Calendar - views and time ranges

The display of appointments from your personal calendar folders as well as from public or other users' shared calendar folders is controlled via the four views and time ranges described below. These are available in the View and Time Range panel sections.

In the Calendar and List view the title bar of the overview window displays the curent path to the folder you selected in the folder tree. You can navigate in the path by clicking on the underlined parts of the path.

The Today button in the title bar of the overview window displays the calendar view with the current date.

List view - All time ranges

The List view shows the appointments for the selected time range from the currently open calendar folder in a tabular display. The icons in the first column represent the appointment type (individual appointment or appointment series), while the icons in the second column indicate whether the relevant appointment was marked as private (key icon), whether it was created only for you (no icon) or for several participants (group icon).

Furthermore, you will see the description, the start and end time, the location, the folder and the assigned flags - flags are colorful icons for better differentiation of your appointments, e.g., for distinguishing external meetings from internal appointments. You can find further information about flags under the section called “Marking appointments with flags” in this chapter.

If you activate the option Show all my appointments from all calendars, you will see not only your appointments from the previously selected calendar folder, but all of your own appointments from all of your personal calendar folders as well as all calendar folders that are accessible to you.

Changing the time range in the list view

If you want to change the displayed time range (e.g., from Work week to Month), choose the desired time range via the functions in the Time range panel section.

Sorting appointments

In the List view you can sort the displayed appointments for all time ranges: according to the fields Description, Start, End, Location or Flag - either alphabetically or chronologically in ascending or descending order. The arrow at the column header of one of these fields indicates according to which field and in which order (ascending or descending) the currently displayed appointments are sorted.

If you would like to change the sort order, for instance to show your appointments in descending order according to the Start field, click on the header of the relevant column to choose this field as a sort criterion. Afterward you can either click on the column header again or click on the arrow in the column header to display the appointments in descending order.

Viewing appointments from other time ranges

In order to see the appointments of the preceding or following time range without changing the selected time range (day, month, etc.), click on the relevant navigation arrow in the title bar of the list. Paging forward or backward always takes the activated time range into account: if you have chosen Month as the time range, the view will page forward or backward by one month; if you have chosen Dayas the time range, the view will page forward or backward by one day.

Figure 4.7. Paging through the appointment view

Paging through the appointment view

Calendar view - day range

If the Calendar view is set to the Day range, you will see the appointments of the selected day from the currently open calendar folder in a daily display. The following sections provide details about the display of individual appointments, all-day appointments and appointment series in this view.

The day view shows the time of day as configured by you (working hours and time off) in different colors - working hours are shown in light yellow, time off is dark yellow. The day view is subdivided by a time grid whose intervals are also configurable according to your preferences.

If you activate the option Show all my appointments from all calendars, you will see not only your appointments from the previously selected calendar folder, but all of your own appointments from all of your personal calendar folders as well as all calendar folders that are accessible to you.

Configuring the day view

More information about defining user-specific settings for your working hours (start and end) as well as the time interval is available under the section called “Calendar module options” in the Settings chapter of this user's handbook.

Individual appointments

Individual appointments are shown as boxes with important basic data of the appointment: Description, start and end as well as location - provided that these data have previously been entered. The size of the box corresponds to the time range covered by the appointment. The colored bar at the left edge of the box indicates the status of the appointment: blue = reserved, yellow = temporary, red = absent on business or green = free.

Similar to the List view, appointments marked as private are shown with a key icon and appointments with several participants have a group icon. If flags are assigned, they are also displayed in the boxes of the associated appointments.

If you let your cursor hover over an appointment, a window appears with further information about this appointment. In addition to the data that is already visible in the box, you will see here information about the participants and the resources of this appointment.

Colors of the appointment display

The colors used for the display of appointments (reserved, temporary, absent on business or free) are predefined in Open-Xchange Server and cannot be adjusted. More information about the marking of appointments is available under the section called “Creating appointments” in this chapter.

Appointment series

Appointment series for the selected day are also displayed with special marker icons to make them easily distinguishable from individual appointments.

Overlapping or adjoining appointments

The calendar day view can show a certain number of chronologically overlapping appointments. Once this number is exceeded, an additional icon is displayed in the date bar as shown in the following figure. If you would also like to display the other appointments for this day, click on this icon: This takes you to the List view with time range set to Day, which shows all appointments for this day.

Figure 4.8. Overlapping or adjoining appointments

Overlapping or adjoining appointments

All-day appointments

All-day appointments (as for instance birthdays or other events lasting a whole day) are shown directly underneath of the date of the selected day. The colored bars of the entries indicate the appointment status - individual appointment vs. series, private appointments, or appointments with several participants are marked with special icons. If flags are assigned, they are also displayed.

