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Oracle Calendar Client: Getting Started

Introduction

Oracle Calendar (hereafter referred to as Calendar) allows you to maintain a personal schedule of your activities. In addition to helping you keep your schedule organized, Calendar allows you to keep up with lists of tasks that you need to accomplish, create notes or memos to keep you on track, and also keep up with special events and holidays. Calendar provides you with the ability to schedule meetings with other students or co-workers and others with whom you need to collaborate. Calendar does much of the hard work for you by checking for conflicts, finding mutually acceptable meeting times for all involved parties, and then by notifying attendees via email.

Note: The screen shots included in this document are of the Oracle Calendar Desktop Client for Windows. With the exception of some of the Options windows, the overall appearance, placement of icons, and other items mentioned in this document are the same for the Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris desktop calendar clients.

Getting Started

Do You Have an Account?

1. Go to the Onyen Services page.

2. Once on the Onyen Services page, click on the Subscribe to Services button.

3. On the Subscribe to Services page, log in using your Onyen and Onyen password.

4. If you already have a calendar account, an item will be listed under the Subscribe Services column on the next screen. If not, a button labeled Calendar will be displayed in the right column. To subscribe to the calendar service, click the Calendar button.

Where to Get the Oracle Calendar Desktop Client

The Oracle Calendar Desktop Client can be downloaded from the ITS Shareware Distribution server at http://shareware.unc.edu .

Logging into Calendar

Start the Oracle Calendar Client. The Sign-In window will appear.

If you are logging into the Oracle Calendar Client for the first time, click the Other button and then press the New button on the next window (the Connection Manager) to set up your connection. Follow the steps below to set up your calendar account profile:

1. In the Connection Editor window, enter a name for this profile (e.g. UNC Calendar) in the Connection Name text field.

2. Next, enter calendar.unc.edu in the Server text field and then click the Lookup button.

3. In the Connection Configuration dialog box that appears, choose the Configure at login from user name radio button and then click the Configure button.

4. Click the OK button on the Connection Editor window to save your changes.

At the sign-in window, enter your Onyen in the User Name . In the Password text field, type your Onyen password.

The Calendar Screen

When you start Calendar, you will usually see your In-Tray first. The In-Tray is an area where you can view and respond to entries you receive from other users, as well as view the entries that you've sent to others. When you start each new Calendar session, the In Tray view lets you easily check to see if there are new entries since your last Calendar session. When not responding to new entries, minimize or close the In-Tray to view of your calendar. The In-Tray will be discussed in greater detail later in this document.

By default, Calendar will open in the Day View which contains a schedule for today's Agenda Events in the main window, space for your Tasks (to-do list) on the right-hand side of the screen, and space to list Day Events and Notes at the bottom of the screen.

Agenda Events are events such as meetings that have a specific time and attendees. Tasks are entries with specific start dates and due dates that can help you keep track of your ongoing projects. A Day Event is an entry for a day that has no specific time attached to it. A Note is a "reminder" entry for a specific date.

Calendar Views

There are two other calendar views in addition to the Day View , -- the Week View and the Month View .

Day View - displays 1 day at a time, Task List, Day Events, and Notes

Week View - displays 5-7 days at a time, Day Events and Notes

Month View - displays an entire month at a time.

From the Day or Week View, you may see one or more of the following icons:

	A round checkmark means that you accepted the entry.
	A round X indicates that you refused the entry.
	A round question mark appears if you have not specified whether or not you will attend the event.
	A pencil appears if there are comments (with Meetings or Tasks). To view the comments, open the entry and click on the Details tab.
	A group icon is displayed when other users or resources are invited.
	A bell indicates that a reminder has been set for the entry.
	A paperclip denotes a file is attached. Open the entry and click on the Details tab to open the attachment.

In addition to Holidays, Day Events, and Daily Note icons (mentioned in the In-Tray section of this document), the Month View will display icons like:

	The more icon means that there are more entries than what is displayed. You can use the down arrow on your keyboard to display additional entries, resize the window until all entries are visible, or click on the more icon to return to the Day View.
	This X indicates that you have refused the entry. This icon is also displayed in the In-Tray.
	The grid icon resets the monthly agenda grid to its default setting, which is useful if you have resized the window.

Date Control Bar

The buttons in the Date Control Bar , located directly under the Calendar Toolbar, assist you in moving around in the three views as follows:

	Day View	Week View	Month View
	Back/forward 1 week	Back/forward 4 weeks	Back/forward 6 months
	Back/forward 1 day	Back/forward 1 week	Back/forward 1 month
Today	Current day	Current week	Current month
	Select a specific date	Select a specific date	Select a specific date

Colors

There are three pre-defined color schemes to choose from for viewing your Agenda Events. You are able to change the color scheme you see when viewing your calendar see below for details:

Attendance Status - indicates how (and whether) a meeting invitee has responded to a meeting/event.

