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vCalendar Files
EPSKED Email
Attachments
WebSked vCalendar exports
You
have been directed to this web page by an email from your schedule
administrator, or by clicking the Help button from the "vCal" download
window in WebSked. This page
contains detailed information about using the schedule available to you as
a vCalendar file.
iPhone,
iPod, iPad Directions
Microsoft
Outlook Instructions
Other
Calendar Programs
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EPSKED, the emergency physician scheduling program,
and WebSked, the web-based scheduling solution, can distribute schedules as
vCalendar files.
vCalendar files can be easily imported into most handheld
Personal Information Managers (PIMs) and calendaring programs. In seconds you can
transfer complete schedules to your handheld Personal Information Manager or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA, a process that would otherwise
require time consuming and error-prone manual entry.
vCalendar is designed as a format for exchange of
calendaring and scheduling information. Two different but related versions
of vCalendar files exist – vCalendar 1.0 (referred to simply as vCal files)
and vCalendar 2.0 (referred to as iCal files). Unfortunately, while most
recent calendaring programs support both vCalendar 1.0 and 2.0 files, some
support only one or the other file type. For this reason, when EPSKED sends
a schedule as a vCalendar file, it sends both a vCalendar (.vcs) AND an
iCalendar (.ics) file, virtually assuring compatibility with any program
used by anyone receiving the schedule files.
When importing vCalendar files, some applications
require only that you click on the vCalendar file icon. Other applications
require that you locate and import the file. The two most popular calendar
programs are the Palm Datebook, and Microsoft Outlook. Instructions are
separately given below for importing schedules into each of these. If you
are using a another calendar application, the general concepts below should
provide enough information to allow you to use the vCalendar schedules.
If you find information that might be useful to
other users of the vCalendar files, please let know and we will make this
available on this page.
In order to get the WebSked schedule calendar into your portable Apple
devices, you can first download the free Apple iTunes from the Internet.
Below is a link for downloading to PCs with Windows XP, Vista and
Windows 7
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The first time you receive a schedule
file in vCalendar format, we recommend that you create a temporary
user named 'Test' (if your calendar program offers that option of
creating multiple users). Make that Test user the active
user, then import the schedule for that user. Detailed instructions for
this are given below for both Palm Datebook. By doing this, if you
decide you don't want the schedule, or if there is any problem, you
don't have to keep the schedule. If the schedule import works the first
time, it should work thereafter. Delete the Test user after you
are done and import the schedule to your normal user name.
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After you have
successfully transferred your schedule to your calendar application, we
suggest that you delete that vCalendar schedule file from your desktop
or email
attachment folder. This should help avoid confusing
future schedule files that you receive with the old ones, which might
result in duplicate entries due to mistakenly importing a schedule twice.
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If your "significant other" wants to have a
copy of your schedule, you can forward the email sent from EPSKED by your
schedule administrator to them along with the schedule file attachment.
From WebSked, simply attach the vCalendar file to an email and send. That person can then follow these
same instruction to transfer your schedule into their calendar
application, giving them a copy of your schedule. The individual
schedules listings include your name and the shift name to help clarify
entries used for this purpose.
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In order to get the WebSked schedule calendar into your portable Apple
devices, you can first download the free Apple iTunes from the Internet.
Below is a link for downloading to PCs with Windows XP, Vista and
Windows 7
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Once iTunes is downloaded and installed, instructions for synching can
be found by doing a Google search for "How to sync an iPhone" or similar
wording. Below are a couple of useful links.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1386
http://www.ehow.com/how_2294437_sync-iphone.html
The way the iPhone OS works with time zones is confounding. In order to
display the correct shift times in your iPhone, it is important that the
time settings on both your computer AND the iPhone be correct! Incorrect
time displays from vCalendar imports are the result of incorrect time
zone settings either on the computer, the iPhone into which the
vCalendar file is imported OR in the time zone settings used to create
the vCalendar file in the first place.
Solving your problem will require making sure that your Time Zone
settings are correct in WebSked and on your iPhone. For the iPhone, the
solution turns out to require two separate settings: not only does the
iPhone have a time zone change setting on the phone, you also need to go
into the calendaring section of the phone and select the correct Time
Zone!
So...
Step 1: Make sure that your WebSked time zone setting (used to
create the vCalendar file) is correct. This is located at the bottom of
your My Profile...Options screen in WebSked, and is currently set to:
Is this correct? The original setting is based on the Time Zone setting
of your location administrator's computer. If the setting is incorrect,
it will fix all future vCalendar schedules that you import but will
(unfortunately) not help with any files you have already created and
imported when the settings were incorrect.