Please note that you always see only one all-day appointment - in each case, this is the appointment that was created as the first all-day appointment for this day. If several all-day appointments are assigned to the selected day, this is indicated by an icon in the date bar. If you would like to display all all-day appointments for this day, click on this icon: This takes you to the List view with time range set to Day, which shows all appointments for this day in a tabular display.

Figure 4.9. Several all-day appointments

Several all-day appointments

Viewing appointments from other days

If you would like to see the appointments of the preceding or following day without changing the Day time range, click either on one of the navigation arrows in the date display or select the relevant day from the mini-calendar.

Mini-calendar

More information about display, elements and usage of the mini-calendar is available under the section called “Mini-calendar” in this chapter.

Calendar view - work week range

The Calendar view set to the Work week time range shows the appointments from the currently open calendar folder in a weekly display. The appointment display corresponds to that of the day view: Colored bars mark the appointment display type: all-day appointments - again, only the all-day appointment first created for the day - are shown right below the date and appointment series, private appointments, or appointments with several participants are displayed with suitable icons. If flags are assigned, they are also displayed.

Due to the reduced display area, the appointment boxes show only the appointment description. In order to see further data of an appointment, you can open a window with additional information as in the day view, by hovering with your cursor over an appointment.

If you activate the option Show all my appointments from all calendars, you will see not only your appointments from the previously selected calendar folder, but all of your own appointments from all of your personal calendar folders as well as all calendar folders that are accessible to you.

Configuring the work week view

The work week view can also be configured via Settings. Here, you define the duration of working hours and time off as well as the temporal makeup of the working days - the relevant settings apply both to the day view and the work week view.

Overlapping and all-day appointments

The work week view can show a maximum of 2 chronologically overlapping or adjoining appointments. Once this number is exceeded, an icon is displayed next to the date to show that there are additional appointments. This icon is also displayed if several all-day appointments were assigned to one day.

Figure 4.10. Overlapping or adjoining appointments

Overlapping or adjoining appointments

If you would also like to display the other appointments for this day, click on this icon. This takes you to the List view with time range set to Work week, which shows all appointments for this work week.

Viewing appointments from other work weeks

If you would like to see the appointments from the preceding or following work week without leaving the Work week time range, click on one of the navigation arrows in the date area.

Calendar view - month range

The Calendar view set to the Month time range shows the appointments from the currently open calendar folder in a monthly display. The weekdays of the selected month are shown in light yellow, the weekend days in dark yellow, and the days of the preceding as well as subsequent months are shown in gray. If the display shows the current calendar month, the current day (today) is highlighted with white.

Colored bars mark the appointment display type: all-day appointments are shown in the date area with a gray background (only the all-day appointment that was created first for the day is displayed). The boxes show the start time and the description of the appointment - in order to see other data of an appointment, you can pull up a window with additional information. The calendar month view does not contain any icons.

For weekdays a maximum of 3 appointments are shown, for Saturdays and Sundays a maximum of 1 appointment (in addition, the first all-day appointment of the day is shown as well, if applicable). Once this number is exceeded, an arrow is displayed allowing you to switch to the calendar day view for the relevant day showing all appointments of this day.

Figure 4.11. Appointments in the Calendar view - month range

Appointments in the Calendar view - month range

If you activate the option Show all my appointments from all calendars, you will see not only your appointments from the previously selected calendar folder, but all of your own appointments from all of your personal calendar folders as well as all calendar folders that are accessible to you.

Viewing appointments from other months

If you would like to see the appointments from the preceding or following month without leaving the Month time range, click on one of the navigation arrows in the date area.

Calendar view - week range

The Calendar view set to the Week time range shows the appointments from the currently open calendar folder in a weekly display. If the display shows the current calendar week, the current week day (today) is highlighted with white.

Colored bars mark the appointment display type: all-day appointments - again, only the all-day appointment first created for the day - are shown right below the date and appointment series, private appointments, or appointments with several participants are displayed with suitable icons. If flags are assigned, they are also displayed.

The boxes show start, end, and description of the appointments. In order to see other data of an appointment, you can pull up a window with additional information.

If more appointments were entered for one day than can be shown in the fields, a scrollbar appears at the right edge of the field, allowing you to page through the appointments for this day.

If you activate the option Show all my appointments from all calendars, you will see not only your appointments from the previously selected calendar folder, but all of your own appointments from all of your personal calendar folders as well as all calendar folders that are accessible to you.

Viewing appointments from other weeks

If you would like to see the appointments of the preceding or following week without changing the Week time range, click either on one of the navigation arrows in the date display or select the relevant calendar week from the mini-calendar.

Mini-calendar

More information about display, elements and usage of the mini-calendar is available under the section called “Mini-calendar” in this chapter.

