Help me use my iPad calendar better?

[Farrar]

Or tell me if there's another calendar app you like better?

 

I would like to really start using my iPad as a calendar more, but I find the interface for the Apple app annoying. It's not hard to use exactly, but every single event that I enter takes longer than I feel like it should. It feel tedious, honestly, which is in contrast to how I feel like most things on the iPad are so intuitive.

 

I've always been a paper calendar person - we keep one up on the wall in the kitchen. But I'm joined at the hip with my iPad so it seems silly that I don't do an electronic one. But in the last couple of months I've tried it and eh... But maybe there are little tricks? What do you do that works? And I'm not totally sure how to sync it with dh's as he has a different Apple ID.

 

Thanks.

[zoobie]

I sync mine with my google calendar:

https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/99358?hl=en

 

DH syncs his with his work calendar and our google calendar. Doesn't mean he actually looks at it, but...

[Parrothead]

Are you use in the icloud calendar? I love it. It is so much better than google ever thought to be, and a million times better than Office.

[Farrar]

Okay, syncing... That's good.

 

Any other useful tips? Or other app options?

[Farrar]

My calendar is on the cloud, in that it's synced to all my iDevices. But that's it. And I can use it, so that's a step up from any other electronic calendar I've ever had. :tongue_smilie: But I still can't really get myself to use it enough. It feels like something is... missing in my understanding. Especially as people rave about it.

[AmyontheFarm]

I'm sorry but I'm not much help. I've resorted to taking a picture of my home calendar with my ipad and using that picture as my backdrop photo. This way I can see if something is planned and since there are 6 people in this house updating that wall calendar, I can quickly snap a photo on my way out of the house to the dr's appt, so I don't double book us.

[Farrar]

Lol. That's the sort of solution I would come up with!

[skeeterbug]

I also find the calendar very tedious to enter things. I often just don't bother. Recently I decided to try the reminder and it didn't seem to work, or the alert must have been on the screen before I unlocked it and then disappeared. Once upon a time I searched youtube and watched a video with tips on the calendar, that helped.

 

Interested to see if anyone can recommend one that is easier to use.

[Farrar]

I found one that looks good by Readdle just called Calendars, but it it's really expensive.

[Luckymama]

Entering things can be tedious but it's better than the alternative----things written on the wall calendar, dh's work calendar, the kids' planners...

 

I've been using the calendar on the iPad/iPhone since January. Dh now has a MacBook so he's able to sync his work and personal calendar with what I enter. Love it! I use different "calendars" (different colors) for each person, with another for all-family events and yet another for dinner plans.

[Rbsmrter]

Is it possible to print your iPad calendar? Every once in awhile its easier to make quick changes to a paper calendar but I would love if I could just print off the digital one rather than having two different calendars.

[Farrar]

Ooh, I don't know, but I'd like to.

 

Honestly, I'm leaning toward putting a pdf of a monthly calendar into Notability. It's lame though and I really would like something that has the option of notifications and syncing with dh's absurdly shifting work and busy theater schedule - we're a one car family and sometimes we have to duke it out over the car. I'd still love to hear if anyone has any more tips or recommendations of other apps to try.

[Marylou]

Have you tried www.Cozi.com ?

 

www.cozi.com

[songsparrow]

I use my calendar all the time, but I don't know if I have any great tips. The reasons I love it are:

 

(1) I backup to the iCloud, so no worries about losing a paper planner or about my computer crashing.

 

(2) It syncs to all my devices, so if I forgot and left my main device at home, I can always access it on my phone and it's always up-to-date on all devices.

 

(3) I love the invite feature. Any events that I want my dh to know about (or my mom, or parents-in-law, or anyone), I send them an invite. If they also use iCal, the invite pops up right in their calendar; if they do not use iCal, they'll get an email. And then if there are any changes or updates to the info, they automatically get the updated info. When my girls get older and use their own calendars on their tablets, I'll be able to send them items for their calendars, too.

 

(4) If you have odd repeating events - like "the second Tuesday of every month" - you can't set these up on the iPad but you can set them up by going to iCloud on a laptop or desktop computer (or through iCal on a Mac).

 

(5) I have multiple calendars, and I can choose to show all or some of them. Since the different calendar entries are in different colors, it's easy to see at a glance. For example, I have one main calendar for things that we are absolutely doing. I have a second calendar where I record events that I might want to consider going to for hs (e.g., a one monthly event at a local museum). I keep birthdays and anniversaries in a third. I keep a garden journal in a fourth (making entries recording when I did tasks, or reminding me of things to do).

[mamaraby]

Sometimes when I have a lot of things to enter I just use my Mac, but tbh, more often than not I enter it in on my iPad. It's just a habit at this point.

 

If you have multiple iTunes accounts (or even things like Google Calendars, outlook calendar that's available online, etc) you can add them to your iPad calendar in settings. You'd go to "Mail, Contacts, and Calendars" and add it from there. You'll need the log in information for all of those accounts obviously. When it comes time to add an event to your calendar you'll need to be sure that the iCloud calendar is selected. For some older iPads (like mine) this was a bit of a problem when iCloud was first available. When in the calendar you can see what calendars you have available by the button in the upper left corner.

 

I've also created separate calendars and assigned different colors for different purposes. So I have one for the kids, one for the dog (heartworm, flea and tick reminders, etc), one for myself, an d one for the family as a whole. From that same button that lists your calendars, you can also edit them and assign different colors.

 

Actually, without my iPad calendar I'm a little lost. I love the reminders plus the fact that I everyone has access to the same calendar wherever they go be that my iPad, the husband's iPad, or my Mac downstairs.