iCal default duration - Lion Upgrade

Tried that earlier, it doesn't do it.

The problem is that the old behavior was relative. I double clicked the day, it asked me what time I wanted the event to start at, and boom it was there. In fact, it defaulted to the time it currently was. Would have been cooler if it defaulted to a time relative to where you clicked on the square, but that would have taken more thinking on the user's behalf.

Changing the default length changes it for events that you create with a start time, but does not change it for events created from the monthly calendar.

The following is my description of the actual behavior, the expected behavior, and the multi-click not-really-a-fix solution Microsoft Apple wants us to use:

Actual Behavior:

iCal, Month mode, double-click on date, pops up "New Event" box, replace "New Event" text with name of event, hit enter, new event is created and automatically flagged "all-day". To undo, double click event, unclick "all-day", time defaults to an 8 hour long event starting at 10:00 AM (or whatever defaults start time you have set), change start time to the time of your event, end time automatically updated to +8 hours, if start time is after 4:00 PM, it rolls into next day, change end time, now you have to adjust date if it rolled into next day. Click Done.

Steps to create a new event in this scenario? 2 to create [name + enter], 4 or 5 to set it to a shorter period of time. Yuck!

Expected Behavior:

iCal, Month mode, double-click on date, pops up "New Event" box, replace "New Event" text with name of event, hit enter, default event created for one hour. Preferably "New Event" box includes a "set start time/end time" dialog or that pops up after event is created for you to shorten it.

Apple's Solution:

iCal, Month mode, double-click on date, pops up "New Event" box, replace "New Event" text with name of event - start time of event - end time of event [i.e., "Start Turtle Soup at 2p to 6p" or "Start Turtle Sup at 2p"]. Event is created for the time period you type in. The trouble is you have to reprogram yourself to remember to write in the time. A lot of people, myself included, have grown used to the click and dial in the time method rather than type it in from the beginning. However, if you type in the wrong thing during this process, you break the auto-parse and it defaults to all day [i.e., "test on Wednesay at 2:00 PM"] is assumed to mean you are warning yoruself about the test on Wednesday, not create the event on Wednesday, and definitely don't notify me at 2:00 PM today about the test on Wednesday.

I see Apple's point, but it just does not work for me .. and it appears several others. Letting me change the default duration for a new day event and set a default time would at the very least alleviate it and make it my own problem, not one I'm having to fiddle with.

By the way, who hyphenates all-day? Apple is the only one I have ever seen do that. It's weird.

So, the idea of back to the MAC was to make the MAC more like the APPS on the iphone and ipad. The calendar resembles but is not like those programs which are far more user friendly than the MAC version. Don't understand that.

The terminal resolution above needs more direction. It assumes everyone knows how to do terminal changes. I've done a few but not enough to feel confident, but if it does not do the trick, then it's not particularly helpful.

Another vote to reset the default time.

Another vote to reset the default time.

Please make the default time configurable.

and all this work like an ipad stuff is driving me crazy. It's not a friggin ipad.

Terminal is really easy... I don't know why people always want more detail.. but here it is.. for the Parrish

1. Open Terminal (search for it in spotlight or find it in Apps>Utils)

2. type in the following line:

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 60

3. Press Enter.

4. Quit Terminal

That just updates the iCal defaults.. I don't know if this actaully changed anything, but I did find that if you create the event in Week view.. it defaults to an hour. I don't know what it did before running that command, but this solves the problem for me 🙂

RE:

Terminal is really easy... I don't know why people always want more detail.. but here it is.. for the Parrish

1. Open Terminal (search for it in spotlight or find it in Apps>Utils)

2. type in the following line:

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 60

3. Press Enter.

4. Quit Terminal

That just updates the iCal defaults.. I don't know if this actaully changed anything, but I did find that if you create the event in Week view.. it defaults to an hour. I don't know what it did before running that command, but this solves the problem for me 🙂

That works in Week View, but not in Month View - odd ????

This is not working for me. I have never used the terminal before. any suggestions? TY

+1. Not a fan of the new iCal and am considering switching to a different calendar app.

One can type in "Scream at iCal 9-9:30" and it will show the event for just 9-9:30 AM or "Yell at Apple 17-17:15" and it will show the event for 5-5:15 PM! Try it. Why Apple doesn't give you any instructions for this is a reason to do the second event with me.

"One can type in "Scream at iCal 9-9:30" and it will show the event for just 9-9:30 AM or "Yell at Apple 17-17:15" and it will show the event for 5-5:15 PM! Try it. Why Apple doesn't give you any instructions for this is a reason to do the second event with me."

While this is true (and has been discussed in the past), it doesn't change the fact that you should be able to set the default duration of an event in the iCal Preferences. It's just senseless not to have options like this in a program.

- Mike

The terminal command "defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 60" does NOT work for me. In the 'day' and 'week' view, I'm able to create a blank event with the duration of one hour, just like I want. In the 'month' view, however, it defaults events to all-day, and then to 8 hours, as several different users commenting on this discussion have mentioned. This is VERY frustrating and I sincerely hope that Apple is working on an update for iCal that fixes this irritating problem.

Thanks for the script. It's a big help. I just have to remember to put the time in the subject line. Different but cool.

I thought the whole point of software upgrades was to make things better for the user. The new iCal upgrade is not an imporvement.

I really could use the side bar back with the calendars listing. With the sidebar it was easy to switch to the month i needed to look up and see what day of the week an email or ad was refering to. Basically i need a quick look up for this day they're talking about is it a work day or not. The year view can be used for that but it was nice to not have to leave the daily schedule.

Plus i don't like the navagation buttons in 2 locations. The day/week/month/year & back/today/forward buttons should be near each other. The way to enter new iCal events is harder and less effective then the previous version. I would like to be able to control the duration of new events. They default to 8 hours or all day. Unless you go into terminal and make changes and never ever use the month or year view. Not an improvement. Come on 8 hours you got to be kidding me. The only event in my life that needs a default to 8 hours is work and that repeats until i have to retire. Not a great dession on that choice.

I also am working on a computer i would prefer something other then a torn paper look or paper pages turning when i need to change the month.

To Joe and whiteatom:

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 15

does NOT work for Lion in Month view.

This behaviour is driving me nuts - downgrading back to Snow Leopard. Staying with Snow Leopard until iCal and all the other loads and loads of issues with Lion are resolved - assuming they will be resolved - if not - Windows or Linux it is!