🚀 Getting Started 3
Install InstaCal, grant the right permissions, connect calendars and learn where everything lives.
👋 Welcome to InstaCal
What InstaCal is, where it runs, what the purchase includes and how this guide is organized.
✨ First Launch and Permissions
Set up InstaCal on Mac, iPhone and iPad, check the system requirements, choose permissions and understand what each one enables.
🔗 Add Your Calendar Accounts
Use Apple calendars already on the device, or connect Google, Microsoft, iCloud, CalDAV, subscriptions, Todoist and Zoom directly in InstaCal.
💻 Mac 7
The menu bar panel, full calendar window, editors, settings and every keyboard-driven workflow.
🗓 The Menu Bar Panel
Open, navigate, resize and understand InstaCal’s month, agenda, reminder and invitation panel on Mac.
⏱ Menu Bar Date, Next Item and Countdown
Choose the menu bar date format, next event or reminder, calendar scope and live countdown behavior.
🪟 The Full Calendar Window
Use Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year and List views on Mac, pick the Wall Planner year, place the current month in Quarter, and work with the event inspector.
⚡️ Quick Add, Search and Quick Edit
Use one field to find events, create them in natural language or preview an English edit before applying it.
✏️ Edit Events and Reminders
Create and edit event times, calendars, locations, attendees, alerts, repeats, notes, attachments and reminders, including this-event-or-all-future edits to a repeating series.
⚙️ Mac Settings and Appearance
Tour every Mac settings area and customize the panel height, calendar window sidebar, agenda, weather, accounts, notifications and feedback.
⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts
Open InstaCal from any app, navigate the panel and assign shortcuts to menu commands and calendar views.
📱 iPhone & iPad 5
Six touch-first views, Quick Add and Edit, button layout, the iPad workspace, settings and notifications.
📱 Views and Navigation on iPhone
Move between Agenda, Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year and Week on Week, shape the Month grid, scrub the switcher and work with events on iPhone.
🎛 Button Layout on iPhone
Arrange InstaCal’s iPhone bars — move buttons to any position, reshape the view switcher, order compact mode’s menu and hide what you don’t use.
⚡️ Quick Add and Quick Edit on iPhone
Create, find, move, rename or cancel calendar items from InstaCal’s shared natural-language field.
▣ The iPad Workspace
Use InstaCal’s adaptive two- and three-pane iPad layout, its sidebar and pane toolbars, quick add, filters, sheets and keyboard commands.
⚙️ iPhone and iPad Settings
Configure calendars, accounts, new-event defaults, appearance, weather, time zones, notifications and Focus Filters.
✨ Planning & Productivity 8
Meetings, travel, Smart Filters, working hours, Find a Time, templates, sharing and private insights.
✅ Tasks
Keep a task list inside your calendar — lists, sections, tags, checklists, deadlines kept apart from planned time, and free-time scheduling.
📍 Meetings, Maps and Travel Time
Join video calls, open maps, estimate travel, receive leave-by alerts and keep a trip visible as a Live Activity.
🔎 Smart Filters
Save a search, calendars, event rules and a calendar view as a reusable workspace, then switch with a menu or a shortcut.
🕰 Working Hours, Conflicts and Find a Time
Define your working week, warn about collisions and let InstaCal suggest open meeting slots.
📋 Templates and Availability Sharing
Reuse selected event or reminder fields and share proposed open times as text, an image, PDF or calendar file.
📊 Conflict Blocking
Mirror selected commitments as generic Busy blocks on another calendar by rule, or block one event at a time from its own menu.
☀️ Weather, Moon and Time Zones
Put forecasts and moon phases in day headers, choose a provider and show a second time zone in event details.
⏳ Countdowns and Important Dates
Link calendar events or add standalone dates, feature one important moment and place Countdowns widgets across iPhone, iPad and Mac.
🗂 Calendars & Data 6
Apple, Google and Microsoft accounts, Calendar Sets, invitations, attachments, import, export and privacy.
☁️ Accounts, Sync and Offline Events
Understand Apple, Google, Microsoft and CalDAV calendar sources, the six-year local mirror, refresh behavior, moves between calendars and account health.
🗂 Calendars, Order, Sets and Focus
Choose visible calendars, override colors, set event order, create Calendar Sets and connect them to Apple Focus.
✉️ Invitations and RSVP
Create invitations, review attendee status, detect schedule conflicts and reply Yes, Maybe or No with provider options.
📤 Import, Export and Print
Import ICS calendars by file or by double-click, export selected events as iCalendar or CSV, and print the visible schedule without publishing it.
🎥 Zoom Meetings
Connect a Zoom account, add a Zoom meeting to an event from the editor, and remove the integration when you no longer want it.
🔒 Privacy and Data Handling
Learn what stays on the device, where account tokens live and which optional features contact outside services.
🧩 Widgets & Apple Watch 3
Mac and iPhone widgets, Lock Screen controls, Live Activities, Apple Watch and complications.
🧩 Home Screen and Mac Widgets
Add and configure InstaCal’s ten calendar, task and Countdowns widget designs across Mac, iPhone and iPad, and choose the detail lines they show.
🔴 Lock Screen, Controls and Live Activities
Keep the next event or leave-by countdown visible on iPhone and launch Quick Add from a system control.
⌚️ InstaCal on Apple Watch
Arrange the Watch app around a Now page and the pages you choose, act on events and reminders from the wrist, and configure thirteen focused complications.
🔧 Troubleshooting 1
Fix the most common permission, sync, notification, widget and account problems.
