6. Organizing Your Life
In this chapter, we learn how to add and look up contacts and calendar events. We also look at the Notes app.
Whether you are a well-connected businessperson or just someone who has lots of friends, you can use the iPad to organize your life with the default Contacts and Calendar apps. Let’s take a close look at some of the things you can do with these apps.
Adding a Contact
If you use Contacts on your Mac or the equivalent on Windows, all your contacts can transfer to your iPad the first time you sync. However, you can also add contacts directly on your iPad.
1. Tap the Contacts app icon to launch the app.
2. Press the + button near the bottom of the screen. A New Contact form and keyboard appear.
3. Type the first name of the contact. No need to use Shift to capitalize the name because that happens automatically.
4. Tap the return key on the keyboard to advance to the next field.
5. Continue to type data into fields and tap return. Tap return to skip any fields you don’t want to fill.
6. Tap Add Photo to add a photo from one of your photo albums.
You don’t need to type phone numbers with parentheses or dashes. Your iPad formats the number for you.
7. Tap the green + button next to Add New Address to add a physical address to the contact.
8. Tap the green + button next to Add Field to add a field such as a middle name, job title, birthday, and so on. Note that you may need to scroll down to see the Add Field button.
9. Tap the name of a field you would like to add. Or tap away from the pop-up menu to dismiss it.
10. Tap the Done button to complete the new contact.
Contacts that you add to your iPad sync back to your computer the next time you connect. If you have the iCloud service, the contact should sync across all your iCloud-enabled devices within minutes if your iPad and those devices are connected to the Internet.
Siri: Call Me RayYou can set a nickname field in a contact. When you do this, and the contact happens to be yours, Siri will call you by that name. You can always tell Siri: “Call me name” and it will change your nickname field even if you are not in the Contacts app at the moment.
You can also set relationships in your contacts by saying things like “Debby is my wife.”
Searching for a Contact
If you didn’t have a lot of friends before, I’m sure you gained quite a few since you became the first on your block to own an iPad. So how do you search though all those contacts to find the one you want?
1. Tap the Contacts app icon to launch the app.
2. Tap in the Search field. A keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen.
You can also drag (or flick to move quickly) through the contact list to find a name. In addition, the list of letters on the left side of the Contacts app enables you to jump right to that letter in your contacts list.
You can also use Siri to find a contact. Try these phrases:
“Show me John Smith.”
“Show me my contact.”
“Show me my wife.”
3. Start typing the name of the person you are looking for. As soon as you start typing, the app starts making a list of contacts that contain the letters you’ve typed.
4. Keep typing until you narrow down the list of names and spot the one you are looking for.
5. Tap the name to bring up the contact.
6. Tap the X button to dismiss the search.
Working with Contacts
After you have contacts in your iPad, you can do a few things from a contact in the Contacts app.
1. Tap and hold the name to copy it to the clipboard buffer.
2. Tap and hold the phone number to copy it to the clipboard buffer.
3. Tap the email address to start composing a new email in the Mail app.
4. Tap to the right of Notes to add more information without entering Edit mode.
5. Tap Edit to enter Edit mode, which gives you the same basic functionality as entering a new contact.
6. Tap Share Contact to start a new email message with a vcard version of the contact.
7. This is the space for an image. To add an image, enter Edit mode by tapping the Edit button at the bottom of the page, and then tapping this space.
8. Tap FaceTime to start a video call (see Chapter 10).
9. Tap Add to Favorites to add to your FaceTime favorites list.
10. Tap Send Message to send a text message to this contact. See “Setting Up Messaging” in Chapter 8.
Creating a Calendar Event
Now that you have people in your Contacts app, you need to schedule some things to do with them. Let’s look at the Calendar app.
1. Tap the Calendar app icon on the Home screen.
2. Tap the + button at the bottom right.
3. Enter a title for the event.
4. Enter a Location for the event, or skip this field.
5. Tap the Starts/Ends area to bring up date controls.
6. Drag the day, hour, minute, and AM/PM wheels to set the start time for the event.
7. Tap Ends.
8. Drag the day, hour, minute, and AM/PM wheels to set the end time for the event.
9. If the event is an all-day event, turn on the All-Day switch.
10. Tap Done to complete entering the time for the event.
11. Tap Repeat to select a repeating cycle for the event.
12. Tap the frequency of the event, or leave it at None for a single occurrence.
13. Tap Done to return to the main event screen.
14. Tap Invitees to send an email invitation to another person for this event, if your calendar system allows this.
15. Tap Alert to enter an alert time for the event.
16. Select how much time before the event you want the alert to sound.
17. Tap Done to return to the main event screen.
18. If you have more than one calendar, you can place this event in the proper one.
19. You can set your availability to Busy or Free for the event, if your calendar system allows this.
20. You can enter a URL for the event for quick access to a website when the event is shown.
21. Tap in the Notes field and type any additional information for the event.
22. Tap Done to complete the event.
You can use Siri to create new events even when the Calendar app is not on your screen.
“Schedule a doctor appointment for 3 PM next Wednesday.”
“Set up a meeting with John tomorrow at noon.”
“Cancel my dentist appointment.”
Using Calendar Views
There are four different ways to view your calendar: Day, Week, Month, and List. Let’s take a look at each.
Day View
The daily view is broken into two halves: a list of the events scheduled for the day and a scrolling area with a block for each half-hour.
You can tap and drag the right area to move up and down in the day. Above that area is a space for all-day events, if there are any.
The month calendar at the upper right enables you to jump to another day in your schedule by tapping a date. You can also choose a date by tapping and sliding the bar at the bottom of the screen, or jump to the previous or next month by tapping the abbreviated month name.
