iPhone: The Missing Manual

Syncing Your Calendar

With its snazzy-looking calendar program tidily synced with your computer, the iPhone can keep you on schedule—and even remind you when you have to call a few people.

Out of the box, the iPhone's calendar works with Outlook 2003 and 2007 for Windows, and iCal and Entourage 2004 on the Mac.

The iPhone's calendar program isn't especially full-featured, however. For example, it doesn't have to-do lists, which should be on the to-do lists of the folks at Apple's iPhone Software Headquarters. The iPhone can't handle multiple categories, either—different colors so you can tell what part of your life is on what schedule. Otherwise, it's very pretty and it does generally keep you on track.

Here again, setting up the sync depends on the calendar program you're now using on your computer.

Note

If you have Windows Vista, you have a built-in calendar program—Windows Calendar—but no way to sync it with the iPhone. The reason, according to Apple, is that Microsoft has not made public the format of its calendar program.

Outlook 2003/2007 Calendar (Windows)

Plug your iPhone into the PC and wait for it to pop up in iTunes. Click its icon in the iTunes source list. Next, click the Info tab in the main part of the iTunes window. In the Calendars area, turn on "Sync calendars from Outlook."

You can also choose how many days' worth of old events you want to have on your pocket calendar, since you probably rarely need to reference, say, your calendar from 2002. Turn on "Do not sync events ...