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Hope for Meeting Maker and my iPhone?

Hope dawns for more easily getting my Meeting Maker calendar onto my iPhone . . . or does it?

The latest version of NotifyLink for Meeting Maker includes support for the iPhone: ta dah! We use Notify at Simmons to synchronize Blackberries with Meeting Maker. Supporting Notify on the Blackberries has taken an enormous amount of our time, actually. And it hasn't been problem-free.

But my iPhone . . . that would be a dream come true!

According to the documentation, though, Notify has you set up your link to Meeting Maker through the "Exchange" option under "Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars." However, when you set up your iPhone for use with Exchange, Exchange takes over your iPhone's calendar and doesn't allow synchronization with other calendars. If that doesn't kill the deal for you (it really does for me), then also note that you can't invite guests to Meeting Maker meetings, you can only create events that appear on your own calendar.

See, for example, the caveats on Illinois State University's instructions for Exchange synchronization.

From my brief surf about it, these problems appear to be due to Apple's implementation of some underlying standard for Exchange (a Microsoft standard, or a true standard?).

Given the problems Notify upgrades have caused for us, we can't upgrade the server until we've had time to do thorough testing, which means well after classes start since we're a little busy right now.

Sigh. Just me and that very old applescript, plugging along. Looks like we'll be together a long time. Hope it keeps working.

Posted: August 15, 2008 8:26 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Calendar synchronization, iPhone, Meeting Maker, Notify

Wishful thinking: that I'd found a better way to sync Meeting Maker with my iPhone

Note: I've embedded updated information I've received from PocketMac.

I should have waited, but I got a message about PocketMac's new GoBetween for Meeting Maker, and took the plunge. It doesn't work. At least not in the Simmons environment. To be fair, I haven't given their Tech Support a chance to address my complaints, but I thought I'd share my concerns for others investigating the product (since I wasn't able to find any reviews, because the product is brand new (again, what was I thinking?)).

Someone from the Help Desk is going to continue to test and talk to their tech support. PocketMac is a reputable company, so I suspect that they'll respond. But the product is called version 4, and claims to have been through years of testing, even though it's only just now been released. Wouldn't that be a version 1?

1. Requires an IP address for the server, instead of the more commonly used modern system of DNS (e.g. blogs.simmons.edu instead of 104.201.123.4).
2. No support for SSL, a secure method of connecting to the MM server, which we at Simmons require.
   2/14/08: PocketMac confirmed.
3. No product documentation available on the web site pre-purchase.
4. I appreciate being able to ignore appointments older than a certain number of days, but I'd prefer to be able to sync a specific set of dates so that, for example, I don't have to go more than 2 years in the future and risk all the ills of repeating appointments that go forever into the future. And, according to the documentation, if I choose to ignore past appointments, it's going to delete all the past appointments on my iPhone?
5. No options for which iCal calendar(s) I want to sync with. It's the whole kit and kaboodle or nothing. Not very iCal like.
   2/14/08: PocketMac says this feature is under Advanced Preferences. However, I still can't find it.
6. Why would I want to edit Meeting Maker labels using GoBetween? I would prefer that GoBetween see the MM labels, and carry them over to iCal and my phone.
7. Where's the file that's keeping track of the changes? Is there a secondary database? This makes me nervous.
   2/14/08: PocketMac says "There is a PocketMac folder at ~/Library/Application Support with temporary sync data." At least it's temporary--I guess that makes it a true sync.
8. What happens when a sync goes wrong? Does it realize that a sync connection has already been made and that appointments in both places do actually know about one another? Or will it result in plenty of duplicates?
9. Given that Meeting Maker doesn't support banners in its iCal export, is PocketMac able to? I see no mention of this issue in the documentation.
   2/14/08: PocketMac says: "It should sync as an iCal event." Since they're connecting directly to the MM server, that's plausible.
10. I've learned from my technical folks that even using a non-SSL connection, the product doesn't work. Perhaps it doesn't support MM 8.6?
    2/14/08: PocketMac is investigating issues with 8.6.
11. And, it'd still require doing a double sync. It just wouldn't be as much of a manual process as the one I'm using.

Bummer. Still doing this to sync my iPhone with Meeting Maker instead.

Posted: February 13, 2008 7:49 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 4 comments
Tags: Calendar synchronization, iPhone, Meeting Maker, PocketMac GoBetween for Meeting Maker review

Syncing Meeting Maker and my iPhone with MM to iCal

I've written before about how I sync Meeting Maker to iCal, and then iCal to my iPhone using a very out-of-date applescript. I've noticed enough times now that I can say it's true: when I have appointments in Meeting Maker booked at the same exact time, they don't make it into iCal.

That is, if I have two appointments from 9 am - 11:30 pm, the AppleScript will move one of them to iCal, but not the other. Inevitably, the one it doesn't move is the one meeting of the two that I really need to attend.

What I'm afraid I really need to do is stop using the Banner feature in Meeting Maker so that I can start using the iCal export instead of the text export. As a former Palm user, I've always used Banners, or "untimed events," to keep track of birthdays. Since the iPhone doesn't keep as much information in its address book as the address book on my computer does (e.g. the relationship fields don't sync), I'm hesitant to isolate birthdays in my address book.

