iCal Structure

iCal works from the concept of multiple calendars shown simultaneously on a daily, weekly or monthly planner layout. The left sidebar displays all calendars with a checkbox allowing you to toggle the display of any individual calendar. By default, iCal comes with "Home" and "Work" calendars so you can keep these schedules separate and color-coded. Choose "New Calendar" from the "File" menu to add new calendars. Control-click on a calendar and choose "Get Info" to change the name or color of any calendar.

Subscribed Calendars

A calendar can be published on the Internet and subscribed to in iCal. Some calendars are not editable once you have subscribed to them; for example, a "US Holidays" calendar is not intended to be changed by the subscriber, so this will be published without allowing new holidays to be added. Choose "Subscribe" from the "Calendar" menu, and then enter the public URL of the calendar you wish to add.

Publishing Calendars

iCal allows you to publish your calendars to the Internet so they can be shared with family members, friends and colleagues. Be discreet about which calendars you publish, as you may have private events stored in iCal. Use different calendars to keep your public and private information separate. Control-click on a calendar and choose "Publish" to set up calendar sharing. You can publish your calendar on Apple's servers or using another Internet calendar service such as Google or Yahoo!. iCal 5.0, which ships with the release version of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, references MobileMe as the Apple calendar publishing service, but this will also publish your calendars to iCloud.

iCal Syncing

iCal calendars may be synced with iPhones, iPads and iPods when you sync these devices in iTunes, or by using iCloud. Click the "Info" tab to see the options for iCal calendar syncing, and then click the checkbox to turn this on. Select which calendars you wish to sync with your iOS devices. Turn on iCloud wireless syncing by adding it in your iOS iCloud Settings tab, and in the iCloud System Preferences pane. Do not turn on both iTunes and iCloud syncing, as this may cause duplication of your calendars on your Mac and portable devices.