A Calendar/Planner powertoy for OneNote!
I was reading the newsgroups again the other night and "SubSeaGuy" made this post:
"I want to create a custom calendar. Rather than typing in the date on each page of which there would be 365, is there a way to import the page name. The example would be to create the dates (day, dd-mon-yyyy) in say excel, and then import that data as page names."
Time for a new Powertoy! I've been itching to write another (where does the time go?), and this looked like a great reason. I started with my text importer, stripped out the stuff I did not need and added in a routine to account for the dates to use as page titles. Here's what it looks like on a Windows XP computer:
It was pretty simple. It let you pick a start date and a number of days to create. For instance, it looks like SubSeaGuy would want to start on January 1, 2009 and go for 365 days. You can control the date format the page title will get as well. A long format looks like this:
Monday, October 06, 2008
And the short format would be
10/6/2008.
These settings can be changed in the Windows Control Panel \ Regional Settings application if you want.
I added the agenda settings after the first iteration. More on that process later. For now, just select whether you want an agenda view, the start and stop times for it and the time increment.
After making these choices, choose the notebook and section where you want the pages created and press "Make Calendar." Since the pages are blank, it runs pretty quick. On my trusty HP, it took 18 seconds to make a year's worth of pages. Not too shabby, I think.
I liked this application for a couple of reasons. One, it let me reuse some of my code, so it was pretty easy to write :). Two, it spawned some great ideas for features and test cases. For instance, I did not know whether to let you choose how many days worth of pages to create, or use two date pickers to let you set a start and end date. I decided on the simple number of days since it is a little easier to test, and has a little less code to write.
I hope you get some use out of this. I can see it being used to save a little time here and there.
And there is no setup for this. Just copy the file (link below), unzip it and rename it to .EXE and start it. Remember, you will need the .NET framework and OneNote must have the .NET programmability component installed. To check it, look in Control Panel | Programs (or Add/Remove Programs), change the Office install, and look under the OneNote tree to see that the component is installed:
You can get the source code here: OneNote Calendar Source Code
Update 8-4-2010: new link for source code is https://johnguin.web.officelive.com/Documents/oncalendar.zip
The link for the powertoy is below.
Let me know what you think!
Question, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,
John
Comments
Anonymous
October 07, 2008
PingBack from http://www.easycoded.com/a-calendarplanner-powertoy-for-onenote/Anonymous
October 07, 2008
Thanks for posting the calendar. But somehow if I save the file and rename it, there is then .exe.ex Can you help me with this? Many thx in advance. Best rgdsAnonymous
October 08, 2008
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October 08, 2008
Hi it was a little bit tricky because I have a German XP and there the designation is different form the meaning but it worked. Many thanks. AlexAnonymous
October 08, 2008
Hi, I downloaded and ran the exe but it did not show up in the Add-Ins section under Tools->Option->AddIns. Is there something I am missing? thanks!Anonymous
October 08, 2008
This is its own standalone application. You can use it w/o running OneNote, and it will not show in the addins. JohnAnonymous
October 08, 2008
Hi John, When I ran the renamed executable, the application window popped up for about two seconds before it disappeared. I did not get the UI that you have pictured here. I have checked to ensure the programmability section in OneNote setup is correct. I also have the latest .NET Framework installed. I tried to run it in XP Compatability mode as well as an administrator but not luck with either.Anonymous
October 08, 2008
Hi John, Many thanks for the Calendar Powertoy. Just one main nag, I can't get it to install the calendar pages to other notebooks, it only installs to Unfiled Notes. Nothing drastic as it only takes a couple of seconds to move the pages to wherever I want in OneNote. Another thing that always nags me with a lot of software is that of sizing. This program is too short when using 800x600 screen (I'm getting on a bit now and my sight's not as good as it used to be) and the make calendar button doesn't show even when I expand the window to fullsize. I have to change the screen to 1024x768 to use the program. Thanks again for the handy toy. Cheers, TomAnonymous
October 09, 2008
