Zimbra Calendar Help

This guide is for the online version of Zimbra.  For all of these instructions, the steps are assuming that you have the Calendar tab already selected.  If you are having a hard time finding icons or menu items listed in the instructions, please check to make sure you have the Calendar tab selected.

Creating a New Appointment

*NOTE: When creating any type of appointment to which there will be attendees other than yourself, you MUST click the SEND button, rather than Save, otherwise the invitation will not be sent and the appointment will not be added to the other attendees' calendars.

QuickAdd Appointment

1. Double-click on the date you wish to add the appointment to.  Note that if you are in Week, Work Week, or Day view, you can also click on the time you want the appointment to start and Zimbra will auto-insert the time selected as the appointment's start time.
2. In the QuickAdd Appointment window, set all the information for the appointment you wish to add, and then click "OK". Note: If you find that you are always bypassing the quickadd appointment window to see more details, and want to keep the quickadd window from appearing every time, click on the Preferences tab, and in the list of preferences on the left click on Calendar. Unselect the "Use the QuickAdd Dialog When Creating New Appointments" option. Click on Save.

Add New Appointment

1. Click on the "New" icon.
2. Set all the information for the appointment you wish to add, then click "Send".

Editing an Appointment

Just like creating a new appointment, there are a couple of ways to edit an existing appointment.

1. If you are in the Week, Work Week, or Day view, you can click and drag to move the appointment to a different day or time, or you can click and drag to adjust the start and stop time for the event.

Or...

2. Double-click on the appointment and adjust the fields you want to be changed.  Click "Send" when you are finished.

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Creating a Reoccurring Appointment

1. Add a new appointment or open an existing one by double-clicking on it.
2. Set the "Repeat" field to how often you want the appointment to occur. (If you are using QuickAdd and would like more customization of "Repeat" field, click "More Details".)
3. To add an end date, or to further customize how the appointment repeats, click "Customize".
4. When you are finished making modifications, click "Send".

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Inviting Other People to an Appointment (Meeting)

1. Add a new appointment or open an existing one by double-clicking on it. (Note that if you are adding an appointment using QuickAdd you will have to click on "More Details" before continuing to Step 2.)
2. Locate the Attendees button and entry field.
3. Click the Attendees button to open a contact browsing window, or type email addresses into the entry field to the right of the Attendees button. 
4. Once an attendee has been selected, you are able to view their schedule under the Scheduler section. You may need to click "Show" in order to view this section.
5. If you would like to be notified via email of people's responses to the invitation, click the Options button and make sure "Request Responses" is checked. Otherwise, you can uncheck that box. 
6. When you are finished modifying the meeting, click "Send".

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Inviting Groups to a Meeting

In order to invite groups to a meeting, you must first create the group. 

Creating a Group

1. Select the "Address Book" tab.
2. Click on the arrow next to "New", then select "Contact Group".
3. Type the name you want to call the group in the "Group Name" field.
4. Using the "Find" field on the right, search for and select the individual(s) you wish to add to the group, then click "Add".
5. When you have added everyone you want into the group, click "Save" (upper left corner).

Inviting a Group to a Meeting

1. Add a new appointment or open an existing one by double-clicking on it. (Note that if you are adding an appointment using QuickAdd you will have click on "More Details" before continuing to Step 2.)
2. In the Attendees field, start typing in the name of the group, and then select it when it appears in the drop-down menu.
3. To check all attendee's schedules to make sure they are available, look under the scheduler section. (You may need to select "Show" to view this section)
4. If you would like to be notified via email of people's responses to the invitation, click Options, then make sure "Request Responses" is checked.  Otherwise, you can uncheck that box.  
5. When you are finished modifying the meeting, click "Send".

