Categories. There are there different types of Projects.

Structured Projects

You can build structured projects in which the underlying tasks follow a specific order. Just drag the tasks into the order that you wish them to be. Then keep them there. When you finish the top-most task, mark it done and move on to the next one.

Unstructured Projects

You can use Projects to simply house a list of Tasks that you need to do. For example, I have one Project called “Work” and another called “Personal.” I throw all my junk into either of these bins.

Recurring Lists

You can create shopping lists, packing lists, or any other kind of check-list. These are lists that you actually want to keep and use again and again. For this we have a handy feature that allows you to “Reset” all of the items that you mark “Done.”

• For example, you have a Project called “Grocery List.” It contains everything that you normally get when you go to the grocery store.
• While you are walking around the kitchen, if you notice that you’re about to run out of milk, go ahead and “Star” the item called “Milk.” Do the same for other items, as you do your kitchen stuff.
• Go to the store. Flip to your Grocery List. Filter it by Starred. Wow. There’s everything you need to buy. Done deal!
• As you pick up items and drop them into your basket, mark each one “Done.” It disappears from the list in Project View, and in Project Detail view it gets a line through it. Great. I like that.
• After you finish checking out, you want to reset the list back to the original. From Project Detail (see below), just tap on Settings then “Reset.” All the items jump back into view in Project View, and the crossed-out lines get removed from Project Detail.
• Don’t forget to select “UnStar All” as well, unless you think you’re going to run out of all of those before you go back to the store next time! 🙂

➤ List-style Projects are not shown in the Task view. That way, items from your shopping and packing lists won’t get dropped into your to-do’s!

Project categories = Calendar categories

Projects and Calendars have the same categories. It’s just the top-level category for stuff. Calendars are generally for holding Events, and Projects are generally for holding Tasks (and lists). So each time you create a new Calendar under Settings -> Calendars -> New, you are creating a new Project as well. And each time you create a new Project in Project View, you are creating a new Calendar as well. This is handy because I can have both a Calendar and a Project called “Work”.

Tip: Once you create a new Project in Project View, you can go back and change the color and the name from Calendar View -> Settings -> Calendars. We like to keep that control in one place.

 

!! Warning: If you delete a Project in Projects View, you will also delete the Calendar of the same name, and any Events that are associated with that Calendar. Don’t worry, we’ll give you a pop-up warning first time around.

 

!!Another Warning: If you delete a Calendar from Settings – > Calendars, you will also delete the Project of the same name, and any Tasks that are associated with the Project. Are the connections beginning to make sense?

View Tasks in a combined list (with filters), or by Project

You can create and view Tasks in two places: Tasks View, or in Project Detail View. Tasks View allows you to see your tasks from different Project Categories mixed in together, in the priority order that you set, or using the one-tap filters. Tasks from Task View are also automatically integrated into the Calendar, in the same order (and with the same filters) that you applies in Task View.   Project View lets you see and organize projects by Project Category.

Show Only What You Want to See

In Task View, you can filter that you see by GTDo, Star, Start, and Due.  In Project View, you can select entire Project Categories to show and hide, as shown below. This is a global feature and applies to all Tasks and Calendar Events that belong to a Category.

To see the Project  Categories list, just tap on the “Projects” “button at the top of the Projects page, shown here:

Then, select which Project Categories you wish to show or hide.  Note the list also shows you what item times you have in each category – Tasks, Events, or Checklists.

Project Detail

To quick-add new Tasks to the same Project, just go to the Projects folder and click on the “more” arrow on the right side of any Project. This takes you to the Project Detail view:

Okay so here’s where you manage your Projects. You can create new Tasks from the Tasks View, which is basically stream of consciousness (“Yikes, I have to mow the lawn before it hides the house”) but from Project Detail view, you can focus in on creating and manipulating your Tasks specific to each Project.

• Quick Add in the top pane. Any new Task will automatically be associated with the current Project.
• Drag up and down to change the order.
• Star/UnStar
• Double-tap any Task to view/edit its detail.
• Tap Edit to select multiple Tasks for editing: Mark Done, Delete, or Show (in Task View).