Importance Level - indicates the assigned importance level for the meeting/event.

Entry Ownership (default) - shows meetings that you set up versus those to which you're invited.

To choose between these color schemes, select the Tools menu, choose Options , expand Agenda , then select Colors . Select the color scheme you wish to use from the Color Meetings By drop-down menu and then click OK

Creating and Maintaining Your Personal Agenda

You can add entries from any of the calendar views, but note that Day and Week Views display time segments, making it easy to add meetings, events, and notes.

Creating Meeting Entries

To create a meeting entry in your calendar, first click on the New Meeting icon on the toolbar. Next fill out the pertinent information in the New Meeting window that appears. If this entry is only going to be used to remind you of a meeting that you are to attend, fill in the Title , Location , Date , and Start and End Time fields. Then, click on the OK button to save the information.

Here's a shortcut you can use to quickly create meetings: In the Agenda view, select the day you wish to enter a meeting. Click and drag with your mouse over the times desired for the event (e.g. from 9:00 through 10:30 a.m.) and then double-click to open the New Meeting window with the Date , Start and End Time fields already prefilled.

Other Available Features

Next, we will review some of the basic options available for meetings. Advanced scheduling options are discussed in the Oracle Calendar Client: Intermediate document.

Just Pencil It In

If your meeting plans are not yet final, select the Tentative checkbox located in the New Meeting window. Meetings marked as tentative are displayed in a different color but are still considered entries and will cause scheduling conflicts unless the invitee marks the entry as not attending.

Inviting Others to Your Meetings

The People/Resources tab of a meeting creation window allows you to invite people and resources to your event. Type the invitee's full or partial name in the Add field and click the green checkmark button to add them to your attendees list. Conversely, you can select a name from the list of attendees and click the Delete button if you change your mind about including the person in your meeting.

To look for people, groups, and resources to invite to your event, click on the search (magnifying glass) icon to display the Directory Search window. From the Directory Search window, type the Surname for a list of all the people whose last name meets that criterion. You may also fill out one or more of the other fields to narrow your search. These search fields are not case sensitive.

The results box in Directory Search window will list the names that it finds based on your search pattern. Select the name(s) you wish to add to your attendees list and press the Add button, or to add every name found, press the Add All button. Your invitees will be displayed to the right of the results box. Once you have added all the users you wish to from the Directory Search window, click OK to return to the New Meeting window, and finish setting up your meeting.

Checking Availability

Checking for conflicts will help you determine whether or not the attendees you've invited are available to attend your event. First enter the time and date for your event, and then add your attendees and rooms. Next, to make sure that your invitees and resources are really available, select Check Conflicts . If everyone is available at that date and time, you'll receive the following message -- No conflicts have been found . If someone does have a conflict, however, a dialog box will appear that will give you more detailed information about the conflicts.

Instead of pre-selecting a time and/or date, you can also use the Suggest Date/Time function by clicking Tools and clicking Suggest Date/Time to help you pick an appropriate meeting time. You can indicate the date range in which you'd like to schedule the meeting, the number of hours duration you want, the range of hours you'd like searched, and the number of suggestions that you'd like returned. Press the List Suggestions button and Calendar will compare all the schedules and return a list of available times for you to select from. Choose the date and time you desire, and press OK .

Recurring Events

For meetings or events that occur at the same time on a regular basis (e.g. every Wednesday or the 1st Monday of the month) you can use the Calendar recurring event functionality to assist in adding the multiple entries. From the New (or Update) window, type information about the first occurrence of the event and then select the Repeating button. You are then presented with fields that allow you to indicate the Start and End Dates (by date or in terms of numbers of weeks, months, or years), and the Frequency of the event (daily, weekly, monthly on date, monthly on days, or yearly). All meeting details and location information entered into the original event will propagate to the repeating dates as well. Since the recent Oracle Calendar server upgrade, recurring event details may now be changed for individual dates, without affecting every entry in the repeating event block.

Responding to Invitations

When someone else invites you to an event (meeting, event or note), a new entry will show up in your In-Tray and in your agenda. To respond, double-click on the event from either the In-Tray or the agenda to view information about the meeting. You can choose from the following options found on the Reply tab: I will attend , I will not attend , and I will confirm later . If you choose either I will not attend , and I will confirm later you can also indicate that you prefer another time. You can send other invitees an email reply from this window by clicking on the Mail Msg button or right click on the entry and choose Send Mail .

