Copyright: Copyright (C) 1999 Lotus Development Corporation, an IBM subsidiary.


Overview: vCard & vCalendar Viewer

The Lotus vCard & vCalendar Viewer is installed when you install Organizer. You can use the viewer to send meeting notices from an e-mail into your Organizer scheduling file, and to insert vCard objects and iCalendar and vCalendar appointments and tasks into an Organizer file.

You can open a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar file in the viewer, and view either a formatted display of the file contents or the ASCII text. For files that contain more than one object, you can browse through the contents of the file and select specific objects or the entire file to send to Organizer.

When you send vCalendar and iCalendar appointments from the viewer into an Organizer file, the viewer automatically creates the entries in the Calendar section. When you send vCard objects from the viewer into an Organizer file, the viewer automatically creates the entries in the Contacts section.

COPYRIGHT

Under the copyright laws, neither the documentation nor software may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Lotus Development Corporation, except in the manner described in the software agreement.

© Copyright 1999

Lotus Development Corporation

55 Cambridge Parkway

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States.

Lotus Organizer is a registered trademark, and Organizer is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation. Other products and company names herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Starting the vCard & vCalendar Viewer

You can use any one of the following methods to start the viewer; use whichever one is convenient for the task at hand.

•	Double-click a meeting notice in an e-mail message (a meeting notice is a file attachment that uses the iCalendar, .ICS, file format).

•	From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs - Lotus SmartSuite - Lotus Accessories - Lotus vCard & vCalendar Viewer. If you specified a program group other than Lotus SmartSuite when you installed Organizer, select that group instead.

•	In Windows Explorer, double-click the vcviewer.exe icon (shown below) in the lotus/organize directory. If you specified a different directory when installing Organizer, go to that directory instead.

Tip	You can also create a shortcut that places the viewer icon on your desktop.

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Opening a file in the vCard & vCalendar Viewer

1.	From the File menu, choose Open.

2.	Specify the directory that has the file you want to open.

3.	Select the file and click Open.

The file opens, showing you the first object in the file.

4.	(Optional) Do the following to view the objects in the file:

•	To go through the objects one at a time, either click Next or Prev, or press PGUP or PGDN.

•	To go to the first or last object, either choose First Object or Last Object from the View menu, or press CTRL+PGUP or CTRL+PGDN.

5.	(Optional) To open another file, repeat steps 1 through 3.

6.	To close the viewer, choose Exit from the File menu.

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Viewing a vCard file

This view shows you the formatted contents of a vCard file (.VCF). A vCard file contains one or more electronic business cards.

1.	From the File menu, choose Open.

2.	Specify the directory that has the file you want to open.

3.	Select the file and click Open.

The file opens, showing you the first card in the file.

4.	(Optional) Do the following to view the cards in the file:

•	To go through the objects one at a time, either click Next or Prev, or press PGUP or PGDN.

•	To go to the first or last object, either choose First Object or Last Object from the View menu, or press CTRL+PGUP or CTRL+PGDN.

5.	(Optional) From the View menu, choose Text to view the file as unformatted ASCII text, then click OK to return to the formatted view.

(A .VCF file is an ASCII text file. The viewer window formats the text to make it more readable.)

6.	(Optional) Send the contents of the file to an Organizer file.

7.	(Optional) To open another file, repeat steps 1 through 3.

8.	To close the viewer, choose Exit from the File menu.

 See related topics


Viewing a vCalendar file

This view shows you the formatted contents of a vCalendar file (.VCS). A vCalendar file contains one or several appointments and/or tasks.

1.	From the File menu, choose Open.

2.	Specify the directory that has the file you want to open.

3.	Select the file and click Open.

The file opens, showing you the first object.

4.	(Optional) Do the following to view the objects in the file:

•	To go through the objects one at a time, either click Next or Prev, or press PGUP or PGDN.

•	To go to the first or last object, either choose First Object or Last Object from the View menu, or press CTRL+PGUP or CTRL+PGDN.

