Need Help Using the Calendar in iOS 5

By Kelly Sapergia, 26 June, 2012

Forum
iOS and iPadOS
I've been trying to figure out how to use the built-in Calendar feature of iOS 5 by following the instructions in the first edition of "Getting Started with the iPhone", but am stuck when it comes to adding an event. I can select the date I want for the appointment, but don't see an Add button to add the event's information. Either that or I'm looking on the wrong screen. Can someone please tell me what to do next? I'm assuming updates were made to the calendar after the book came out. Thanks for your help. Yours Sincerely, Kelly Sapergia

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Comments

By KE7ZUM on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

You need to fill in the sections by clicking on them for example add new then theres the following fields. •title •location •starts (double tap on that then click done. •ditto for repeat •ditto for invitees. •ditto for alert. •ditto for calendar •ditto for availability •just double tap on the url if you know the event has one, for example an online meeting. •ditto for notes HOpe t that helps.

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, I don't see an Add New button when I flick left or right, just an "All calendars" heading, the days of the week or the times depending on what view I've selected, and a Today button. That's all there is.

By Walei on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

No matter which view you're in, the add button is always on the top right. So for instance if you're in the month tab, double tap on the day you'd like to add an event to and double tap on the add button which is at the top right of the screen underneath the battery level. A new event will be created for the day you chose and you'll be able to fill in the event name, location, alerts etc. Hope this helps.

By Michael Hansen on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
I was a little confused by something when I first started using the calendar, so I thought I'd post in case others had a similar question. When you double-tap on a date (let's say you're in the June 2012 calendar and you double-tap on the 30th), VoiceOver will say "Selected" before the date, followed by the number of events for that day. When you go to the add button at the top right of the screen, rest assured that the date you selected is still selected, even though you have moved VO focus.

By Kelly Sapergia on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

I tried that, but there's still no Add button. Just to make sure I'm doing things correctly, here's what I did: 1. Selected the Month tab. 2. Pressed the Next Month button, since I have an event on Sunday, July 1. 3. Flicked right, and noticed the days Sunday through Saturday, followed by the "Sunday, July 1, no events" button, which was already selected. 4. I pressed at the top right corner of the screen, but all I heard was "All calendars, heading", then "next month" below that. I even tried double-tapping the Sunday in the list of days, and also the already-selected button, but nothing worked. I'm beginning to wonder if I have to do something else to start adding events? This is really frustrating me.

By Lynne on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

here's what works for me: 1. Open the Calendar and double-tap on the Add button in the top right corner. 2. the Title edit field is displayed and you're ready to type the name of your event. 3. When done, swipe down and you should hear the Location edit field. Fill that in, if you need to. 4. Swipe down and you should hear the Start option. Double-tap on it and a calendar will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Most likely, you'll be on the today option. Swipe up until you hear the date you need. 5. Carefully move to the right to hear the start hour. Swipe up or down to change it. Move to the right to hear the Start minutes. Swipe up or down to change it. Move to the right to hear AM or PM. Swipe up or down to change it. 6. Move to the End option and double-tap on that. Perform the same steps for changing the date, hour, minute and AM or PM. 7. Double-tap the Done button on the top right of the screen. you may also add an Alert. Hope this has been helpful.

Thanks for all the suggestions, but no matter what view I am, or what I double-tap on, there's still no Add button at the top right, or in fact anywhere, on the screen. Even when I open the Calendar, there's nothing. I'm guessing the thing's broke.

By Walei on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:38

Sounds like you've come across the curious case of the missing add button. What version of iOS do you have? It seems like other people have had this issue so it's not a voiceover thing. I Googled it and some people experienced this when they updated to iOS 5. The solution seems to be to go to settings then iCloud and turn on Calendars. Let me know if this works.

I just figured out what happened. It wasn't a Voiceover issue at all. Yesterday, I got a Bluetooth keyboard, and used it to set up my email account on the iPod Touch. However, instead of following Google's suggestions for setting up a Microsoft Exchange account, I selected the GMail account option instead. After I removed the account, the calendar worked properly, showing the Add button and everything. Thanks again for all the suggestions and for putting up with me as I struggled with this, but I didn't realize you had to go through Microsoft Exchange instead. Now all I've got to do is to turn on the sync feature in my Google Calendar, but Google made it hard to go into the settings page, even on their screen reader-friendly version. There's a button menu labeled Settings, but when I access it, nothing happens. (I'm using JAWS version 12 to do this.) I've got Outlook 2003 on my system, so am wondering if the calendar will work that way.