ICal
Encyclopedia
- For the standard file format for addresses and calendar entries, see iCalendarICalendariCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
.
iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
s and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV
WebDAV
Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
server.
Originally released as a free download for Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...
on September 10, 2002, with the release of Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
it was bundled with the operating system as iCal 1.5. Version 2 of iCal was released as part of Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
, Version 3 as part of Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
, Version 4 as part of Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference...
, and Version 5 as part of Mac OS X v10.7.
Apple licensed the iCal name from Brown Bear Software, who have used it for their iCal application since 1997.
iCal development is quite different from other Apple software because it was designed independently by a small French team working "secretly" in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, led by Jean-Marie Hullot
Jean-Marie Hullot
Jean-Marie Hullot is a French computer scientist and programmer who authored important programs for the original Macintosh, NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X platforms. These include the SOS Interface for the Mac, which later became Interface Builder for NeXTSTEP , and later still evolved into an important...
, a friend of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
. iCal's development has since been transferred to Apple US headquarters in Cupertino
Cupertino, California
Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...
.
Features
- It tracks events and appointments, allows multiple calendar views (such as calendars for "home", "work", and other calendars you create) to quickly identify conflicts and free time.
- It is integrated with MobileMeMobileMeMobileMe was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for users of Mac OS 9, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription...
, so calendars can be shared and synced with other devices, such as PCs, iPhones, and iPod touch, over the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. You can also share calendars via the WebDAVWebDAVWeb-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
protocol. Google now supports WebDAV for Google Calendar making iCal easily configurable with Google SyncGoogle SyncGoogle Sync is a service from Google that provides over-the-air synchronization of Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar with PC and mobile device Mail, Calendar and Address Book applications. As you switch phones, tablets, and computers, your Gmail, address book, and calendar are synched to...
. - Users can subscribe to other calendars so they can keep up with friends and colleagues, and other things such as athletic schedules and television programs.
- iCal allows notification of upcoming events either on screen, by e-mailE-mailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, SMSShort message serviceShort Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
, or PagerPagerA pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call...
. - iCal integrates Apple Sync Services to sync its data with MobileMeMobileMeMobileMe was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for users of Mac OS 9, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription...
, devices such as PDAPersonal digital assistantA personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
, iPodIPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
or other mobile phones via iSyncISynciSync is a software application published by Apple Inc. It runs only under Mac OS X and is used to synchronize contact and calendar data from Address Book and iCal with many non-Apple SyncML-enabled mobile phones via a Bluetooth or USB connection. Support for many devices is built-in, with newer...
and third party software. - iCal supports the use of the iCalendarICalendariCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
format [VERSION:2.0]. It does not support the older vCalendar 1.0 format. [VERSION:1.0]
New in Version 3
- Setting to let iCal set auto-alarms for each event created.
- Redesigned user interface
- Inline event editing
- Ability to turn off alarms for all events
- Use a CalDAVCalDAVCalendaring Extensions to WebDAV, or CalDAV, is an Internet standard allowing a client to access scheduling information on a remote server. It extends WebDAV specification and uses iCalendar format for the data. The protocol is defined by RFC 4791...
(WebDAVWebDAVWeb-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
) account to store and keep calendars in sync on a CalDAV server. - The date on the iconIcon (computing)A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
in the DockDock (computing)The Dock is a prominent feature of the graphical user interface of the Mac OS X operating system. It is used to launch applications and switch between running applications...
displays the current date all the time. (Until version 3, iCal's icon displayed July 17—the date iCal premiered in 2002 at the Macworld Expo—by default until the program was run.)
New in Version 4
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 support
- Refined user interface (particularly for multiple events management)
- Automatic setup for Yahoo/Google Mail/Gmail calendars. Events are synced and downloaded from your account.
New in Version 5
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 support
- New skin similar to iCal for iPadIPadThe iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
. - Full-screen support
- Day view
- Quick Add for adding events
- Heat map for displaying the amount of activities per day
Lost functionality in Version 5
- No calendar pane on the left hand side
- No details pane on the right hand side
- No mini month view on the left hand side
Overall many more clicks are required to access iCal's features than in Version 4, reducing efficiency and productivity for users of Lion, which will not run iCal version 4 and earlier.
Bugs
It has been reported that some users of iCal who have their calendar on a CalDAV server can't view or add events to their calendar. This issue is specific to Google CalendarGoogle Calendar
Google Calendar is a free time-management web application offered by Google. It became available on April 13, 2006, and exited the beta stage in July 2009...
users.
The release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard introduced several bugs into iCal with regard to alarms. These problems include alarms not firing; all alarms being set to one fixed date and time in the past, preventing them from firing; alarms from repeat events being fired for all historic occurrences of that repeated event, resulting in dozens of alarms for one event. Updates to Snow Leopard 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 have not addressed these problems.
iCal supports times zones, i.e.: if the function is enabled, and the computer’s time zone changes, all the events in iCal are shifted to compensate for the time zone difference. The bug is that this problem also occurs when the time zone function is disabled, therefore whenever the computer’s time zone changes, all the events in iCal shift as well. As of today, there is still no fix for this bug and this bug has carried over through Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion).
See also
- iCal ServerICal ServeriCal Server is a service included in Mac OS X Server v10.5. iCal Server is based on the CalDAV calendar standard. The iCal Server is a CalDAV standards-compliant server that allows multiple users to collaboratively share calendaring information....
- Darwin Calendar ServerDarwin Calendar ServerThe Darwin Calendar Server is a standards-compliant server that allows multiple users to collaboratively share calendaring information. It provides a shared location on the network to store schedules, and allows users to manage and send invitations. It was publicly released during Apple's Worldwide...
- SyncMLSyncMLSyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...
open standard for calendar syncing - iCalendarICalendariCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
- List of applications with iCalendar support
External links
- New Software Lets Users Manage Multiple Calendars & Share Calendars Over The Internet - Apple's July 2002 press release introducing iCal
- New Application to Manage & Share Multiple Calendars Now Available for Free Download - Apple's September 2002 press release announcing availability of iCal
- Calendar and Scheduling Consortium part of next version of iCal Server (Leopard)
- ICal4j - ICal Java library (with usage examples)
- Delegate calendars with Outlook, Entourage, and web mail users - through Kerio MailServer.
- Perl script and instructions to subscribe from iCal to a Sun Calendar Server and subsequently sync it to mobile devices through iSync
- Apple iCal calendars
- Geody iCal and csv calendars - Free (CC-by-sa) calendars