Idiot's guide to amending My Outlook Calendar template

[LDW]

Greetings. Forgive me if this, my first post, is inappropriate in any way.

What I would like is a step by step guide to amending Michael R Sayre's very wonderful My Outlook Calendar template. For idiots, like me.

I've had a bash at editing it in VBA via Word, but the options to edit seem limited: I have managed to tell it NOT to print my name at the top, but not managed to remove the two mini calendars for last and next month at the top. Nor to change the font for the printed date. Nor change the grid size. Etc etc...

I've trawled the net and read through lots of stuff, but it all seems to assume more knowledge than I have. I have trawled through these forums: if the idiot's guide I want is here, I haven't found it.

Can anyone help me, either with step-by-step directions, or a link to where they might be found?

Many thanks in advance.

Laurie

 

[Diane Poremsky]

That is the My Outlook Calendar template. I keep meaning to write up a 'how to use' page for it - maybe I need to do a how to edit page instead. It's been a while since I worked with Word VBA but I'm sure if I get it started, others will chime in with their own edits.

But... many of the options can be set when you open the template. Although they are single use... and need reset each time you create a calendar.

On the thumbnails - when you start the template and the dialog comes up, the Format tab has a Use thumbnails options. That tab also controls End times, appointment font size and layout (landscape/portrait).

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Thumbnails are controlled by these lines - possibly others. I used Find to search for thumbnail and commented out the text between all If / End If lines I found. This was the last set that applied to thumbnails and they were finally removed when I commented the lines out.
' If the option to include header calendars is picked, then create the
' little header calendars for the prev and next month
If chkThumbnails = True Then

' vntIhpMonth = DateAdd("m", -1, vntFirstDayOfMonth)

' Application.StatusBar = "Inserting thumbnail calendar for " & Format(vntIhpMonth, "mmmm yyyy") & "..."

' caldays "pstartdays", "pmonthname", vntIhpMonth, False

' vntIhnMonth = DateAdd("m", 1, vntFirstDayOfMonth)

' Application.StatusBar = "Inserting thumbnail calendar for " & Format(vntIhnMonth, "mmmm yyyy") & "..."

' caldays "nstartdays", "nmonthname", vntIhnMonth, False
End If

I found what i thought controlled the initial state of the checkbox (so you could have it off by default) but it didn't seem to make a difference. IMHO, that would be the better option, so you can easily turn it on later if needed.

 

[LDW]

Hi Diane - and thanks for your reply.

You underestimate my dimness however...

Here's what I do:

i) Open Word

ii) Go to TOOLS - OPTIONS - SECURITY - MACRO SECURITY: change to LOW

[This allows me to change the macros. Change it back later for security.]

iii) Close Word. Double click on My Outlook Calendar.dot to open it. Click OK to open current month

iv) Go to TOOLS - MACRO - VISUAL BASIC EDITOR

v) Expand MY OUTLOOK CALENDAR folder at top left

vi) Expand FORMS folder at top left.

vii) Double click on MY file; form opens in VBA

Then, for example, to change paper size to A4:

viii) Click on REGION tab. Click in paper size box

ix) Get stuck - and panic!!!!

On the little calendar jobbies (do we call these thumbnails?), how do I change this code from ON to OFF please?

-
Private Sub chkThumbnails_Click()
Dim strKey As String
strKey = cTemplate & "\" & strCurrentCalendar
SaveSetting Application.Name, strKey, chkThumbnails.Caption, Str(chkThumbnails.Value)

End Sub

-
Thank you for your patience. Sorry to be so dim.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Rather than opening it directly in Word as a document, right click on the dot file and choose open. It should open to a white page and the title bar should say 'my outlook calendar.dot' - open the VB editor - select MY (in Forms) then right click on the Form and choose View code. Now you can make your changes to the code and save. The only problem I'm running into is that Word doesn't seem to be loading the changed template. I need to exit Word to test the changes. (That's why I haven't verified the Show your name setting yet. )