5.	(Optional) From the View menu, choose Text to view the file as unformatted ASCII text, then click OK to return to the formatted view.

(A .VCS file is an ASCII text file. The viewer window formats the text to make it more readable.)

6.	(Optional) Send the contents of the file to an Organizer file.

7.	(Optional) To open another file, repeat steps 1 through 3.

8.	To close the viewer, choose Exit from the File menu.

 See related topics


Viewing an iCalendar file

This view shows you the formatted contents of an iCalendar file (.ICS). An iCalendar file contains one or several meetings and/or appointments.

1.	From the File menu, choose Open.

2.	Specify the directory that has the file you want to open.

3.	Select the file and click Open.

The file opens, showing you the first object.

4.	(Optional) Do the following to view the objects in the file:

•	To go through the objects one at a time, either click Next or Prev, or press PGUP or PGDN.

•	To go to the first or last object, either choose First Object or Last Object from the View menu, or press CTRL+PGUP or CTRL+PGDN.

5.	(Optional) From the View menu, choose Text to view the file as unformatted ASCII text, then click OK to return to the formatted view.

(An .ICS file is an ASCII text file. The viewer window formats the text to make it more readable.)

6.	(Optional) Send the contents of the file to an Organizer file.

7.	(Optional) To open another file, repeat steps 1 through 3.

8.	To close the viewer, choose Exit from the File menu.

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Viewing the text of an object

You can view the ASCII text of a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar object. The ASCII text view shows you the coding in the file.

1.	Open the file of the object you want to view.

2.	From the View menu, choose Text.

3.	Use the scroll bars as needed to read through the text. You can't edit the text.

4.	To return to the formatted view, click OK.

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Copying the contents of a file

You can copy the contents of a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar file, then paste it in another application.

1.	Open the file that has the contents you want to copy.

2.	(Optional) In a vCard object, select the text that you want to copy.

3.	From the Edit menu, choose Copy or Copy All. (The Copy command is available only when you have selected some of the text in a vCard object.)

4.	Switch to another application and paste the object(s).

Depending on the application's ability to read the vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar file format, the information is pasted as ASCII text or as a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar object.

Note	If you selected text in a vCard object, that text is copied as ASCII text, not as a vCard.

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Sending the contents of a file to Organizer

You can send one or all objects in a file to an Organizer file. Organizer will automatically create the entries in the appropriate section of your file.

Note	If you're sending a meeting notice to Organizer, the notice is either placed in the Meeting Notices dialog box or automatically processed. You set this preference on the Auto-process tab in the Mail and Scheduling dialog box in Organizer.

1.	Open the file that has the information you want sent to Organizer.

2.	From the File menu, choose Preferences.

3.	Click Browse and specify the Organizer file to which you want to send the information.

If you're sending meeting notices to an Organizer file, make sure to select the file you're using for scheduling.

4.	Click OK.

5.	If necessary, under "Create entries in," select the section where you want the information sent.

See details

6.	Do one of the following:

•	To send only the current object to the Organizer file, click Send Current to Organizer.

•	To send the entire contents of the file to the Organizer file, click Send All to Organizer.

•	For files that have only one object, click Send to Organizer.

Organizer writes the object information into the file you specified, creating entries in the appropriate section.

7.	(Optional) Open another file that has information you want to send to Organizer.

8.	To close the viewer, choose Exit from the File menu.

 See details

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Using the vCard & vCalendar Viewer to retrieve a meeting notice

If your e-mail program can't check your inbox from within Organizer, or if your inbox is on a server (rather than a local hard drive), you can use the vCard & vCalendar Viewer to transfer meeting notices from your inbox to the Meeting Notices dialog box in Organizer.

1.	In your e-mail application, open an e-mail message that has a meeting notice.

A meeting notice is an iCalendar file attachment (with the .ICS extension) in an e-mail message.

2.	Select and open the attachment. (See the documentation for your e-mail application for details on how to open an attachment.)

The attachment opens in the vCard & vCalendar Viewer.

