Tip #1934 - Download: Sunbird
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of the Week: Sunbird
One thing I've always
liked about Outlook was the built-in Calendar. Unfortunately, I don't
really use Outlook anymore. Doctor appointments, birthdays, special events...
I miss 'em all. Heck, Christmas sneaks up on me every year. I need help;
it's only a matter of time before my lack of organization becomes
a matter of life and death. I'm not joking. If I forget another
anniversary, my wife's going to run over me with the car, and I
probably deserve it.
Don't lose any sleep
over my well-being yet. I have seen the light. Sunbird, an open source
stand-alone calendar, has all the tools I'll need without being tied to
some other program or web service, and it's free.
Sunbird
really is a full-featured calendar with tons of options and a great looking,
dynamic interface. The program is still in Beta, so there isn't a manual
or a help file yet, but the application is very intuitive and straight
forward. Nothing should surprise you or seem in any way overly complicated.
Just give yourself a little time to create a couple of Events or Tasks
and pay close attention to all the options you have, and it should make
complete sense. If you do have questions, you can look them up in the
Sunbird
forum, which is very helpful.
Here's a list of a
few of the options you can expect to find for scheduled Events
and Tasks:
Options
for Events and Tasks (E/T):
· List important location information that you may need to carry
out your E/T whether it's a physical local or the location of something
on your system such as a file, folder or program.
· Set the Event or Task's Start/End time, or check the Runs
all day option
· There is a Notes field for a detailed description of your E/T
for your reference
· Can bind the E/T to a web address (this only works if you have
FireFox installed on your system)
· You can make E/T "private" so they can't be seen until the notification
configured time has been reached.
· The notification alarm can be set up with how close to the event
you want to be notified, if you want to be notified after the event, or
how many times to notify you. Also the frequency in which the E/T is to
occur (with exceptions).
· You set the status
· You can categorize your E/T to help you sort through your entries.
· The notification alarm can be emailed to you so you don't forget,
even when you're away from your desk (only if you have Thunderbird installed
on the system).
· When notified, you can acknowledge the alarm or hit the Snooze
button for a little extra time.
· You can have multiple calendars to cover different aspects of
your life (work, home, school sports) and view them together or independently.
You can access all
of these options by highlighting the day you want the E/T to start, and
then either:
· Using the right-click menu,
· The Toolbar icon,
· Double-click on the desired start date, no secret tricks here.
There's also a portable
version of Sunbird that you can run directly from a Flash
Drive (i.e., Thumbdrive, some MP3 Players, and Memory Cards). The option
to create different Calendars and export/import them separately from one
version of Sunbird to another means you don't need an FTP connection to
synchronize your calendar. You can take your Sunbird calendar with you,
any PC you plug it into will have your Sunbird calendar to further help
you stay organized.
Note:
I have written down the instructions
for the import/export feature in PDF format so it will be easy to save
and reference.
A few of the free
antivirus programs might see the portable version as a virus. Don't worry,
this is an very rare issue, practically a bug in the antivirus software.
The program sees the portable launchers used in these portable versions
as a Trojan. This is a false positive, not a real virus.
Sunbird: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird.html
Portable Sunbird: http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_sunbird/
Last Weeks article on Portable Applications:
SunBird Forums: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=46
~ Chad Stelnicki
** WorldStart is not
the developer of this software and cannot offer technical support. We
have no control over the pages that we link.
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