Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

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SkyHigh
Posts: 3
Joined: April 2nd, 2018, 4:20 am

Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by SkyHigh »

I use Thunderbird at home to keep track of social stuff, paying bills, service the car etc. Many task are monthly, like PC backups etc. My requirements are rather simple. It's just me and the family keeping track.

When scrolling through the calendar I'd really like to be able to see at a glance which ones I've done.
(I know I could create a Task for each Event and tick them off but a) they don't get created automatically and b) it'll be in a list in a panel on the right, when I really want it in the month view of the calendar itself, because that gives me a better understanding of time generally.

Ideally, I just want to right click an Event (which could be one of a series) and simply select DONE ... and the Event would be "greyed out".

There is something that does almost exactly that ... Event Status.
So, what am I looking for now ? An easier way to set the Status - I just want to r-click and set it !
The current, official path is ... D-click or r-click an Event > select Just this occurrence > Options > Status > Canceled > Save & Close.

It works, but I'm a little exhausted by the time I get there. I would have thought that someone might have developed an add-on to do something similar, even if it is simply how to create a shortcut straight to the Status setting. On the other hand, perhaps someone has done the job properly and created a separate "DONE" status ...

I would be highly delighted to hear from anyone who has any information on making my life a little more efficient, :)
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WaltS48
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Joined: May 7th, 2010, 9:38 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by WaltS48 »

If you want to see Tasks in the Month view you need to enable "Tasks in View".

From the Thunderbird Menu bar or button, go to View > Calendar > Current View and enable it there.

You can enable "Show completed Tasks" in the Today pane, or use the menu View > Calendar > Show completed Tasks if you want to continue seeing them in the Calendar tab.

You can also have a Tasks tab next to the Calendar tab using Events and Tasks > Tasks.

I think you have found the only way to mark them "Completed" if you have recurring Events or Tasks. Well, all recurring Tasks are marked completed. At least in my tests.
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SkyHigh
Posts: 3
Joined: April 2nd, 2018, 4:20 am

Re: Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by SkyHigh »

@Walt48
That's a good point, but it doesn't quite work for me.

I tried creating Tasks instead of Events for these activities and it works fine and, as you say, can be seen in the calendar.

The trouble is, when I tick the task in the panel to say it's Completed, the task disappears from the calendar - which I don't want.
I'll be thinking I haven't done anything !
Regards, SkyHigh

Windows 7/64 - AMD A8 4.2GHz 8GB RAM
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WaltS48
Posts: 5141
Joined: May 7th, 2010, 9:38 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by WaltS48 »

SkyHigh wrote:@Walt48
That's a good point, but it doesn't quite work for me.

I tried creating Tasks instead of Events for these activities and it works fine and, as you say, can be seen in the calendar.

The trouble is, when I tick the task in the panel to say it's Completed, the task disappears from the calendar - which I don't want.
I'll be thinking I haven't done anything !
WaltS48 wrote:You can enable "Show completed Tasks" in the Today pane, or use the menu View > Calendar > Show completed Tasks if you want to continue seeing them in the Calendar tab.

You can also have a Tasks tab next to the Calendar tab using Events and Tasks > Tasks.
FWIW I use Events for everything.
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Budgie3
Posts: 97
Joined: March 24th, 2018, 11:43 am

Re: Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by Budgie3 »

Hi, please forgive my coming in here but I am trying to fix a similar problem and received no reply to my original post. I followed WaltS48 advice and that has answered my question and it works for me as I can see future repeated tasks in the calendar. Problem is that if I mark the first one as completed, then all the subsequent tasks are also shown completed, as suggested by WaltS48.
Unfortunately life isn't that simple. Repeated tasks mean they have to be done again or at least clones of them do. I suspect solving this may require a fix. Should I post a bug report? Not sure I know how but I do not think this problem will go away by adjusting settings.

The settings also make provision for marking a task as (for example) 75% complete but the remaining uncompleted part of the task is not carried forward as a reminder. I appreciate that I am moving into project management software territory but does anybody have similar questions or is it just me?
SkyHigh
Posts: 3
Joined: April 2nd, 2018, 4:20 am

Re: Event STATUS setting (to Cancelled)

Post by SkyHigh »

I think that in the absence of any other information, then doing what I described in my initial post is the closest, but that means using Events, not Tasks.
It also means not having a Task List. For me, it works in principle, but it's just clunky.
Regards, SkyHigh

Windows 7/64 - AMD A8 4.2GHz 8GB RAM
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