Move one day at a time through the calendar by tapping the arrows at the bottom of the screen. The Today button takes you to the current day’s schedule.
You can tap an event on either side of the page to view details and edit it.
Week View
The Week view is a grid. It shows you Sunday through Saturday of the current week. Each event is shown in the grid, and you can tap on one to see its full title, location, and time.
The red dot and line indicates the current time, and the name of the current day is blue at the top of the screen. Use the line at the bottom of the screen to navigate to previous or upcoming weeks.
Month View
The Month view provides a large view of events. It is still a grid but in a traditional monthly view, with the days from the previous and next months filling in the extra blocks.
Each block lists the events scheduled for that day. You can tap on one to get more information or edit it.
The line at the bottom of the screen changes to a monthly timeline, with previous and next years also listed so that you can jump from year to year.
You can use Siri to see what events you have coming up.
“What do I have going on tomorrow?”
“What is on my calendar for this week?”
“When is my dentist appointment?”
List View
The List view is an interesting combination of things. On the left, you get a list of all your events, not just the ones for the current day. You can scroll forward even more if you want to see what is coming up.
On the right, you get a daily timeline like the Day view. But instead of a month calendar at the time, you get information about the currently selected event.
There is also a Year view, as you may have already noticed since there is a Year button at the top of the screen. This shows you 12 very small monthly calendars, with colored-in spaces on days where you have events. You can use this view to quickly navigate to an event in a different week or month. Or, you can use it to see when the days fall in the week.
Creating Notes
Another organization app that comes with your iPad is the Notes app. Although this one is much more free-form than a Contacts or Calendar app, it can be useful for keeping quick notes or to-do lists.
1. Tap the Notes icon on your Home screen.
2. Notes opens up the note you were previously working on. To type, tap on the screen where you want the insertion point, and a keyboard appears.
The filename for a note is just the first line of the note, so get in the habit of putting the title of a note as the first line of text to make finding the note easier.
3. To start a new note, tap the + button at the upper right.
4. To view a list of all your notes, and to jump to another note, tap the Notes button.
5. Tap the name of the note you want to switch to.
6. Tap and type in the Search field to find text inside of notes.
7. Turn your iPad to horizontal orientation, and the Notes button is replaced with a permanent list of notes on the left.
8. Tap the arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to jump between notes.
9. Tap the Share button at the bottom of the screen to start a new email message in the Mail app using the contents of the note, or to print the note using AirPrint.
10. Tap the Trash button at the bottom to delete notes.
You can’t actually use Notes for any serious writing. There aren’t any styles or formatting choices. You can’t even change the display font to make it larger. If you need to use your iPad for writing, consider Pages or a third-party word processing app.
Setting Reminders
Reminders is a to-do list application available on iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, and Macs running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. This app is for creating an ongoing list of tasks you need to accomplish or things you need to remember. These reminders can be similar to calendar events with times and alarms. Or, they can be simple items in a list with no time attached to them.
1. Tap the Reminders icon on your Home screen.
2. Select the list you want to add a new Reminder to.
3. Tap the + button to create a new reminder.
4. Type the new reminder.
5. Type the reminder and close the keyboard when done.
6. Tap the new reminder to bring up the Details dialog.
7. Tap here to edit the reminder.
8. You can also set a reminder time for an alarm.
9. Tap Show More to set a due date, priority, and notes for the reminder.
10. Tap Delete to remove the reminder.
11. Tap outside of the Details box when you are finished editing the reminder.
12. Tap the box next to the reminder when you have completed the task. It will remain in the list temporarily.
13. Tap Create New List to add a new reminders list.
14. Tap Completed to see completed reminders.
15. You can also search for reminders by title or content.
16. The mini calendar enables you to look for reminders by date.
17. You can tap Edit to remove reminder lists.
18. Swipe left to right across a reminder to delete it.
Reminders sync by using the iCloud service from Apple. So, they are automatically backed up and should also appear on your Mac in the Reminders app, if you have OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. And if you use an iPhone, they should appear there as well.
You can create new reminders using Siri like this:
“Remind me to watch Doctor Who tonight at 8 PM.”
“Remind me to pick up milk when I leave work.”
“Remind me to check my stocks every day at 9 AM.”
Setting Clock Alarms
The Clock app is new for iOS 6 on the iPad, and it can also be used to set alarms. The advantage of using an alarm rather than a reminder is that an often-recurring alarm, like your morning wake-up call, or a reminder on when to pick up your child at school, won’t clutter up your Reminders list or calendar.
2. The main screen shows up to six clocks in any time zone you want. Tap a clock to have it fill the screen.
3. Tap an empty clock to add a new city.
4. Tap Edit to remove or rearrange the clocks.
5. Tap Alarm to view and edit alarms.
6. To add a new alarm, tap the + button.
7. Select the days of the week for the alarm.
8. Set a sound for the alarm. You can choose from preset sounds or your ringtone collection.
9. Leave snooze on if you want the ability to use snooze when the alarm goes off.
10. You can give the alarm a custom name.
11. Set a time for the alarm.
12. Tap Save to save all your settings and add the alarm.
13. The alarm now appears in the special Clock calendar.
14. You can switch off the alarm, while leaving it in the calendar for future use.
15. You can choose an alarm to edit or delete it.
16. The alarm will sound and a message will appear when it is time. Even if your iPad is sleeping, it will wake up.
17. If you’ve enabled snooze, tapping here will silence the alarm and try again in 9 minutes.
18. To silence the alarm normally, assuming it has sounded while the iPad is asleep and locked, you need to swipe the lock switch. If the iPad was awake when the alarm went off, you simply get a button to tap.