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Adding a Location to a Meeting

1. Add a new appointment or open an existing meeting by double-clicking on it. (Note that if you are adding an appointment using QuickAdd you will have click on "More Details" before continuing to Step 2.)
2. Like when adding an Attendee, you can click the Locations button to open the Find Locations window and search for a location by one or more of several attributes (listed and described below the thumbnail). OR if you know the two letter abbreviation for a building, type it in the locations field and then select the desired location from the drop-down menu.
3. If you want to have more than one location, when in the Find Locations window, select the option to allow multiple locations. The locations will show up in the Locations field, and in the scheduler section below.
4. When you are done editing the meeting, click "Send."

Please note that you can also search for a room by populating any of the other fields except for "Site".  Here are the descriptions of the different fields:

Name: This field follows the two-letter naming convention for buildings.  Ex: AD, WY, CC, etc. For a complete list of all of the buildings and locations on campus, leave all of the search fields blank and click on the Search button.

Minimum Capacity: This field allows you to serach for rooms that are as big or larger than you need.  Ex: You need a room that can hold 25 people, so you insert "25" into the "Minimum Capacity" field.  The search will return all rooms with a capacity larger than 25.

Description: Description acts as a tagging function that uses keywords having to do with the attributes of a room. 

Site: This field is not being used at this time.

Building: Building is the common name or description of a room.  Ex: Sauder Concert Hall, Rieth Recital Hall.

Floor: Floor simply describes which floor you want to search for rooms on.

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Responding to Meeting Invitations

Responding to meeting invitations in Zimbra can either be handled in the meeting's calendar field or through email.  Once you respond to an invitation through email, the email will automatically be sent to your Trash folder.

To Respond to a Meeting Invitation Through Email (Zimbra Mail Only)

1. In Zimbra, select the "Mail" tab.
2. Click to display the email invitation you wish to respond to.
3. Select either "Accept", "Tentative", or "Decline" from the upper left corner of the invitation window.  If you wish to change the default response message for that invitation, click on the arrow next to the answer you wish to make, then select "Edit Reply".

To Respond to a Meeting Invitation Through the Calendar (Thunderbird or Zimbra Users)

1. In Zimbra Calendar, find the meeting you have been invited to.
2. Right-click, and select either "Accept", "Tentative", or "Decline".  If you wish to change the default response message for that invitation, click on the arrow next to the answer you wish to make, then select "Edit Reply". Note: If you select "Tentative", Zimbra will add the meeting to your calendar with the status listed as "Tentative".  You can change your status to a meeting by right-clicking on that meeting in the calendar interface and selecting "Accept", "Decline", or "Edit Reply".
3. If you selected "Edit Reply", then edit and send the message that appears.  Otherwise, you are done.

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Checking the Availability of Another Person's Calendar

In Zimbra, one of the ways you can check another person's calendaron demand is by inviting them to a meeting and then selecting "Schedule".

You can also check someone's schedule in a more general way by having them send you a "Free & Busy" link.  To send someone a Free & Busy link, right-click on the title "Calendars", located above your list of calendars.  Select "Mail Free & Busy link".  This will open a new email message window with the link contained in the body of the message.  Enter the address of the recipient(s) you wish to receive the information, and include any additional text that you wish in the body of the message.  When you are done, click "Send".

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The recipient will receive an email with a URL similar to the below

https://mail.goshen.edu/home/pattygggoshen.edu?fmt=freebusy

By clicking on the URL, you can see their free/busy schedule. If they have marked appointments as private, you will not be albe to see the details of that appointment. You can bookmark this free/busy link , and if you wish to see the free/busy schedule for someone else, simple replace the person's username in the URL with the username of the person you wish to see the schedule of.

All Day Events

All Day Events will show in the upper part (near the date) of the Week, Work Week, and Day views.

To Add an All Day Event

1. Select "New" or double click on the date you wish to add the event. (Note that if you are adding an appointment using QuickAdd you will have click on "More Details" before continuing to Step 2.)
2. Make sure to check the box next to "All day event"
3. Be sure to mark whether Zimbra should list you as "Busy", "Free", or "Out Of Office" during that day.  "Busy" is the default, but not always preferred for All Day Events as it will cause your calendar to show you as unavailable for the entire day.
4. When you are done modifying the event, click "Save" (or send, if you have invited attendees to the event).