Calendar view - custom range

The look and feel of the Custom view corresponds to the Work week view. You can set the number of days for the Custom range. Information can be found in the section called “Settings”

Team view - day and week range

The Team view provides insight into the calendars of all registered users in Open-Xchange Server. Thus, you can use it, for instance, to get an overview of the availability of selected users before you create a new appointment. If you switch to the Team view for the first time within a session, it does not show any appointments, because you first need to select at least one user whose appointments you would like to see. You can do this via one of the two methods described below.

Selecting users, groups or resources for the appointment display

You select one or several users, groups or resources for the appointment display by clicking on Add in the Team member panel section. This function opens the Select users window listing all registered users, groups or resources in Open-Xchange Server (from the public contact folder Global address book).

Now enter the users' names or wildcards (the symbols * or ?) or combinations of name parts and wildcards into the Search field. Then click on Go to start searching for the relevant users. You can use wildcards in the following ways (among others) for defining the search criterion - you can ignore capitalization here:

  • me or *me* => all users whose first or last name contains the character sequence "me".

  • m???r => all users whose first or last name contains the characters "m" and "r" with precisely 3 characters between "m" and "r" - as, for example, the last names Maier, Meier or Meyer, but not Mair or Muller.

Then select the users for the appointment display (for multi-selection hold the Ctrl key or the Shift key) and click on Add. This adds the selected users into the Participants field.

If you have made a mistake selecting users, you can remove the contents of the Participants field via the Delete function. For this, select one ore more participants in the Participants field and click on Delete.

If it is not be possible to find all users whose appointments you want to see in a single search , repeat the search and selection process - with appropriately different search criteria - until you have added all desired users to the Participants section.

When you confirm your choice via the OK button, the Team view will show the appointments of the selected users for the currently active time range (day or week), as described in the following sections.

Team view - day range

When the Team view is set to the Day range, all appointments of the selected users are displayed for the selected day in a day view - the display of working hours and time off resembles that of the calendar day view. The appointments of the users are again displayed as boxes that extend across the time range of the respective appointment; the colored bars indicate the appointment display type (reserved, free, etc.).

If you were added as a participant to the appointments of a user, the descriptions of the relevant appointments are displayed in the boxes. If users have created private appointments or you have not been added as a participant to the appointments of other users, the boxes contain no description guaranteeing the requisite privacy of these appointments.

Figure 4.12. Appointments in the Team view - day range

Appointments in the Team view - day range

If you would like to see the appointments from a preceding or following day without leaving the Day time range, click on one of the navigation arrows in the date area.

Team view - work week range

If the Team view is set to the Work week range, it shows the appointments of the selected users for the selected work week in form of a bar whose color indicates the appointment display type (reserved, free, etc.). In order to see the start and end time of an appointment, you can open a window with additional information as in the calendar views, by hovering with your cursor over an appointment.

Figure 4.13. Appointments in the Team view - work week range

Appointments in the Team view - work week range

If you would like to see the appointments from the preceding or following work week without leaving the Work week time range, click on one of the navigation arrows in the date area.

Selecting teams for the appointment display

If you regularly want to see the appointments of specific users, you can simplify and speed up the user selection for the appointment display by combining these users into teams - then, instead of selecting several individual users, you just need to select the relevant team in order to display all appointments of all members of the team.

Creating and managing teams

Teams are created via the Settings, in the Calendar category. More information about creating teams and managing team members is available under the section called “Team options” in the Settings chapter of this user's handbook.

Once you have set up at least one team, you can select the users whose appointments you want to see via the Choose Team in the Team member panel section. This function opens a selection list for the selection of the desired team.

Once you have selected a team from the list, the list closes and all appointments of all members of this team are displayed for the currently set period. The display of the appointments corresponds to the appointment display for manually selected users.

If you also want to see the appointments of other users, you can add those users via the Add function to the display. Please note that choosing another team will overwrite the list of currently selected users.

Changing the time range in the appointment view

If you want to change the displayed time range (e.g., from Day to Work week), click on the relevant function in the Time range panel section. The list of users selected for appointment display is preserved throughout a time range change - regardless of how you had previously selected the users.

Removing users from the appointment display

In order to remove a selected user from the appointment display, select the user you wish to delete in the Team member column and then click on Remove in the Team member panel section.

Team views

Since team views cut across folders, the currently selected team view is preserved when you change folders in the folder tree.

Detail view

The Detail view shows three tabs with all data, participants and resources as well as attachments of an appointment that was previously selected in the List or Calendar view.

Appointment tab

The Appointment tab contains information about location, duration, participants and resources as well as the appointment display type (reserved, absent on business, free, etc.) and it shows whether the appointment is an individual appointment or an appointment series. Furthermore, you will see the associated calendar folder, annotations and assigned tags - provided the relevant data has been entered. If a reminder was added to the appointment, this is also displayed in this tab.

Participants tab

The Participants tab lists all persons who are taking part in the appointment, all reserved resources - resources are physical supplies and devices (conference rooms, vehicles, presentation media, etc.) -, as well as specific participants who are crucial for conducting a meeting.