What has probably occurred to iCalendar users well before it occurred to me is that I should create "all day" events in a separate iCalendar calendar for all of the birthdays I track. Then I can sync that to the iPhone, and they'll appear the way I want them to. I think. Maybe.

Oh wait, but I can't trust using the iCal export until I know that Apple has fixed the bug I wrote about before, because otherwise, if I need to overwrite the iCalendar calendar, it'll notify everyone as though I'm canceling the meeting in Meeting Maker, even though I'm not.

Posted: January 8, 2008 7:38 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Apple iCal, Calendar synchronization, iPhone, Mac Leopard OS, Meeting Maker

Leopard iCal, deleting recurring events, and Apple Mail

I've written before about my somewhat unwieldy method of getting my Meeting Maker calendar onto my iPhone. As I mentioned earlier, the script I use to popular iCal with the text file I've exported from Meeting Maker has become quite slow since I upgraded to Leopard.

I figured I'd help it out by having less for it to import into iCal each time. I have an iCal calendar I call "historical." That's where I've put all of my old calendar items from Meeting Maker. Ever since I first worked this all out, on August 13, I've been exporting from August 13 to about a year and a half into the future from Meeting Maker, and importing that text file using the script into iCal.

Tonight, I exported 8/13 until today using the iCalendar export in Meeting Maker, and dragged and dropped the resulting .ics file onto my iCal "historical" calendar. It imported immediately. The next step was for me to delete all future occurrences of recurring appointments. Otherwise, I'd end up with duplicates of all of my recurring meetings. That is, my every Thursday manager's meeting would appear because of my "historical" calendar, and because of my regular Meeting Maker export/import to iCal.

The dialog box in iCal for Leopard was different from the first time I did this, because now iCal is integrated into Leopard server's iCal server. I said yes, I want to delete all future occurrences of this appointment, and it double checked by asking if I was sure I wanted to "delete and notify guests." I figured: sure, because my only other option was to "cancel." And I really wanted to delete these things.

The first appointment I tried this on was for the Technology Communications team meetings. Imagine my bewilderment as I watched iCal prompt my Apple Mail to open, and then wrote messages with iCal attachments to all of the attendees of that meeting. All of them are in my Apple Address Book, because I imported them from an Excel spreadsheet. So it knew all of their addresses.

Mail didn't ask me. It just sent them. I've looked through the preferences, to no avail. There doesn't appear to be a way to tell iCal: no, I don't want to notify the other guests about me canceling this meeting, which isn't even really on my iCal calendar "with" other people, it's in Meeting Maker stupid! I've had to instead trick my Mail, by setting my Comcast account to "no" smtp server, so now my Mail is sitting there with dozens of opened messages, and I have to "edit" each one, and then cancel it. When I'm done, I'll have a clean calendar, and I can reset my Comcast mail to being able to send out again.

My apologies to those I've antagonized with messages saying I'm canceling a meeting that I didn't even originally propose (I'm a guest). And I'd better get back to work on deleting appointments and then email messages so I can turn in for the night.

Oh, and one more thing. When Apple Mail has lots of windows open, it gets slower and slower too. I've noticed this both at home and at work.

Okay, and another thing. At least my theory was correct. Decreasing the number of events that MM to iCal is syncing does speed it up considerably.

Posted: December 5, 2007 9:29 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Apple iCal, Apple Mail, Calendar synchronization, iPhone, Mac Leopard OS, Meeting Maker

Do you remember when you moved to a new school, you didn't know your environment and caused some headaches?

Currently, Leopard is a bit confused. Here is my findings.

• Meeting Maker doesn't know when move the date through "schedule". It complains that it is past dates and can't schedule a meeting on past dates, even though I am scheduling for year 2008. Well, go check your email and go back to the same screen. Now it'll say "1990". Where did that come from?
  
• Meeting Maker FORGETs the agenda when other tabs are selected and go back to details. Once you have type your agenda in and clicks on tab either schedule or options, do not go back to details. This will cause it to loose agenda...
• MacFuse sshfs application crashes (http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/). Not only that, it actually managed to screw with transparency of docks... After this, finder showed half iChat logo twice for Dictionary application.
  

Posted: November 27, 2007 4:53 pm by Shino Ito | 2 comments
Tags: bugs, docks, Mac, Mac Leopard OS, Meeting Maker

Meeting Maker bugs with Leopard

I've just found two things that don't work for me in Meeting Maker that used to, pre-installing the Mac OS X.5 Leopard.

1. When I click the "invite guests" link, the window to invite the guest does not appear. It appears under the "Window" menu. In fact, as many of them appear as I had clicked the invite guests link. But even if you hide every other window and move the Meeting Maker Daily View window, you can't see all of the extra windows. I mentioned this in an earlier posting, but hadn't noticed then that you can't ever see the dialog boxes unless you choose them from the Window menu.

   If you double click on the appointment, instead of using the Invite Guests link, the window opens on top of the Daily View, right where it used to. This essentially means that the Invite Guests link is broken.