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Creating Multiple Calendars

In Zimbra you can create many calendars.  This is handy because you can separate different categories of appointments (i.e. work, personal, family, etc.) into different calendars, then control what calendars you are viewing at any given time.

Creating a New Calendar

1. Right-click on the Calendars heading, above your list of calendars. (OR type "nl" on your keyboard).
2. Enter a name for your calendar.
3. Choose a color for your calendar.  Two calendars can have the same color associated with them, but it is handy if they are all different so you can tell which calendar an event belongs to at a glance.
4. Decide whether you want this calendar to be taken into account when Zimbra is reporting times you are free or busy.  Most of the time, you do want a calendar to be taken into account, but sometimes you may not.
5. If you want, you can have your new calendar sync to an existing remote calendar.  If so, check the box and enter the URL of the calendar you want it to sync to.
6. When you are finished, click "OK".

Adding an Appointment to a Calendar

When you have multiple calendars, there is an extra step you can choose when adding an appointment, and that is which calendar you want the appointment to be added to.  You can select this from a drop-down menu in both the QuickAdd and the detailed addition screens.

You can change which calendar an existing appointment belongs to by double-clicking on the event to open it, then changing the calendar it is associated with from the "Calendar" menu.

Viewing and Hiding Calendars

When you have multiple calendars, you may not want to view them all at once.  To hide a calendar's events from view, click to uncheck the box to the left of the calendar's name on the calendar list.

To view a calendar that has been hidden, click to put a check next to the calendar's name.

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Setting Up Shared Calendars

With Zimbra, you have the ability to share your calendars with others. You do this on a per-calendar basis (i.e. you share your "Work" calendar but not your "Personal" one).  This is how you give viewing or management rights to someone for your calendar.

1. From the list of calendars on the left, right-click on the calendar you want to share from the list of calendars on the left.
2. Select "Share Calendar".
3. Type in the email address of the person you wish to share the calendar with.
4. Change the Role to reflect the level of access you wish the user to have.
5. If you want the person you are sharing your calendar with to see your private appointments, click to select the box that says, "Allow user(s) to see my private appointments.
6. Click ‘OK'. 

Zimbra will send an email to any users you share your calendar with to inform them the calendar has been shared with them. In the email they receive, the user will need to click on the button that says, "Accept Share".  Note: If the user is not using Zimbra mail, but some other email client, they will not see this button in their email message. They will need to go into Zimbra Mail https://mail.goshen.edu pull up that email message and click the Accept Share button from there. 

Once a user accepts the shared calendar, in their calendar they will see this new calendar listed in the column on the left. To have the appointments of that shared calendar visible, click to put a check mark in the box next to the calendar. To not display the appointments for that calendar, click to unselect the box next to the calendar.

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Importing and Exporting Calendars

To Import a Calendar

1. Click on the "Preferences" tab.
2. Click on the "Import/Export" tab.
3. Click on "Choose File" and navigate to the file of the calendar you wish to import.
4. Click the "Import" button.

To Export a Calendar

1. Click on the "Preferences" tab.
2. Click on the "Import/Export" tab.
3. In the "Export" area, click on the circle next to "Calendar" to select it.
4. Click on the button next to "Source" and select the calendar you wish to export.
5. Click the "Export" button.
6. Select "Save File" and click "OK".  The calendar will be exported to where your browser normally saves downloaded items (i.e. the Desktop or a Downloads folder).

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Calendar Keyboard Shortcuts

This is a list of shortcuts used specifically for the calendar application in Zimbra.  For a more complete list of shortcuts, see General Zimbra Help, or in Zimbra go to the Preferences tab, then click on Shortcuts from the list on the left.

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Subscribe to GC Calendar Feeds

There are several ways you can add GC calendar events to your Zimbra Calendar.

You can:

• email single event details

• add a single event directly to your calendar

• subscribe to a whole category of GC events

Go to http://www.goshen.edu/eventplanning/Web_Calendar/zimbra#category for instructions on how to subscribe to GC events.

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Work Week and Hours