How to Use the Reminders App on Your Mac or iPhone and Never Forget Something Again | Dramel Notes

Macs and iPhones (iPads too) come with a fantastic Reminders app that automatically syncs through iCloud. Here’s how to make the most of this app so you’re never likely to forget something important again.

The Reminders app is super simple to use and because it syncs across both OS X and iOS platforms, if you add a reminder on your Mac, you’ll be able to see it on your iPhone or iPad, and vice-versa. It seamlessly syncs everything to iCloud so you never need to replicate your efforts.

This is especially nice when you suddenly remember you need to buy milk or there’s an important meeting coming up and you’re sitting in front of your Mac or have your iPhone in hand. Simply add the reminder to the device and then it will be on everything that is connected to the same iCloud account.

Today, we want to take a look at Reminders on Mac and iPhone, show you how to add, edit, and share them, as well as make sure you’ve got everything set up so it all syncs properly.

Reminders on Mac

Reminders is already installed on your Mac so you just need to fire it up and add a few things to get started.

The Reminders app is laid out in two columns. The left column shows you your lists. Note that it says ‘iCloud” at the top of your lists, meaning that anything there will be synced to iCloud.

The right column contains the contents of your lists. To add anything to a list, simply click the “+” in the upper-right corner, or click on a new line.

To edit a reminder, click on the text so you get a cursor, and you can then fix it if it so appears as you want.

Click on the little “i” symbol to access things like when you want the reminder to alert you and when, or whether it should repeat, and when it should end. You can also set the priority, and add any notes you find pertinent.

If you right-click on a list, you can, among other things, rename it, delete it, and “complete” all the reminders within it.

To start a new list, simply click the “Add List” button at the bottom-left corner and then give it a name.

If you want to share a list, then you will need to click the little icon to the right of the list as shown in the screenshot below. Then you can add people with whom you want to share it. When you’ve added everyone, click “Done”.

As we mentioned, everything contained in these lists will then be synced to iCloud so you can then see them on your iPhone or iPad. Let’s now move on and discuss how Reminders works on the iPhone.

Reminders on iPhone

Usually when you open the Reminders app, you will probably see one of your lists. In order to access your other lists, you will need to tap at the bottom where you see them stacked (under where it says “Show Completed”).

When you see your lists, it will show how many reminders are in each one, whether there are any that are overdue, and so forth. If you want to rearrange the order or your lists, tap, hold, and drag it to the location you desire.

When you open a list, you’ll see it’s contents, and you can then add to it by tapping the “+”. When you tap the “Edit” button, you can change the list’s color and share it just as you can share in OS X.

The “Share with…” screen will show you who you are sharing a list with and their status. If you tap on a name, you will be able to see their contact info and you can also elect to stop sharing with them.

Finally, if you want to adjust how reminders sync and which list is the default, then you can open up the Reminders settings and change things.

In addition to getting reminders on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, you may also get reminder notifications on your Apple Watch. Let us take a moment then to discuss how to change your reminder notification preferences.

Adjusting Reminders on Apple Watch

To adjust how Reminders notify you on Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap open “Notifications”, then tap open “Reminders”.

Now you can select how Reminders will notify you, either by mirroring your iPhone or setting up a custom design.

If you elect to go the custom route, you can choose whether your Watch shows you alerts, have sounds, and if there’s any haptic feedback.

Making Sure it Syncs

None of this syncing stuff does you any good if it isn’t actually working, which means that if you create a reminder list on your Mac and it doesn’t appear on your iPhone or vice-versa, then you might not have syncing correctly enabled.

To check your Mac’s sync settings, first open up the iCloud system preferences and make sure “Reminders” is checked.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings, and then tap open “iCloud” and make sure “Reminders” is enabled.

The other thing you need to ensure is that your Mac and your iOS device are logged into the same iCloud account. Obviously, if you are syncing to separate accounts, then nothing will work as intended.

With that said, you should be able to start creating to-do, shopping, grocery, and other important reminder lists. Now, next time you’re out and about, you can whip out your iPhone and check to make sure you’re remembering everything.

Don’t forget, you can also have Siri add stuff to your reminders lists such as “Hey Siri, remind me tomorrow to pick up my dry cleaning” or “Hey Siri, add grapes to my grocery list.” Siri is helpful in that regard with a lot of things and it really pays to learn how to use it.

We hope you found this article helpful, if you have any questions or comments you might like to contribute, we hope you will leave them in our discussion forum.

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Organize Your Time with These 4 Linux Calendar Apps | Dramel Notes

People spend a lot of time thinking about time.

Many of us consider time as our most valuable resource, so we’re forever trying to make the best use of it. No wonder, then, that there are so many time-management apps: from reminders and Pomodoro helpers to web-based and mobile calendars.

It makes sense to use a calendar app on your phone: you can quickly check scheduled events and add new ones on-the-go. Web-based calendars enable access to your events on any connected device, and make it easy to stay in sync with other people. But does it make sense to use a desktop calendar app in this day and age?

Of course it does. Whether you have to use it because your boss demands it or because you want to manage your schedule from a central, local point, a desktop calendar is still a reliable tool despite the mobile competition. Desktop calendars for Linux can sync with their mobile counterparts, either natively or via CalDAV, as well as with Google Calendar and similar services. Some sport a more spartan approach than others, so you can choose the one that suits you best.