Tom, I patched the app to actually use sections - silly typo on my part. Just use the same link as before. Brian, this app uses the 2.0 .NET framework. I tried on Vista as well and it worked for me. In the folder from which are running the app, an error log file will get created. Can you email me that log file and I'll take a look? JOhnAnonymous
October 09, 2008
Well, my "well tested" calendar/planner had an easy to fix but obvious problem - it always sent the calendarAnonymous
October 09, 2008
Hi, Have to say, this is a great idea! I downloaded it and tried it out, but my problem is it created the calendar in a completely different notebook and section than I designated. I notice it also created an 'error log', but the log page was blank.Anonymous
October 09, 2008
Hello Elizabeth, Can you ensure that the notebook you selected is did not get changed by an accidental mouse click? I cannot even guess at what may be going on otherwise (unless you used another powertoy to make or copy the notebooks around). Can you email me more details about what you have installed? Lastly, the error log being blank just means the powertoy thinks it is doing everything right. Sorry for the problems, JohnAnonymous
October 09, 2008
John, I also get an error log, but it's a file, not a page: I copied the .exe to my desktop Double-clicked to run (OneNote is also running) Program window opens OneNoteCalendarMaker_error_log.txt is created on my desktop just after launch Txt file is empty Powertoy works Hope this helps.Anonymous
October 09, 2008
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October 09, 2008
Hi John, New version still doesn't work for me. Now always sends calendar to OneNote 2007 ToolKit, whatever notebook I choose. Cheers, TomAnonymous
October 10, 2008
John, Love the PowerToy, but it seems to create the calendar in whatever section that OneNote was last opened to, rather than where I wanted it. I tried several times to be sure it wasn't a random click on my part.Anonymous
October 10, 2008
Check that. I created a new section in a personal notebook called Calendar. I navigated to that section in OneNote, and then closed OneNote. I then went back to the Calendar PowerToy and selected my new calendar section. Once again, it created the pages in the same section of one of my work notebooks that it had before. So it is NOT a question of whichever section I had opened last, as I had thought. On the positive side, it was very easy to select all the calendar pages and manually put them where I wanted them. Weird.Anonymous
October 10, 2008
Xedden, You can always use the little tool to make more space in OneNote. I might even prefer that, since it wouldn't automatically create blank space in spots I wouldn't be writing in. Just a thought. SharonAnonymous
October 10, 2008
OK, here's a patched version which puts the pages in the correct section. For what its worth, it worked fine with my test notebook. The key was having more than one notebook open - if you chose the second section from notebook 3, the pages were likely getting put in the second section of the last notebook you had open. Sigh - missed test case on my part. There is one ugly piece of UI to clean up here - the section ID is shown to the right of the name in the tree. It's harmless, ugly, and I need to clean it up. JohnAnonymous
October 10, 2008
Hi John, Just tried the patched version, several times, with ON both open and closed. It worked perfectly.Anonymous
October 10, 2008
Hello John, Great tool...thanks! But the source code zip file seems to be empty.Anonymous
October 10, 2008
Hi John, Calendar for OneNote now working fine. Cheers, TomAnonymous
October 10, 2008
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October 10, 2008
Great, the extra lines are very helpful.Anonymous
October 11, 2008
The lined version works great. Thanks!Anonymous
October 13, 2008
When I was creating the calendar page maker , I focused on the date picker control and the functionalityAnonymous
October 15, 2008
Wow. This is cool. The only thing I would love to see is the ability to create a page for a recurring meeting. Instead of a page per day, it would create a page for every Thursday, since that's the day we have our big team meetin' :)Anonymous
October 15, 2008
Sean, Done. I updated the powertoy and uploaded the new version. I can't update the image or the source code until Oct 16, so bear with me until I can upload the changes. It should be self explanatory, though. I tested for English, Spanish and Hindi (although most of the UI is not localized). Thanks for the idea, JohnAnonymous
October 16, 2008
Those of you who jumped on the calendar page maker the day I posted it quickly found a bug I had overlooked.Anonymous
October 17, 2008