The In-Tray

	As stated earlier, the In-Tray is the first screen you see when you start Calendar and is used to provide an easy interface used to manage new entries. If you prefer to use just the agenda view to manage new entries, you can disable the In-Tray by selecting Tools , Options , General , Startup from the menu and selecting Do not open In-Tray from the On Startup tab. To open the In-Tray click on the In-Tray icon on the toolbar or select File , Open In-Tray from the menu. Here you'll see a folder with your name on it, which contains four folders titled New Entries , Entries You've Accepted , Entries You've Sent Out , and Entries You've Refused . Simply click on the folders to open or close them. When open, each folder's contents, if any, will be displayed. Identifying each entry listed, will be one of the following icons:
	Daily Note: Also displayed in the Daily, Weekly and Month Views
	Day Event: Also displayed in the Daily, Weekly and Month Views
	Holiday: Typically entered by the calendar administrator, holidays are also displayed in the Daily, Weekly and Month Views.
	Meeting
	Recurring (Repeating) Entry

Note that if you disable your In-Tray, you can still check for new events on your agenda by either closing Calendar and logging in again, or by using the Refresh All option from the View menu.

Click on an entry's icon to view a drop-down list of invitees and resources. Double click on the entry's title or your name to view summary information (location, time, etc.), or to change your reply regarding the entry. If this is an event that you proposed, you can also edit the entry.

You may also see one of the following icons while viewing entries from your In-Tray:

	The checkmark beside a user's name indicates that the user is attending.
	The X beside a user's name indicates that the user will not be attending.
	The blue question mark means that the user hasn't responded to the invitation.
	This icon indicates that the user will attend, but prefers a different time.
	This icon indicates that the user will not attend and prefers a different time.

Tasks, Notes, and Day Events

Creating a Task

You can maintain a to-do list to help you keep up with all your projects. To add a Task to your list, click on the New Task icon on the toolbar. In the New Task window, you can provide information about the task Due Date , Due Time , Start Date , Start Time , percent of task completed, and Priority level. By selecting the Reminders tab, you can turn on reminders to help keep you on track with your project. You can attach a file or add comments to a task by selecting the Details tab.

Notes and Day Events

Unlike meetings and tasks, Notes and Day Events have no specific time of day associated with them. Both Notes and Day Events show up at the bottom of the Day View and Week View agenda pages.

	Notes are generally reminders or memos. To create a note, click on the New Note icon on the toolbar. Then, enter the Title and Date information in the New Note window and click OK to save the Note.
	Day Events are events that will occur on a specified date, but can occur at any time during that day. To create a day event, click on the New Event icon on the toolbar. Then, enter the Title and Date information in the New Event window and click OK to save the Day Event.

Away From the Office?

When you're away from the office, there are options for using Calendar, such as printing your schedule, downloading your calendar to your computer to work off-line, or accessing Calendar from another computer with Internet access. If you don't have access to the desktop calendar client but do have access to a web browser, you can access your calendar via the web-based calendar client at http://calendar.unc.edu. Many, though not all, of the features of the desktop calendar client are available in the web-based calendar client.

Calendar Password

Calendar uses your Onyen and Onyen password for authentication when working in On-line mode. By default Calendar stores an Off-line copy of your agenda on your computer, which is protected by storing an encrypted copy of your password. If you choose to work Off-line with Calendar your Off-line password will usually be the same as your Onyen password. When you change your Onyen password, the next time you login to Calendar you will first use your new Onyen password. You may then be prompted (if you maintain an Off-line copy of your agenda) to enter the password for your Off-line agenda. Note that your Off-line password will be your old Onyen password. To keep things simple, Calendar should then prompt you with the choice of making your Off-line password the same as your password on the server (On-line). If you have forgotten your Off-line password please see our FAQ titled: How do I reset my Oracle Desktop Calendar client password?.

Appendix

Access Rights

Access Rights are rights that you extend to other people to control what they can see or do to your agenda. To view your access right settings, select Tools , Access Rights .

The Viewing tab lets you control what entries in your agenda will be visible to other people (with the exception of tasks which are controlled in the Viewing Tasks tab).

Note:

By default, Calendar is set so that other users can see block of times scheduled but no details of the entries.

Preferences

To view and make changes to your preferences select Tools then Options from the menu. Then select one of the following.

Agenda : Choices about what hours, intervals, and days are displayed by the calendar are set here.

In-Tray : Options for length of time to maintain In-Tray entries (One month is the default for all entries) are here.

Entry Defaults : Contains settings for the importance levels, access levels, and reminder settings for Meetings, Tasks, Day Events, and Daily Notes.

Scheduling : Set your availability defaults here, as well as how you prefer to recieve notification when others invite you to meetings, you can also select how notifications are sent when you invite others.

Off-Line : Sets location to store Calendar information when you work off-line, date ranges, people, and groups that get downloaded, as well as reconciliation options for when your local schedule differs from the data kept on the server. You can also change the default location where local data is kept.

General : Choose your formatting, date and time, and time zone will be displayed. You can also alter what you are presented with when Calendar starts up from here.

Address Book : Sets the layout and default fields for your Address Book data.

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