The default options are set in this code - its about 2/3 of the way down the code. (I searched for 'thumbnail' to find it quickly). The two lines I changed are in bold. (I haven't confirmed it deselects 'Show your name'.)
End If
chkPrintWeekends.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkPrintWeekends.Caption, "True")
chkLeftToRight.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkLeftToRight.Caption, "False")
chkShowMeetingAttendees.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkShowMeetingAttendees.Caption, "False")
chkShowApptEnd.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkShowApptEnd.Caption, "True")
chkThumbnails.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkThumbnails.Caption, "False")

txtNumberMonths.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, "Number Months", "1")
txtNumberWeeks.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, "Number Weeks", "1")
txtOtherTitle.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, lblOtherTitles.Caption, "")
chkUserName.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, chkUserName.Caption, "0")

txtDateFormat.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, cTemplate, "Date Format", "m/d")
txtHourFormat.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, cTemplate, "Hour Format", "h:mm AMPM")
txtApptFontSize.Text = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, "Text Font Size", Application.Selection.Font.Size)
mpCalendarType.Value = GetSetting(Application.Name, strKey, "Visible Tab", "1")
GetRegColors strKey

End Sub

For A4, search for a4. There are 4 or 5 entries but I'm not sure which needs changed. I'm thinking this one but I'm not 100% sure - probably the first TRUE needs to be changed to FALSE.
strPaperSize = GetSetting(Application.Name, cTemplate, optPaper811.Caption, "TRUE")
If UCase(strPaperSize) = "TRUE" Then
optPaper811.Value = True
Else
optPaperA4.Value = True
End If

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Here is my attempt - in opening it on another computer, it looks like the name and thumbnail calendars are gone but its still using 8x11 paper. http://www.slipstick.com/doit/MyCalendarTemplate(edited).zip

 

[LDW]

Thanks Diane. I can't open your version at all, I'm afraid. I get 'COMPILE ERROR: Can't find project or library'.

I can't make changes to the original either, because despite your wonderful instructions I don't seem to be able to save changes to the code.



I'm beginning to lose the will to live with My Outlook Calendar - should it really be this difficult? Is there an alternative, I wonder?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Normally, its not this hard but security can throw a monkey wrench...

Complie error usually means problems with references. Ah... I'll bet its because I did it on 64bit Outlook. I'll redo it on a 32bit install.

there are some alternatives - see calendar printing tools. The templates are all built off one template - but the other applications listed might meet your needs.

I have not been able to get the A4 paper size to stick - i don't know if its because its detecting printing settings, language settings (A4 is not typcial for US English) or because i didn't change the correct code.

 

[DLogan]

We have been using the Calendar template with Word 2007 for several years and it has worked great. We are now in the process of upgrading to Office 2010. The calendar template still works, but the monthly calendars no longer compress to a single 8.5 X 11 page like they use to in Office 2007. Does anyone know if there is updated code that is known to work with 2010?

 

[htd01]

I too have found a small purpose for this calendar template. However, it still leaves one or two things to be desired. In any case...

The current template works fine if you use the macro's form. I've found it quite useful.

Here's where it gets tricky:

The sizing options are built for a personal calendar, an agenda. The calendars I use it for are busier than that. However, it is possible to get them to work with it, coherently.

You'll have to set your page size to a custom size, but it works. And as far as changing the size of the table goes, you can play with that in the macro, or you can just let the macro run, then select the table yourself and blow it up. If you record your own macro for selecting the table and blowing it up, you can add that to the end of the form macro by calling it from there. Now you can set your view to web-layout, and view a large, coherent calendar view.

It's only drawback: It should place a carriage return between the appointments, but it runs them all together instead. I'm working on it. But finding the key subroutine for this is difficult.

 

[arwd]

I know how absurdly old this post is, but this is the only place that seems to have any info about this template. I was hoping that someone might be able to help me modify this template a bit more than what others have requested. Would there be a way to modify this template to allow me to filter certain calendar entries based on category color of the entry or word in the entry title/subject. Either of those would work, but I haven't been able to figure this out because it's quite the complex macro.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I have some information on it here - Modify Calendar Printing Assistant Templates - but as far as I know, you can't filter it. you would need to filter in outlook, copy to a new calendar folder and print that folder.