That’s it. Now you are organized.

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History

Here you can view a history of completed Tasks, sorted by Date.

• Select any item to Delete it from History, or to mark it UnDone. The item will then re-appear in the appropriate Project.

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Settings

This is where you change your default settings.

• Create special names and colors for your calendars and projects.
• Set the defaults for your Task durations, and default calendar name for new Tasks.
• Choose whether to show your Tasks in the Calendar. Some people may prefer to keep Tasks in the Task view only. Just switch it to “Off.”
• Choose whether to allow Tasks to be moved in your Calendar. This is a powerful tool because when it is set to “On” (the default), you can drag a Task to any specific time slot. For example, you are working on one task and you decide that you want to Mow the Lawn at exactly 4:00pm. You want to set aside time to Mow the Lawn at 4:00pm, and you do not want any other Tasks or Events to occur at that time. Simply drag the Task to the 4:00pm time slot on your calendar. Of course the effect of dragging a Task to a specific time slot is that it becomes an Event. And that’s fine. If you want to convert it back to a Task and do it some other time, just double-tap the Event to edit it, and switch it to “Task.” Easy!
• New! Choose where to place new Tasks – at the top of your list, or the bottom of your list.
• You can also control your Synchronization settings. See the next section.

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Synchronizing Events with iPhone Calendar

Synchronization is extremely easy in SmartCal. There is no need to go to the Internet; you can sync directly with calendars from your iPhone Calendar. This means that if you sync your iPhone Calendar to Exchange, or iCal, or Mobile Me, or Outlook, that information can be read immediately and seamlessly by SmartCal.

How it Works

Go to Settings -> Event Sync and flip the switch to “On.” You’re done.

SmartCal automatically maps, and syncs, to all calendars in your iPhone Calendar. That’s it. Just tap “Sync Events” from the Menu in your Calendar View.

Automatic Sync – New in 3.1

In Settings, you con configure SmartCal to sync to your iPhone calendar automatically each time you make a change in your calendar. When this is enabled, SmartCal will also perform a sync each time you start the app.  Note that if you have a large database, this may take some time.  You can change the amount of data that is sync’d by selecting “Sync Window” then choosing a smaller date range.

Tips

• Before you start, either create calendars in your iPhone Calendar to match the names of the ones you have in SmartCal, or create calendars in SmartCal to match the names of the ones you have in your iPhone Calendar. Or both.
• Now in iOS5, any new calendars that you create in SmartCal will also be created in the iPhone Calendar, as long as you are using calendars “From my Computer” in your iPhone calendar settings. If you are using calendars “From Exchange” or from other external calendar sources, you must first create any new calendars in the outside source, then sync with your iPhone calendar, then sync with SmartCal. That will create the new calendar name in SmartCal.
• Here is a link to a blog that explains how to do it using Google Calendar and Exchange.

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Synchronizing Tasks with Toodledo

Now with SmartCal, you can synchronize your tasks with Toodledo, the free web-based task list. Because SmartPad also syncs tasks with Toodledo, you can use Toodledo as a conduit to share tasks between SmartCal on your iPhone, and SmartPad on your iPad. Read this article to see how.

How it Works

Two steps to set up.

1. Go to Settings -> Toodledo Sync and flip the switch to “On.” You’re almost done.
2. Tap the “>” button and key in your Toodledo Account information. Press the “Check validity” button to make sure you entered the information correctly.

Hint: If you don’t have an account with Toodledo yet, Just follow this link. Don’t worry, it’s free. http://www.toodledo.com/signup.php

SmartCal automatically maps, and syncs, to all Folders in Toodledo that have exactly the same name as your Categories in SmartCal. That’s it. Just tap “Sync Tasks” from the Menu in your Tasks View.

Troubleshooting

• If one of your Projects does not sync to a Folder in Toodledo, check the spelling of the names.
• If that does not work, then try changing the name of both the Project (in SmartCal) and the Folder (in Toodledo). For example, change “Work” to “Work1”. Sync again. That should do it. Once you have established a mapping, you can then change the names back to the original names.

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