Using Custom Calendar Alerts On Your Mac

The Mac Calendar app allows you to set custom reminders that will send you an email message, open a file or launch an application. You can also add more than one alert so you can get both a notification and use a custom alert for the same event.

Comments: 14 Responses to “Using Custom Calendar Alerts On Your Mac”

    Howard Brazee
    3 years ago

    Neat stuff I didn't know!

    My two wants with the Calendar notifications are:
    1. Alarm 5 minutes before I need to leave to get to the event.
    2. Let the Calendar check the Maps to determine how long it takes to get there.

    3 years ago

    Howard: You can already do number 1. In the event, look for Travel Time. Set that to something and then you can set the alert to X minutes before travel time. For number 2, you can add a location to your event, and then you get a "Time To Leave" alert you can add. That calculates the time based on maps and traffic. But I don't think you can do "5 minutes before time to leave."

    Ron Lambert
    3 years ago

    If there is a way to feed in a file of 20 Calendar Alerts, would you do a video on it. Thanks in advance

    3 years ago

    Ron: Not sure what you mean by "feed in." What is the situation? What are these alerts and what are you trying to do with them? Maybe if I knew more, I could suggest a solution.

    Eric
    3 years ago

    Could Ron's question be answered using a ics file with multiple BEGIN:VEVENT ... END:VEVENT entries?

    3 years ago

    Eric: It depends on what Ron really needs to do. Waiting to hear back. I have a feeling that a shared Calendar might be the solution. But hard to say without knowing more details.

    Jasper
    3 years ago

    # 1 Am I right to think that there is no way to get a notification for the *end* of the event; except by making the alert occur after the same period as the duration.

    # 2 I see from the video that you could use Custom > Open File to run a script that says aloud something generic. But is there a way to script it so that it read something specific “Stop working on“ + “Name of Event”, so that you could have a single script that could be used on any event?

    3 years ago

    Jasper: Yes, to an an alert for the end, set the alert for the same time after the event as the duration of the event. Or, set two events, one for the start, one for the end. No, I can't think of a way to what you want in #2, at least not without a great amount of effort.

    Steven Due
    3 years ago

    Is there a way to send the email reminder for a calendar event to an email besides your own? It is only putting in my email and not able to change.

    3 years ago

    Steven: No, you can't do that. Then it would basically be an email sending scheduler, which brings up all sorts of security and email regulation issues.

    Dave Merriman
    3 years ago

    I thought this subject would be very useful for me but following the video I wanted to add a new calendar to my Mac but was only given the option to add an iCloud calendar.Is this because I am still using Catalina as an operating system?

    3 years ago

    Dave: Select another "On My Mac" calendar in the left sidebar first. Then File, New Calendar. If you have no "On My Mac" calendars, select the Birthdays one.

    Bob
    3 years ago

    Can you default to using custom alerts or do you have to select it every time you set up an alert. I always want a message with sound. It would be much more convenient for that to be my default rather than having to set it up that way for each alert.

    3 years ago

    Bob: No, you can't set a default. But you can always duplicate an old event and move it if that makes it easier.

Comments Closed.