What's new in this version

Printing notes and tasks

The option for printing calendar data is finally here. Notes and tasks are always printed on separate sheets so you can choose whether you want to print only tasks, only notes or both. There is also a special set of options to choose date range for printing notes.

Desktop Pictures - improvements

New option added to desktop pictures allows you to scale down a picture so you do not have to use other programs to resize large pictures that you want to put on your desktop. We also added a preview thumbnail of the selected image so you do not have to rely just on file names in the list. Finally, desktop pictures proved to be quite popular so we made them a shortcut for quick access from the Notes/Tasks View.

What was new in version 3.1

Desktop Pictures

This option allows you to add some of your pictures to the desktop on top of the background picture you may already have. It can be your company logo, some personal picture or anything else you like. You can have more than one picture displayed this way. Supported picture file formats are .BMP and .JPG.

What was new in version 3.0

User interface

Program's user interface is brand new. We have re-written large parts of code to make it work more efficient and easier to use. It is based on many comments we got from faithful program users so we hope you will find it satisfactory.

Interactive desktop

We moved away from Windows's active desktop and made our own system that should work everywhere.

Three months calendar on the desktop

This was one of the most wanted options. Previous versions of the program displayed only current month on the desktop. From now on you can have one (current), two (current and next) or three (previous, current and next) months displayed on the desktop.

Alarms

It is now possible to attach an alarm to a note, or to have stand alone recurring alarms. Alarms are also included in the export function so you can easily have full backup of your calendar data.

Recurrence patterns

Recurrence patterns are extended to offer options similar to those available in Outlook for example.

What was new in version 2.9

Hide calendar data option

This option allows you to remove Active Desktop Calendar's data from desktop if necessary without exiting the program. The option named "Hide Data" is listed in the program's system tray menu. When it is enabled program does not display any data (notes, tasks, calendar) on the desktop.

What was new in version 2.8

Multiuser support

Multiuser support allows each user on a single computer installation to have its own calendar data set (notes, tasks, alarms) along with one common data set that is shared with all other users. This option is useful even on single user computers because you can maintain two separate data sets, for example one private and the other for business. Pay attention to the title bar of program dialogs and you will see current user and data set info.

What was new in version 2.7

Invisible/Private notes (desktop view)

With this new option you can control how individual notes are displayed in notes/tasks list on your desktop. Default view for each new note is Normal (Visible). If you set a note to be Private then the generic text "(private)" will be displayed on the desktop in place of the original note text. This will prevent those who just pass by your computer screen to read that note and you will still have a visual reminder of its existence. However, if you set a note to be Invisible then it will not be displayed at all in notes/tasks list on your desktop.

Editing tasks improved

Two new settings are available regarding task list management. First, you can choose position for a new task: program can place it either on the top or at the bottom of the task list. Second, you can select program behaviour when some task is marked as Done: its position on the task list could remain the same or it could be automatically moved to the bottom of the task list. Additionally, Edit Tasks dialog got keyboard shortcuts, standard multiselect options and two new commands: Move Top and Move Bottom.

What was new in version 2.6

Notes/Tasks bar size & position control improved

We are introducing a number of improvements in defining size & position of Notes/Tasks bar. Now you can define notes/tasks bar width with more precision as a percentage of full screen width. Division of space between Notes and Tasks is also given as percentage. Three new options are available. Blank header and footer options allow Notes/Tasks bar to be squeezed vertically so there is free space left above and/or beneath. Finally, right margin option allows Notes/Tasks bar to be positioned virtually anywhere on the screen.

Marking dates with notes/alarms on the calendar

These new options provide visual connection between notes, alarms and dates on the calendar. If there is an alarm due on some date, it will have special icon shown on the calendar. Same thing with note(s) wich have additional option to automatically use already attached icon. Text mode is also supported via bold & italics font attributes. Each option can be enabled or disabled separately.

Marking weekdays

It is quite usual to have Saturdays and Sundays marked on a calendar. Active Desktop Calendar gives you full control over this option, so you can choose any combination of weekdays to be marked. Mark Saturdays and Sundays? No problem that's standard. Mark only Thursdays? Again no problem because you have Active Desktop Calendar.

Different icons for day names

Those who enjoy playing with icons will especially like this option. It gives you the opportunity to choose different icon library for representing day names on the calendar.

Regional settings

Something very important for our users around the world. Now you can set font, script and encoding so Active Desktop Calendar will allow writing with international characters and will show those characters properly.

What was new in version 2.5

Alarms

Sometimes even having a note/task displayed directly on desktop is not effective enough. Recognizing the need for more active notification we are happy to provide you with powerful alarms system. It allows you to set reminders that will play designated sound file and show pop-up message window helping you to keep your promises and never miss anything important. You can add, edit and delete alarms at any time, use customizable snooze function when some alarm shows up and easily handle multiple alarm events queued at the same point in time. Additionally, every alarm can have its own sound file.

Multiple Notes Per Date

You told us "single note per date" concept is rather limiting so now we are bringing you full power of defining multiple notes per date. Notes editing window got an additional column (Notes) showing the list of notes existing for selected date in Dates column. Note which is actually an instance of a repeating note defined in the past is marked with a letter "R" in front of a note number.

Data Export-Import

This new functionality solves all problems with transferring data between two or more Active Desktop Calendar's installations. Whether you have a new computer that needs to be filled with data or just want to share some notes/tasks with a friend, program's export-import system is an easy solution. When exporting, you will select which data sets should be included in export file, choose time frame and get .adc file as a result. That file is to be opened on a target computer, its data contents automatically classified and prepared for import. If you export all data at a regular basis and keep that .adc file somewhere safe, export-import functionality could also serve you as a good data backup system.

Notes/Tasks Bar Background Transparency

Having calendar and notes/tasks bar displayed on a wallpaper leave less space for a background image. You can of course minimize calendar by switching it to text mode, but what about notes/tasks bar? So far you could only opt to disable its background but that could affect information readability on particularly vivid background images. Now you can set notes/tasks bar background color to be transparent and have the best of both worlds. Pretty cool stuff.

Instant Screen Saver Function

Did you try Active Desktop Calendar's own simple and useful screen saver? This version brings you some more functionality in that direction. You can enable Instant Screen Saver option and have it launched immediately by placing a mouse pointer in one of top corners of the screen. There is an option to choose the instant screen saver activation corner as well as set delay time in seconds before screen saver starts running.

Various Other Improvements

Some usability changes were introduced to Notes editing window. Calendar navigation system is altered so to allow easier and more direct control. Clicking on Apply button will not take you back to the current date. Bi-weekly option is added to repeating notes. If there is one or more alarms set for the current date, program shows a bell icon just above the Note Text box. When you start typing in the empty Note Text box, program automatically adds a note for the selected date on calendar. You can now search through notes text with a Find command available under Notes button.