The information in the Status column allows you to see immediately which persons have already confirmed their participation in the appointment, who has accepted tentatively, who has refused, and from whom a relevant response is still required. If the invited participants have added a comment to their response, you can see it in the Comment column.

Please note that no participation status can be displayed for physical resources.

Managing physical resources

In Open-Xchange Server, only the administrator can manage physical resources - adding new resources as well as editing and deleting existing resources.

Attachments tab

Attachments are external documents (for example, text documents with driving directions, spreadsheets with price quotes, images, etc.) that can be saved with the appointment data and thus directly associated with the appointment. Section the section called “Adding attachments to appointments” in this chapter describes how you can associate attachments with an appointment.

The Attachments tab shows all available attachments associated with the selected appointment. The tabular display of the attachments shows the filenames of the associated documents, their mime type as well as the file size in KB.

Opening or saving attachments from appointments

You can open an attachment of the displayed appointment or save it to a file via the functions Open or Save as under the Attachments panel section. Select the desired attachment from the list and then click on the appropriate function in the Panel. The following figure shows a relevant example.

An attachment is opened using the appropriate application: Spreadsheets are opened with your spreadsheet program, while text documents open in your word processing application. The same is true for other file types, of course.

If you save an attachment, a copy of this file is downloaded from the server to your local hard drive or whatever other disk drive you specify as the download destination.

Saving attachments from appointments into InfoStore

Saving an attachment into InfoStore generates a new object which is managed via Open-Xchange Server. This method has the advantage of giving you and other users access to this Info Item via the InfoStore module. You can find more information about InfoStore and Info Items in the InfoStore chapter.

In order to store an attachment from an appointment in one of a personal or public InfoStore folder or another user's shared InfoStore folder (provided you have the right to create objects), select the desired attachment from the list and then click on the Save in InfoStore function in the Attachment section of the panel.

This opens the New Info Item window, where you can enter a description as well as further data (such as, for instance, an Internet address or notes) for the newly created Info Item, and select the destination folder. When you have entered all the data, click on the Save icon in the Save panel section to store the Info Item in the selected folder.

Saving attachments as Items in InfoStore

In order to be able to save attachments from appointments into InfoStore, you must have enough free storage capacity on the server. If the storage space assigned to you is used up, you cannot save any further attachments from appointments into InfoStore. The InfoBox on the Start page of Open-Xchange Server provides information about your currently available storage space.

Mini-calendar

The mini-calendar is a display and navigation tool allowing you to determine at a glance on which days of a selected month you have appointments, and you can directly display the relevant appointments.

Upon login to Open-Xchange Server, the mini-calendar always shows the current month. The column to the left of the weekdays shows the calendar weeks of the displayed month. The current day (today) is shown in a box; if the current day is also the most recently selected day, this day is additionally shown with a gray background.

All days with at least 1 appointment for you are shown in bold - regardless of which calendar folder these appointments are saved in.

Appointment display via the mini-calendar

If you would like to see appointments for specific days or weeks, the mini-calendar offers several ways to do this: If you click on a day, the calendar day view of this day is automatically activated and the selected day is shown with a gray background in the mini-calendar. If you click on a calendar week, the calendar week view for this week is displayed. If you click on the icon on the upper left part of the mini calendar the month view of the month selected in the mini calendar is displayed.

Which appointments are shown after a day or a calendar week has been selected in the mini-calendar depends on which folder type was active at the time the selection was made in the mini-calendar:

  • A personal, public, or another user's shared calendar folder => all appointments from the currently open calendar folder.

  • No calendar folder, but, e.g., a contact or task folder => all appointments from your personal calendar folder (Calendar folder).

Appointment display via the mini-calendar

Note that the selection of a day or a week in the mini-calendar always changes the Calendar view to the corresponding period. This is also true if a calendar folder is already open in another view (e.g., in the List or Team view).

Displaying other months in the mini-calendar

In order to change the mini-calendar display to another month, page forward or backward by one month with the navigation arrows, or select the desired month using the arrows next to the month and year display.

The Today button displays the calendar view containing the current date.

Active view after changing the module

If you leave the Calendar module to switch to another module of Open-Xchange Server and then return to the Calendar module, you will see the same multi-panel view (set to the same time range) that was active when you left the Calendar module - either the List, Calendar, or the Team view. This is also the case when you left the Calendar module from a Detail view.

Defining the default view

You can specify which view and time range should initially be opened in the Calendar module as the standard view after you log in to Open-Xchange Server - the following views are available to you:

  • List view - day, work week, month, or week time range

  • Calendar view - day, work week, month or week time range

  • Team view - day or work week time range

More information about defining the standard view of the Calendar module is available under the section called “Calendar module options” in the Settings chapter.