The Events Calendar application shows the calendar view of all staff events, or specific types of events or team events.
In This Article
The Events Calendar is a versatile App which allows you to add events in various Categories and Sub-Categories, and advertise the events so they show in the Home Page What's New feed.
Build Your Events Calendar
Start by following the process to add an App to a site.
Once you have the App in place, on the App Card change the title and/or description if you want to customize it for your intranet. You might want to name it something that relates to your company, or have a contest for employees to create a name. Click Create if you'll return to it later, or Build if you want to start customizing or adding content right away.
The Events Calendar starts without any folders, so you'll need to add at least one category (i.e. folder) before adding content. Each Category is considered a completely separate calendar, so if you want all events to show on one calendar but have users more easily locate specific event types (e.g. Lunch & Learn) then add a Subcategory to your Category. If events don't need to be separated out by users, just have one Category for all events and no Subcategories. To add a Category, hover over the Admin icon and click App Admin, then click Manage Categories.
Once you've added a Category, you'll be shown the calendar view.
From the Intranet Connections Blog
Default Events Calendar Layout
The Events Calendar App comes with a standard layout for its default home page, List View, and Item View, as shown with sample content below. All layouts can be customized. If you have only one Category, the Home Page and the List View are the same, as shown below, with an event shown on the 29th.
Home Page / List View
Item View
Click on calendar event name to access the Item View. In the Item View, each event listing has several calendar-specific features:
- Send email notification of your Events Calendar item (1) - email individuals or groups all of the details of the event
- Add Events Calendar item to Outlook (2) - click the icon to download an ICS file to your computer, then click to open the file to add to your Outlook calendar. If the event is later deleted, you'll receive notification. Note that this function is enabled by Category, so you may need to hover over the Admin icon and click Manage Categories, then click the Category name and check the box for Enable Add to Outlook feature.
Customize Events Calendar
As with all Apps, there are many ways to customize. When you're in the App, hover over the Admin icon in the Toolbar, and click App Admin to access the settings.
Other than the name and description, you can:
- Alter users' default view - click Properties and under Default View change users' view to either day, week, or month; or set a default event start or end time (if you leave these blank it's up to users to complete the fields).
- Choose which fields to display - click Manage Fields to view the current fields on the calendar. Some of the fields can be toggled such as 'Sub Category', this is done by deselecting the Display checkbox.
- Change the layout - edit the layout of the App Home page, List View, or Item View. Learn more about Layout for Apps.
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Use folders to group contents - click Manage Categories to add, rename, or delete Categories for Event Calendar listings. Click on the Category name to adjust the security of that folder. Learn more about Security for Apps. Clicking on the Category name also provides options to:
- Add Subcategories - use Sub-categories if you want to have events grouped or viewable by type on one calendar (e.g. allow users to see all Corporate Events or Lunch & Learns at a glance); there's also a checkbox to allow users to create Sub-categories, or to display the Sub-category name in the calendar view
- Color coding - click [add] to add a color coding for a Category or Sub-Category, providing a visual classification of event types; you can also choose whether users can add their own color codes
- Enable Add to Outlook feature - this handy feature should be turned on by default for all folders; allows users to add an intranet event to their work calendars
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Enable date conflict checking - can prevent overlap of events based on settings chosen; click more options to see additional setting options as follows:
- 'Prevent overlap of events with the same category and sub-category' shows any conflicts when the item you’re publishing either conflicts with an existing calendar event created on the same parent calendar level, or if the parent calendar and sub category matches. This is the most common selection, as many calendars may have multiple sub-categories but you wouldn’t want a conflict to occur if the sub-categories don’t match.
- 'Also prevent overlaps between category and any sub-category events' shows conflicts where the item's parent category or any of the other sub categories have an overlapping scheduled date/ time. This would work for a case where you have two meeting rooms with a divider in the middle; if the divider is removed, the parent category would have a meeting during this time, likewise, if you used one of the sub-categories, you wouldn’t be able to book an event for the parent category during the same date/time.
- Add an approval function - click Approval Workflow, then click on a folder name to assign an Approval Manager workflow by folder - this can be a handy feature for vacation approval as shown in the blog example earlier in this article. Learn more about managing folder workflow in the App Overview article.
- Advertise items - click Advertising Options, then click on a folder name to determine whether items in that folder will be advertised to the site homepage.
These are just a few of the many ways you can customize the Events Calendar application so it fits with your organization's needs.
Add Events
Events have some special considerations, so adding events to the Events Calendar has a few extra steps to ensure that the right settings are in place.
To add an event (assuming you have the permissions to do so):
- Within the Events Calendar, click Add, top right.
- Add the details of your event:
- choose Sub-Category and Color Code if applicable
- enter a brief but descriptive Title (required)
- Short Description - this can show in the advertising for an event or in App feeds, and will show directly under the event name (see "Join our company overview..." in above image); note that if this is added, then the event date/time will not appear in the event advertising
- Description - full html editing of event description, so you can add links, images, etc.
- Choose the event date
- Add the time - either a start/end time, or only a start time, or clear the time fields if you just want the event to appear in the calendar without times
- Recurrence Pattern - if this is more than a one-time event, add a recurrence from the options shown, and choose when the recurrence should end
- File attachment - use this if you have a document which should accompany the event
- Link attachment - if there's an associated link, you could add it here, but it's easier to simply add a link within the Description field
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Advertise to - specific options for advertising to the What's New feed on the Home Page:
- Do Not Advertise - event is created but not advertised on the Home Page
- Advertise Now - event is created and immediately advertised
- Advertise Recurring Items - recurring event is created and each date is advertised on the day of the recurring event; note that you must also select an 'advertise on' date to trigger the start of advertising of recurring items
- Advertise On - choose a specific date (and time, if preferred) that the item should advertise; helpful when you're creating an event well in advance but want it to advertise closer to the date
Did You Know...Video
Edit Events
Editing a regular event is just like editing any item on the intranet. Go to the item and click the edit pencil on the right side of the item.
As you edit, keep in mind how the event will look in the advertising on the Home Page (assuming you're going to advertise the event). For example,
Edit Recurring Events
Editing recurring event is a bit different. For each recurring event except for the first in the series you have the option of editing either the occurrence of the event (1), or editing the entire series (2), similar to Outlook. You can also delete the occurrence (1) or the series (2). When editing the first event in a series changes made will affect the entire series and overwrite any changes made to specific events in the series.
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