iCal 5 default event length

Question

Level 1

4 points

iCal 5 default event length

Since installing Lion last week iCal sets all new events I create to 'all day' as the default, previously it was the normal 1 hour which was fine. The old command line trick to modify the default (defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 60) does not appear to work with iCal 5 / Lion. Anyone else seeing this, and if so anyone know how to get this back to 1 hour versus every new event defaulting to all day?

NEVER MIND-After searching these boards fruilessly the solution only showed up after I posted the question. Apple may need to work on their search functionalty. Short answer, default for the "month" view is all day. Apparently you can type a time and data detectors will make the change.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 29, 2011 10:06 PM

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Answer 1

Jalpuna

Level 1

37 points

Aug 6, 2011 12:11 PM in response to Tyler Jones2

What is the solution?!? Every time I create a new event (in month view) iCal thinks it's all day! And then, when I open another frigging window to tell iCal that it ISN'T all day, iCal assumes the event is 8 hours long! Who designed this thing?

Click to create a new event.

Click to change it from all day to a specific time.

Click again to fix the date (because an 8 hour event, created at night, makes iCal think if I'm leaving a reminder to meet a buddy for a drink at 9 that I'm not going to get home until 5 the next morning. SHEESH!

The new iCal is a mess of click click click clickclickclickCLICK to create the simplest of events.

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Answer 2

Tyler Jones2 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 6, 2011 12:36 PM in response to Tyler Jones2

Jalpuna, the trick is rather than put in an event in month view like "have lunch with Jalpuna" on the 8th, put in "have lunch with Jalpuna at 12:00 PM" and it will place it at 12:00 PM and the event will only show "have lunch with Jalpuna".

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Answer 3

Jalpuna

Level 1

37 points

Aug 6, 2011 12:53 PM in response to Tyler Jones2

God, that's so annoying though. It's extra typing and extra steps that are unnecessary. I'd rather just click on friday and get an event box to edit. Instead, I have to type all that stuff out (instead of clicking on next friday, I have to click the plus sign and type "Next Friday"). The new iCal is pretty, but functionally, it's a big step backward.

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Answer 4

Tyler Jones2 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 6, 2011 12:54 PM in response to Tyler Jones2

While I don't disagree that the changes seem a bit less than intuitive, you can always have the default alarm already set (in iCal, open Preferences and at the bottom of the General tab you can turn on the default alarm and set a time ahead of future events to go off). So if you have the default alarm set, and know how to trigger the time of day setting, then all you would really have to manually change is the event length (default is 1 hour). And you can change that using data tags as well. Just create an event named "have lunch with Jalpuna from 12:00 to 2:00 PM" and sure enough iCal will create an event named "have lunch with Jalpuna" on the date you clicked on from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. It definately is an adjustment, but not nearly as bad as I feared when I first started trying to figure it out. Best of luck!

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Answer 5

deesee

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2011 7:34 AM in response to Tyler Jones2

The other workaround is to enter events in Day, or Week view. Then it works like it always has. I agree though, entering events in Month view ***** big time.

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Answer 6

dave_d

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2011 7:19 AM in response to Tyler Jones2

Entering in month view works great for me. Just create your events like so:

1:30pm Lunch with Jim

or

6-8pm Date with Sally

Way faster for me than the Leopard method, and more intuitive since iCal no longer assumes that every event is starting at the next hour after I enter it.

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Answer 7

Jan 7, 2012 1:43 AM in response to Jalpuna

Maybe its just me, but it took me some time to realise, the nifty text-parsing doesn't only work under the plus-button for like general new event, it also works after doubleklicking a day in month-view.

So, pointing on my chosen Friday, doubleklick, and writing lunch at 12pm looks quite cool

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