Our Verdict
Earlier this yr , I reviewed Fantastical 1.0 , an prominent menu - cake - based calendaring computer programme that for many people could take the place of a full - feather app such as iCal . I comply that up in the beginning this hebdomad with a review of Fantastical 1.1 , a significant update that added some cardinal drop feature film .
Like Fantastical , QuickCal lives in your menu bar , with its icon expose the current particular date . chatter that icon , and you see a listing of coming event and their time , organized by date . You prefer , in QuickCal ’s preferences , which calendar ( iCal or Google Calendar ) appear in the card , as well has how many day ’ worth of event ( up to seven ) ; you may also choose to have each calendar ’s color expose , in the form of a small circle , next to each event . It ’s a commodious way to get a fast feeling at your agenda for the next few days , although the bill of fare is narrow enough that longer event names are often issue off .
To view more information about an event , brood the cursor over that event ; after a 2d or two , a tooltip ( a float text boxwood ) seem to display the event ’s location , notes , and the like . However , unlike with Fantastical , you ca n’t edit out or delete upshot from within QuickCal — selecting an event in the menu opens the result for editing in your default option calendar program ( for iCal- or BusyCal - host calendar ) or in Google Calendar in your internet browser ( for Google Calendar calendars configured from within QuickCal ) .
QuickCal ’s other Fantastical - like feature is that it permit you quickly create calendar events using lifelike oral communication , similar to iCal in Lion ( Mac OS go 10.7 ) . Choose New Event from QuickCal ’s menu ( or press your preferable young - event keyboard shortcut ) , and an attractive newfangled - upshot windowpane seem on the projection screen . typewrite a description of the event , such asMacworld Staff Meeting Friday 10a in Rm500 , and QuickCal parse that text to picture out the details of the event — in this compositor’s case , an event calledMacworld Staff Meetingthat will take topographic point next Friday at 10 am in Rm500 . You see QuickCal ’s rendering of your description right there in the outcome windowpane , letting you verify it ’s flummox the details right .
In my testing , QuickCal ’s natural - linguistic process interpreting is good , although it ’s not quite as practiced as Fantastical ’s . For example , if I typeRm500 , Fantastical figure out thatRm500is a location ; with QuickCal , I must think back to typein Rm500 . I also had fuss receive QuickCal to create effect in calendars other than my default calendar . The developer claims you could simply type part of a calendar name in the event - debut box , but in my experience , QuickCal often instead uses that school text as part of the result name , locating , or other field .
take on QuickCal right rede your event description , you just push Return to immediately make the event . Alternatively , press Command - Return to create the event and open it in your preferred calendar program . The latter choice is skillful if you require to do another task in your full calendar political program , but it ’s also useful if you postulate to sum up a note to your effect — you ca n’t add notes from within QuickCal .
Similarly , unless you use Google Calendar calendars — and sign in to your Google Calendar accounting from within QuickCal , not within iCal or BusyCal — QuickCal does n’t sync your events straightaway with your net - host calendar . It or else uses iCal to perform this labor , which means iCal must be running when you make new tasks ( or at least must be launch sometime afterwards to sync ) . I set up this to be the case even if I set BusyCal as my preferent calendar program — I still had to keep iCal run for for QuickCal - create events and tasks to come along in BusyCal .
QuickCal does have a few features you wo n’t find in Fantastical . My favorite is that when creating a Modern event , if that event would conflict ( lap ) with an existing effect in any of your calendar , QuickCal displays an alert in the upshot - creative activity box and turn the Create Event button from green to red . Another is that while both programs can automatically fix alert for new upshot , QuickCal can make extra reminder for events further into the future . For instance , you’re able to configure QuickCal so that all case get a one - hr - before monitor , but events more than a hebdomad out also get a day - before reminder , and event more than a month away also get a one - week - before reminder . ( QuickCal ’s alert are simple notifications . It does n’t defend iCal ’s other type of alerts , such as sending an electronic mail , running an AppleScript , or opening a data file . )
QuickCal ’s big advantage , for some masses , is that it back up viewing and creating tasks . Typetodoat the start of an result verbal description , and QuickCal creates a newtaskinstead of a calendar event , complete with a due day of the month if you specify one . chore you add to your calendar ( either using QuickCal or within your normal calendar program ) appear at the bottom of QuickCal ’s menu .
That said , besides the Fantastical advantages I mentioned above , Fantastical exhibit a full , browsable calendar ; lets you see events for any date ; lets you look your calendar ; lets you create notes for event and edit events forthwith ; syncs directly to any CalDAV calendar ; works with Entourage and Outlook calendar ; can rest onscreen while you turn in other program ; lets you invite multitude to events using your Address Book contacts ; and supports AppleScript and OS X ’s services .
In other words , while QuickCal and Fantastical share a few exchangeable features , they ’re unlike programs with unlike goals , and it ’s credibly not sightly to either program to compare the two . Fantastical is a full - have calendar program that for many multitude can take the place of iCal . QuickCal is an add - on to iCal for quickly creating events and for viewing a few days ’ worth of your upcoming schedule .
And that ’s not a criticism of QuickCal . If you ’re quenched with iCal overall — or if you merely aren’tdissatisfiedwith it enough to buy another program to handle your schedule — QuickCal is a gracious hyperkinetic syndrome - on that makes it easier to make events and to get an overview of your upcoming agenda .
( Though QuickCal is a $ 3 purchase from the Mac App Store , the developer offers a 14 - day - trial version you candownload directly . )
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