Hi John, Very nice ON powertoy! It worked exactly as you indicated. I didn't read all the previous posts - just skimmed thru them. Are there any plans to add a "step" feature that could produce pages days of the week more than one week apart? In other words, this powertoy could provide another, I think very useful, feature to create blank agendas that occur on a regular basis, like on the 1st Thu of the month, every other Mon, the first Wed of every quarter, etc. (Kind of like the recurring patterns defined in OutLook.) Another useful feature would be to allow associating a template with the pages. For one of my meetings, I have an agenda template already created, but I have create each new meeting's page manually. Anyway, I hope this helps. I do like it! Thanks for taking the time to make something like this!Anonymous
December 01, 2008
As I was working on the Calendar Page Make r powertoy for OneNote, I hit a problem at one point withAnonymous
December 11, 2008
Once I made my change to my calendar/planner addin to get the columns to size correctly , I needed toAnonymous
December 13, 2008
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December 13, 2008
I'm not sure I understand what you are looking for. How hard would it be to make a sample page and send it (or a screenshot)? JohnAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi, I tried to install Calendar planning for OneNote (2007). The exe file is there, gets installed fine. My notebooks appear fine in the notebook field. But nowhere can I see the "Create a calendar" button. Could you help me please? Thanks NetnoloAnonymous
April 26, 2009
This powertoy does not have a button in OneNote - it runs from the start menu. JohnAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi John! Thanks for your quick answer. I did actually run it from the exe file contained in the zip download. Only after I went to see if there was any sign of it in One Note. Can it have anything to do with NET.Framework? I have just retried now, and I can clic on Create Calendar, but nothing happens. Hope it will eventually work, it looks great. NetnoloAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Yeeeeeeeeeeeees, it works. Thank you so much. I'll be able to use it for my work. NetnoloAnonymous
May 19, 2009
So I unzipped the exe to programsoffice in Windows 7, run the exe and get a message: Unhandled exception occurred in your application. If you click Continue etc etc... any suggestions? upshallg@hotmail.comAnonymous
May 22, 2009
Got it working: unclicked Add Agenda, now it works with or without OneNote 2007, { 12.0.6415.1000 SP2 MSO (12.6425.1000)} open; Using Windows7 build 7100. Thanks John!Anonymous
December 26, 2009
Looks great. Is there a way you can end up with a calendar/diary that doesn't have times in it, just one date per page and and an unlimited number of lines per page? No start time or end time for the day? ThanksAnonymous
December 26, 2009
Try unchecking the "Add Agenda" checkbox then creating the pages. Select all the pages (click the top page then SHIFT+click the bottom page) and click Format | Rule Lines | Narrow lines (or whatever you want). Does that work?Anonymous
December 26, 2009
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December 26, 2009
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January 11, 2010
I have a date and time mentioned on my notes, this defaults to when I create the calendar, is there a way to have this date set to what the title is?Anonymous
January 13, 2010
Not really sure what you mean - do you want the date/time listed below the title to be the page title? Or do you want to change the text for the date/time under the title to be something else?Anonymous
January 13, 2010
Sorry mate, poorly explained, my bad. The text I'm talking about is the page date and time which is below the title that your PowerToy creates, when I do the initial creation, that date/time is set to when it is done, therefore the page date doesn't reflect the date for the entry (but the title does) and I have to change it manually. I'd copy and paste a screen capture if I could :).Anonymous
January 13, 2010
Now I understand. No, the addin does not let you change that text - it shows the created time of the page. You already found the workaround which is to manually change the time stamp. It cannot be changed programmatically. Sorry.Anonymous
January 13, 2010
No worries, thanks anyway, 365 changes for my diary for this year, yay! Works well mate, much appreciated.Anonymous
June 30, 2010
This is just great, I have been looking for something like this for a long time. Is it possible to set the date format to date and day togather e.g. Thusrsday, 01 July 2010Anonymous
June 30, 2010
Yes, Padam, there is. In Control Panel | Regional Settings, click the Customize button on th Regional Options tab. then go to the Date options. At the bottom is the control to change the "Long Date Format" - change it to be dddd, dd MMMM yyyy Save changes and restart the Calendar Planner addin. It will use the new format you specified. Let me know how this works for you!Anonymous
July 31, 2010
Hi. I cannot get it to work. I wonder what is happening. I tried it first with 2010 then with 2007, but nothing happened. The sourcecode link doesnt work either. Please advice CheersAnonymous