California

If you’re a Gnome 3 user, California probably seems familiar. It was envisioned as a more flexible alternative to the default Gnome Calendar, with which it shares the general look and feel. California is still in development, so you won’t find a task/to-do list in it yet. What you will find is a simple, uncluttered interface with several views (Month, Week, Agenda) and reminders that integrate with Gnome’s desktop notification system. California can import calendars from .ics files and Google Calendar, and sync with mobile devices via CalDAV.

Reason to use it: the Quick-Add function. It can parse natural language, which means you can simply write “meeting in three days at 5pm” instead of having to specify the date and click through menus and tabs. Naturally, you can later edit any event, and preview its summary by hovering over it. You can set recurrent events, tag them by location, and even invite other participants. California’s wiki page has more information on how to phrase your Quick-Add commands.

KOrganizer

Along with apps like KMail and KAddressBook, KOrganizer is part of KDE’s PIM (Personal Information Manager) suite called Kontact. However, you’re free to just use KOrganizer as a standalone calendar if you don’t need anything else. KOrganizer lets you reschedule events by drag-and-dropping them onto another day, search for and filter tasks and events, and manage multiple calendars at once. They can be local files, Google Calendar files, CalDAV resources, and KOrganizer can also import data from your Facebook profile.

The interface can be customized to detail (layout, colors, fonts), and you can enable a few plugins to make your calendars more informative. Apart from Day, Week and Month views that are standard for a calendar app, KOrganizer also offers Agenda and Timeline views, Time Tracker view, and the What’s Next option that shows upcoming events and tasks.

Speaking of tasks, you can quickly convert them to events by drag-and-dropping them in the Agenda view. KOrganizer works well with KDE’s desktop notifications, and syncs with mobile devices once you set up KDE Connect.

Reason to use it: the Journal. Although there are more powerful features in KOrganizer, you’ll find most of them in other calendar apps. The integration of a journal into a calendar app is a smart solution, and you can use this feature to write notes, jot down ideas, or to actually keep a diary. KOrganizer can automatically record completed to-dos in the journal, making it easier to track your productivity and habit-building progress.

Evolution

The primary purpose of Evolution is email; it’s the default PIM application on Gnome and it’s often compared to Microsoft Outlook. Many users recommend it as the best way to access Microsoft Exchange services on Linux, though this depends on the version of the Exchange Server. Alongside email, Evolution has a calendar module with Day, Work Week, Week, and Month views that can incorporate task lists and memos if you so desire.

Everything in Evolution is configurable down to the tiniest detail, and there are separate dialogs for creating appointments, all-day events, meetings, and tasks. Each of them can be assigned as many default or custom categories as you want, and you can set priority, status, and privacy/visibility for every new item you add to the calendar.

Sharing calendars and inviting participants is possible directly from Evolution, as is working with Google Calendar. Evolution can show weather information in your calendars, notify you about events and tasks, and sync with mobile devices thanks to CalDAV support.

Reason to use it: you can manage multiple task and memo lists, both local and online. The principle is similar to working with several calendars at once: you can toggle their visibility, color-code them, and move tasks between lists. This helps you create contexts for your to-dos and makes you more organized, as you don’t have to keep all your tasks piled in one huge, messy list.

Lightning for Thunderbird

In the beginning, there was Sunbird—Mozilla’s standalone calendar app. Sadly, its development ceased about five years ago, when it was replaced by Lightning, a calendar add-on for Mozilla’s popular email client, Thunderbird. (You can still download the last version of Sunbird if you don’t mind using outdated software.)

Lightning is somewhat less complicated than Evolution, and it doesn’t force you to use the email aspect of the software, which means you can just use Thunderbird as any other calendar app. Lightning works with Google Calendar and makes use of your desktop notifications to remind you of important events. The interface is neat, with two customizable sidebars where you can manage multiple calendars, and display tasks and events (both at once, or separately in tabs). Adding new items is easy, and you can make them recurrent, increase their priority, and edit other features in the dialogs.

Reason to use it: add-ons. Being Mozilla software, Thunderbird can derive more power from countless add-ons, just like Firefox. (After all, Lightning itself is a Thunderbird add-on.) With add-ons, you can introduce features like advanced reminders, birthday management, and integration with Linux calendar applets. There are also add-ons for customizing the calendar layout, changing event colors, and theming the entire application.

Apparently, calendars are not a popular type of software to make, at least not for Linux. If there were as many calendars as there are text editors or music players, this list would be much longer. Still, we shouldn’t neglect command-line calendar tools, because there are Linux users who prefer to manage events from the terminal. They can take a look at khal, remind, pal, or gcalcli, and pick their favorite.

It’s entirely possible that I missed some cool calendar apps for Linux, so if you have any recommendations, feel free to share them in the comments. What’s your favorite calendar app for Linux—and why? We’d love to know, so you’re welcome to join the conversation.

Image Credits: perpetual calendar by plenty.r. via Flickr, Calvetica Calendar (iPhone 4) by Junya Ogura via Flickr.com

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