2. As pictured below, there isn't a little blue box around the time that I've selected in the Details tab any more.
3. When you're in the Invite Guest tab, looking at the grid of people's names and availability, and you click in the scroll bar below the grid so as to move forward one day, Meeting Maker informs you "you cannot view busy time in the past," even though you're trying to move forward. The only way to move forward is to go back to the Details tab, change the date, and move back to the Guests tab.

UNLESS I resize the open dialog box, in which case the blue box comes back, and I can see busy time in the future properly!

Posted: November 19, 2007 9:17 am by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Mac Leopard OS, Meeting Maker

my iPhone, my Mac(s), and Meeting Maker

An avid Palm user whose been synchronizing Palm - Mac - and Meeting Maker for 5 or 6 years, I swore I didn't need and wouldn't get an iPhone. That conviction didn't last long after I'd seen one, despite knowing that syncing an iPhone with Meeting Maker was going to be ugly.

I'm known as The Meeting Maker Person at Simmons. I was responsible for the initial roll out and trainings, and still do some of the trainings. I like Meeting Maker because it's really easy to learn to use; it's not just my calendar, it's a shared calendar I can use to invite other people to meetings; it isn't a Microsoft product or other "groupware" that requires a gigantic unwieldy backend (like Exchange), which doesn't make sense at Simmons; and it's got a great web client. Despite the web client, and despite the fact that my iPhone can access Meeting Maker on the web, I want my appointments in my handheld device.

The trick is that the iPhone syncs only with Apple's iCal application, so I need a double sync: something that will sync Meeting Maker with iCal, so then I can sync iCal with the iPhone. Meeting Maker supposedly supports the iCalendar standard that Apple iCal uses. But Meeting Maker has had an enhancement request open for over a year asking them to include "banners" in the file that results when you choose File->Export as iCalendar. Since I keep important information in banners (such as "Thanksgiving," vacation days, birthdays), I really require that banners get into Apple iCal.

It's too bad I need the banners, because the Meeting Maker iCalendar export results in well-formatted Apple iCal events that indicate correctly if it's repeating, include the guests in the guests field, etc. To get the iCalendar export into MM, you can just drag the exported file onto Apple iCal. Except you need to delete the target calendar and remake it first, or you end up with duplicates, if my memory serves correctly.

Or, some people at Simmons are very happy with iMeet iCal, which is fairly old and comes with instructions in French, but I think may do some actual synchronization instead of just a complete replacement of the entire calendar.

Instead, this is what I have found works for me, despite its incredible kludginess. In Meeting Maker, I choose File->Export as text. I pick the dates I want to export (which for me is everything from 8/13/07 to about a year and a half from today's date), and save that calendar.txt file to my desktop. Then I drop the calendar.txt file onto an AppleScript written several years ago called MM to iCal 0.8f. That 0.8f means that it was never released as what the author felt was a finished product.

MM to iCal erases everything in a calendar called "Meeting Maker" in your Apple iCal, and then populates it, one appointment at a time, with the contents of the calendar.txt file. At the end, you know it's done, because it provides an error. I actually modified the script slightly because I found it was creating an alarm before every single appointment, and I couldn't stand it. My banners come through as "all day" events, which is annoying, but at least they're there.

Then I sync my iPhone, telling iTunes to overwrite the calendar that is on the phone. Ahh, you say, but what about the calendar items I created using my phone while out and about. Ahh, indeed.

I haven't come up with a great solution for that. I can either remember that I've scheduled appointments, sync the iPhone without overwriting the calendars so that the new appointment comes out in my "New" calendar, drag that appointment to my desktop, and drag it onto Meeting Maker so that Meeting Maker imports it. Or, I can use a script that someone in my department wrote; but she wrote it to suit her own needs, so I modified that as well.

In other words, there are good reasons why Technology at Simmons College does not support Meeting Maker / iPhone synchronization, even though there are several of us in the department doing it ourselves who are happy to describe, as I have done here, what we're doing!

The real fun begins when I sync on my home computer, which is where I primarily sync, and then make sufficient MM updates between syncs that I have to sync at work or be left not knowing where I need to be when (which is why I got the iPhone in the first place; I wasn't carrying my Palm around anymore, and never knew where I needed to be). When I sync on the second computer, the iPhone knows it's a different computer. That isn't a problem when I have been syncing at home, and then sync at work. I just choose to sync only the calendar, I overwrite it, and everything's cool.

It is a problem, however, when I go back home. Because now I want to sync my address book, and the phone knows it's been with another computer, and so asks if I want to merge or overwrite my info. I make changes on the phone, and in the Address Book on my home computer. When I choose to merge, weird things happen to my contacts. Work addresses become home addresses. People whose addresses I've changed end up with two addresses. My electronic organizational life is not a well oiled machine. Yet.

But the iPhone is the closest I've come, after 8 years of waiting, to having a phone and a PDA in my pocket. Having my email and a web browser is a welcome bonus! And it at least all works well with my Mac, and the transfer from the Palm went smoothly.

Posted: November 17, 2007 12:24 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 5 comments
Tags: Apple iCal, Calendar synchronization, iPhone, Mac Leopard OS, Meeting Maker