Step 2: Make sure that your iPhone time zone setting is correct.
The current setting can be found and edited from:
Settings -> General -> Date & Time -> Time Zone
Entering the name of a major nearby city in your time zone (you'll
select from a list displayed as you type) allows you to pick your time
zone.
Step 3: Make sure that
the separate time zone setting used for calendar applications on your iPhone is set correctly:
Settings...Mail, Contacts, Calendars...Time Zone Support
In the Time Zone Support screen, you see Time Zone Support (On/Off) and
Time Zone (see “Time Zone Support”). When Time Zone Support is off, the
time of any events in
the Calendar app – whether created on the iPhone or in iCal and then
synced to the device – will shift, based on the time zone in which the
iPhone or iPod touch currently resides.
So, for example, if you live in London and create an event for
1pm on Monday, if you and your iPhone journey to
Paris, the event’s time will shift to 2pm.
When Time Zone Support is switched on, the time for the events will be
based on the time zone selected in the Time Zone Support screen. So, if
that time zone reads London, an event on the iPhone or iPod touch
originally created for 1pm GMT will remain 1pm regardless of the time
zone in which the device sits.
The trick is understanding when it’s best to allow events to shift and
when it’s better to leave them alone. The rule of thumb we use is this:
if the bulk of your work involves dealing with the folks back at home,
allow events to shift by switching off Time Zone Support. So, if you
have a call scheduled for 6pm on Tuesday at home in New York and you’re
in San Francisco, the iPhone lets you know that this event will take
place at 10am.
On the other hand, if while at home in Miami, your work
shifts are scheduled in , say, Denver, you would like the events’ times
to stay exactly where they were. In this case, you would turn Time Zone
Support on.
Once again, entering the name of a major nearby city in your time zone
(you'll select from a list displayed as you type) allows you to pick
your time zone. Alternatively, another possible remedy is to just turn
off the "Time Zone Support" on that same screen, in which case your
calendar appointments are automatically shifted to the Time Zone setting
used in Step 2 for the iPhone itself.
These problems occur because the vCalendar format saves event times in
Greenwich Mean Time, which is translated by the computer displaying the
calendar to give the local starting time depending on the current local
setting. Saving the event times in Greenwich Mean Time is not our choice
-- that is the format that the vCalendar specifications established for
the files, presumably to aid persons traveling between time zones,
though it certainly causes confusion at times! |
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To transfer the vCalendar schedule to Outlook and
your handheld, please read the
general
precautions and suggestions above before you import the vCalendar file
for the first time!
Step 1:
Open Microsoft Outlook and switch to the Calendar application.
Step 2:
Use the
File
>
Import
and Export...
drop down menu to open the Import and Export Wizard window.
Step 3:
In the Choose an action to perform entry area, select
Import an iCalendar or vCalendar file (.vcs), then click the Next
button.
Step 4:
Use the Browse window to find and select the vCalendar schedule
file (either .ics or .vcs) sent to you by your scheduler
or downloaded from WebSked.
Click the Okay button on the window, and the entire schedule is added to
your calendar.
Step 5:
Review the schedule in the Outlook Calendar, then transfer the
schedule to your Palm handheld using a normal HotSync operation.
A
sample schedule display from
a handheld is shown above, with accompanying explanations.
Note that unlike with the Palm, you cannot simply
click on the schedule vCalendar file and import the schedule into Outlook;
Outlook would only extract the first event contained in the file. You need
to import the entire schedule by the procedure described above.
That's all there is to it. You're done!
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Nearly all recent calendar program will import the
schedule files created by EPSKED. In general, the following instructions
will allow you to import the schedules.
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If the file does not open by double clicking on
it, use My Computer or Windows Explorer to find the schedules sent to
you as vCalendar files.
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Open the calendar program you wish to use.
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Size the calendar program window so that you
can also see the vCalendar files you have saved.
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Add the contents of the vCalendar files to your
calendar. Common systems of importing these files include:
Double-Click: Double-click on the *.vcs file; depending on how your
system is configured, this may launch a scheduling program and allow you
to save the new scheduling information directly. (Note: you must be
certain that the correct program is launched when you double-click the
file name. If the Microsoft Outlook is launched, but you synchronize a
different calendar program, then the new schedule may not be transferred
to your handheld.)
File > Import: Use the File > Import command. You may need to select "vCalendar"
or "*.vcs" or "*.ics" from the list of file types to import.
Drag and Drop: Use your mouse to drag the file into your scheduling
application.
Whatever system you use, confirm that the scheduling information appears
as expected.
If you are unable to import the vCalendar file, please consult the
documentation for your calendar program or the technical support service
for that program (they're the experts!).
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