Ever lose your client calendar? Well, neither had I…until Friday.
By some odd combination of keystrokes, I deleted my client calendar within Apple’s iCal.
iCal is neat in that I can have multiple calendars that can service different puposes. I have different calendars for family, home, personal appointments, holidays, birthdays, etc…and, of course, my work calendar where I keep detailed track of all my client work.
But not any more. The client calendar is gone. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking…just select ‘undo.’ Tried it, it was grayed out. Next I spent two hours on the phone with Apple trying to get the calendar back – only to be told that once it’s deleted it’s deleted. Not in Trash. Not in cache. Gone. This I found odd that the file wouldn’t end up in Trash or that it couldn’t be rebuilt.
Funny thing, I wasn’t asked to confirm if I wanted it deleted. It just got wiped away. And I still have no idea what keys I hit that made it happen. Could this be rare? Do I feel safe using iCal for business anymore? Not sure yet.
Yes, there is a backup feature. But it’s manual and I’ve never bothered with it. That will change.
In the meantime, I’m looking for a new calendar program for the Mac. I do like iCal, but am thinking maybe it’s time for a change.
I’ve been running all my client work through iCal, Address Book and Merlin (project management software) because they all easily integrate. I do have Filemaker Pro and use it to store client passwords, etc. I’ve been thinking of moving my address book and calendar to it, but I’m not fond of the learning curve nor the time it’ll take to create the database layout I’ll want.
Any suggestions on other calendar systems for the Mac? And remember, back up your calendar.
Thanks, Dawud, for mentioning this. I just, for the first time, backed-up my iCal… Ugh- what a stomach-sinker of a loss…
Hey there, Dawud, sorry to learn of your calendar loss. Ugh, moments like those are real heart-sinkers.
I use iCal and keep it synced with Google Calendars via Spanning Sync. And just for good measure, I back it up using Mozy for Mac (free for up to 2 gig). I’ve used this system for about 5 months and so far, no bumps or scary moments. The added benefit is that I can access my calendar via my Palm or from any other computer now, without using .Mac (which I haven’t liked much).
Hope there’s something here that’s useful to you!
Tammy,
Ooh, good idea.
I actually have an auto backup for all my data using a striped RAID hard drive configuration. But there’s a couple of iApps that won’t let me change the location of the data files (iPhoto and Address Book are others) so no backup. But I like the synch with Google idea. I’m looking into that. Thanks.
One thing, can I keep my Google Calendar private – or at least parts of it? I don’t actually want to make public my client calendar.
Mark,
Good idea. I’d love to find an automator. Oh wait, I’m using 10.4…I have Automator.
Dawud, yes, you can keep any or all of your Google calendars private, share them with specific people, or share them with everyone. Cheers!
Tammy,
Cool! I’m going to use it for a back up then. Thanks.
Right on; I’m checking into Google Calendar myself now, too.
I’ve not lost a calendar yet, but neither had you before you lost this one, right?
Oh, and by the way, you asked about other calendaring apps… I’ve only found big bulky ones, nothing quite as sweet as iCal.
Adam,
Right!
On the bulky apps, I know. And nothing integrates as easily with other software than iCal. Then there’s the whole issue of synching with iPhone.