Now that’s slick…

The question is, will people I need to use it, actually use it?

I’ve been using an application called FantastiCal for many years. Generally speaking I try to use the applications supplied in on my iPhone, Computer, and iPad. 

This application is different. When Apple. in their infinite wisdom de-coupled To-Dos from Calendar, I went looking for something different. Apple has since re-coupled To-Dos and Calendar.

FantastiCal did the job and exceeded my needs then, as the years have progressed, they’ve added features that are really slick.

They’ve always had “Natural Language” processing. In FantastiCal you can say something like “Dr. Appointment @ 3pm on July 25th” and FantastiCal will add that to your calendar. Moving appointments is also drag & drop. Being able to duplicate appointments is really handy if you’re having to do a follow-up visit.

For about the past year or two, FantastiCal has provided a method to allow people to request appointments with you. I’ve not used this ability until recently.

In the near future, I’m going to be working on a number of things that will require scheduling and I thought, “Why should I be entering appointments and details manually?”

So a few weeks ago I enabled that part of the system. Now, instead of say, a job recruiter asking me what my availability is for an interview, I can send them a link in a cover letter, and they can pick a time themselves. Hopefully they’ll use the link and help keep me on schedule.

After I’d set up the interview link, I thought why not use the same system for more general meetings?

The cool thing is that the system looks at all my calendars, the private ones, and those that involve more public facing things like interviews, then automatically blocks out times when there is a conflict. It doesn’t disclose what I’m doing, it simply doesn’t list time blocks that are otherwise allocated.

No-one needs to know I’m at the Doctor’s office, they only need to know that I’m not available.

There are a range of ways I can see using this. For example: You have to arrange some kind of home maintenance and the provider asks you use their web site to make the request. So I’m thinking, I’ll include a link showing my availability and allow the provider to just pick a time that works for them, then it will pop up in my calendar. It’s also possible to select times that you’re generally unavailable in the template, so if you’re habitual about walking the dog, or you’re always at a community center on a particular day, you can eliminate that block of time entirely from selection.

FantastiCal has matured this part of their system to the point that you can make a template that requires information when the other person is making the appointment request. “Do you have to be there?”, “Estimated cost”, “ Will the dog have to be inside or outside” etc. Then you can approve the appointment or propose something different if need be.

I’m going to try this out & see where it goes.

FantastiCal has a small learning curve. It took me a while to get things set up in a way that works for me.

Another cool thing is that it can store the information in a way that Apple Reminders and Apple Calendar is also updated. So that information isn’t lost in the event you lose your phone. It’s still available via iCloud.

Recently they’ve introduced a Windows version of the FantastiCal application. 

I haven’t used it, but it might provide an elegant bridge between Windows and iPhone / iPad so that you’re not having to look at multiple systems if you’re making appointments.

I like the FantastiCal method of displaying scheduling information better than the Apple Calendar & Reminders app too.

That being said, I like Apple Reminders for shopping lists. FantastiCal doesn’t do that quite as well.

Hope your day is productive.