August 04, 2010
I updated the link for the source code - thanks. What version of OneNote do you have? Can you copy the EXE file to your desktop, run it and then look at the log file (OneNoteCalendarMaker_error_log.txt) to see what errors are logged? Sorry for the problems.Anonymous
November 17, 2010
Have been looking for this functionality...worked just fine for me with ON 2007. Thanks a lot for doing this!Anonymous
January 03, 2011
I just downloaded it and it worked flawlessly on OneNote 2007. Thanks! I wonder if it'd be possible to have OneNote automatically jump to today's page when I open the Notebook? That way, the user don't have to roll down many pages to get to the current date.Anonymous
January 03, 2011
Another favor I'd like ask. In addition to the "Add Agenda", do you think you could include another option, "Add Tasks"? I'd like to generate a daily list of tasks, rather than the hourly list of agendas. Would you consider that? Also, it would be nice we can shorten the week day in the title to first three letters, "Mon", "Tue", etc. The title would look more tidy. Thanks.Anonymous
January 06, 2011
Hi John, It seems to be a gorgeus powertoy, unfortunantely I can't make it work. I'm from Brazil. Would it be a language problem? I use English Windows7 Home Premium 64bit; Portuguese (Pt-BR) Office 2010 Home and Student; dates in Portuguese (Brazil) standard: [dd/MM/yyyy] and [dddd, d' de 'MMMMdeyyyy]. When I click "Make Calendar", the bar appears at the left bottom corner, but the green sign doesn't run (it is supposed to be there, isn't it?). The onenote does open, but no calendar appears. No error log is created. The problem persists even if I change the date to US standard. Thank you, sorry about my English.Anonymous
January 06, 2011
You should get the updated version for OneNote 2010 at blogs.msdn.com/.../calendar-planner-addin-updated.aspx This version will only work with sections in 2007 format.Anonymous
March 10, 2011
I am trying this code under VS2010, using OneNote 2010 but it doesn't seem to be do anything when i click the button... any ideas? I'd really like to use this on 2010...Anonymous
July 31, 2011
Hi John, I have a short question. Is it possible to use templetes? I always get empty pages... it would be very helpful if this works. Thanks.Anonymous
July 31, 2011
Apply the template first, then use this toy. I just add the data the the page.Anonymous
March 16, 2012
When I click the "Make Calendar" button, a new blank button shows up under the window for identifying the notebook for inserting the calendar and a blank page is created. That's it. Is this powertoy incompatible with my OS (XP service pack 3)?Anonymous
March 19, 2012
Greg - yes, it works with XP. Can you look at the log file that gets created in the same folder you used to launch the executable? What are the contents of that file?Anonymous
March 20, 2012
Thanks for answering, John. The log file (OneNoteCalendarMaker_error_log.txt) is blank.Anonymous
March 21, 2012
What version of OneNote do you have? And if you click File | Help, do you see the phrase "Click to Run" anywhere over on the right?Anonymous
March 27, 2012
John, I have OneNote 2010 version 14.0.6112.5000 (32-bit). In File | Help in OneNote, "Click to Run" does not appear anywhere.Anonymous
March 28, 2012
The only other thing I can think is that the section or notebook is in OneNote 2007 format. Is that the case? You can right click the notebook and select Properties to check. This is a pretty simply utility and I'm pretty stumped as to why it does not work. Are you an administrator on the machine?Anonymous
April 30, 2012
PLEASE, can we adapt this power-toy to create a calendar by MONTH, not just by day?!?Anonymous
July 02, 2013
I am trying to use this power-toy and am getting the same issue as Greg above OneNote 2010 When I click the "Make Calendar" button, a new blank button shows up windows 7 Notebook is in 2010 format no entries in the log fileAnonymous
July 02, 2013
Can you try right clicking the file and selecting "Run as administrator?" Also, a detect/repair reinstall of OneNote might fix a COM registration error. Just shooting in the dark since the log file is not logging any errors. Sorry for the problems.Anonymous
August 27, 2014
Trying to get this to work with office 365 but all it does is create an untitled page in the section I wanted the calendars. I had it perfectly with 2010 but now it has stopped. Can you help me? As far as I know I have the prog.net installed correctly..Anonymous
September 04, 2014
This tool only works with OneNote 2010...Anonymous
September 04, 2014
And I should mention Onetastic, which works with OneNote 2013 and has a calendar macro to make this style of page: www.omeratay.com/onetastic www.omeratay.com/onetastic& Give it a shot!Anonymous
October 10, 2014
Argh - I've been working with your calendar for two years now...