3.	From the File menu in the viewer, choose Preferences.

4.	Specify the Organizer file that you're using for scheduling and click OK.

5.	In the viewer, select the meeting notice(s) you want to send to Organizer.

6.	Click Send to Organizer.

Note	When you use the viewer to send meeting notices to Organizer, they're either placed in the Meeting Notices dialog box or automatically processed, depending on the selections you made on the Auto-process tab in the Mail and Scheduling dialog box in Organizer.

7.	Minimize or close the viewer window.

8.	If applicable, go into Organizer and process the meeting notices.

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Object

An object is a single instance of a file's contents. For example, a vCard file can have many cards, and each card is an object.


vCard, vCalendar, and iCalendar file formats

The vCard (.VCF), vCalendar (.VCS), and iCalendar (.ICS) file formats are protocols that share contact records, appointments, and tasks between applications that support these formats. With vCard, you can share information in your Contacts section in the form of an electronic business card; with iCalendar and vCalendar, you can share information in appointments, and tasks. While Organizer can accept either iCalendar or vCalendar format for appointments, it requires the iCalendar format for meeting notices.


File menu

Open

Opens a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar file. See also Opening a file in the vCard & vCalendar Viewer.

Send Current to Organizer

Sends the current object to the Organizer file that you selected in the Preferences dialog box. See also Sending the contents of a file to Organizer.

Send All to Organizer

Sends all objects in the current file to the Organizer file that you selected in the Preferences dialog box. See also Sending the contents of a file to Organizer.

Preferences

Specifies the Organizer file where you want to send vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar objects. See also Sending the contents of a file to Organizer.

Exit

Closes the viewer.


Details: Sending the contents of a file to Organizer

Using multiple Organizer sections of the same type

When you have more than one section of the same type in Organizer, you can select the section to which you want the viewer to send the information. For example, if you have a Contacts section called "School Organizations" and another called "Business," select the section where you want a vCard object sent.

 Go to procedure


Help menu

Help Topics

Displays the Help Contents.

About Lotus vCard & vCalendar Viewer

Displays information about the viewer.


Preferences dialog box

You use this dialog box to specify the Organizer file where you want the vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar objects sent. For example, if you've opened an iCalendar (.ICS) file and want to send its meeting notice to Organizer, you would specify your scheduling file.

1.	From the File menu, choose Preferences.

2.	Click Browse and specify the Organizer file to which you want to send the information.

If you're sending meeting notices to an Organizer file, make sure to select the file you're using for scheduling.

See details

3.	Click OK.


Password dialog box

In order to open the file you selected, you must enter a password. Keep in mind that you must type the password exactly as it was created; that is, you must use the same uppercase and lowercase letters, and, if applicable, spaces.


Details: Preferences dialog box

The default Organizer file vCard & vCalendar Viewer will send information to

If you don't select a file in the Preferences dialog box, the viewer uses the Organizer file set to open by default in the Organizer Preferences dialog box. If you haven't set this option, the viewer uses the most recently used Organizer file.

EasyClip and the viewer use the same Organizer file

vCard & vCalendar Viewer objects are added to the same Organizer file in which your EasyClip entries appear. For example, assume you specified work1.or6 as the file in the EasyClip Preferences dialog box, then you specified work2.or6 in the viewer's Preferences dialog box. The next time you use EasyClip, it will create entries in work2.or6 unless you specify a different file. Similarly, if you change the file in which your EasyClip information is to appear, this becomes the file that vCard & vCalendar Viewer will automatically use as well.

 Go to procedure


View menu

Text

Displays the ASCII text of a vCard, vCalendar, or iCalendar object. See also Viewing the text of an object.

First Object, Previous Object, Next Object, Last Object

Displays the first, previous, next, or last object in the file. See also Opening a file in the vCard & vCalendar Viewer.


Edit menu

Copy

Copies the selected contents of a vCard object. You can paste the copied information in another application. See also Copying the contents of a file.

Copy All

Copies all objects in the current file. You can paste the copied information in another application. See also Copying the contents of a file.

Paste

Pastes text you've copied to a blank viewer window.