Today displays data from your Datebook and ToDo databases in a convenient, customizable fashion. There are three tabs in the main view, one for today, one for tomorrow, and one for the week. Below the listing of appointments and ToDo items, today's date and the current time are displayed. The today tab shows all items for today, as well as displaying past due ToDo items. Turning off the display of past due items is not an option (you'll have to come up with a new excuse for not getting things done). Tomorrow's tab shows only items scheduled for tomorrow. The week tab shows all appointments and To Do items for the coming weeks, as well as past due To Dos.
Each line of the display shows one item (descriptions are truncated to fit on one line) along with related information about the item. Much of this information is customizable via preferences. There are some conventions about the display, which are explained below:
The first column is the time/date column. This column always contains information about the time an item is scheduled for. The week tab shows the date associated with the item. The today and tomorrow tabs show the start time for each Datebook appointment. An "!" indicates that the item is past due. Items due Today will be marked with "Due" (or a "!" in week view). A "-" indicates that the item has no due date. A "╫" indicates that the item has no scheduled time.
The second column displays a one-line description of the item. Today will truncate descriptions to one line for display purposes; these items will have an ellipsis ("..."). This column may also contain the first few letters of the category name for ToDo items.
The next column displays the priority of ToDo items, if designated in the Preferences.
The next column displays a "T" or "D" to indicate whether the item is a Date Book appointment or a ToDo item. A checkbox will appear to the right of the "T" if the item is a completed ToDo item.
The three icons at the top right of the main screen are quick and easy ways to toggle three of the preferences. The checkbox is a toggle switch for the Show Completed Items preference. If you tap this button it will switch between showing and not showing completed ToDo items. The exclamation point is a toggle switch for the Show Only Due items. If you tap this button, it will switch between showing and not showing undated ToDo items. The folder icon is a switch for the Show Categories preference. This button toggles between showing and not showing the ToDo items' categories in the list.
The scroll arrows on the bottom right corner of the screen scroll one line at a time. The hard scroll buttons scroll one page at a time. Tapping the tab of the view you are in will scroll to the top of the view.
2. General Preferences
The first preference is "Wake Up With Today." This option will launch Today each morning and allow you to check your schedule every day, so that you will never forget to look at your plans for the day. A nice friendly graphic and the option of looking at the application (Yes) or to continue with the current application (No) will appear each morning.
The second preference is a setting to determine which tab to show upon launching Today. You may choose "Today," "Tomorrow," "Week," or "Last Tab Accessed." If you choose "Last Tab Accessed," Today will display the tab which was selected when the application was last exited.
The third set of preferences are related to the ToDo items as follows:
Show Completed Items- Toggles the display of completed (checked) ToDo items.
Show Only Due Items- Toggles the display of undated ToDo items.
Show Priorities- Toggles the display of ToDo item priorities.
Show Categories- Toggles the display of the category name of ToDo items.
Weeks:
Controls the number of weeks of items loaded and displayed in the Week tab. You may choose to use up to five weeks of dated items with Today.
3. Sort Preferences
Today's sorting preferences allow you to customize the arrangement and sorting of your scheduled items in any of six different combinations.
Sort By: This choice controls the way in which items are sorted, either by Priority then due date or the other way around.
Database Order: This controls which items will appear first. The way this affects the sort order depends on the option selected in "Sort By."
Sort Undated Todos: This controls where undated ToDo items appear. They will either be at the top or the bottom of the listing. This option is not available in sort by priority mode, because the ToDo items will be sorted based on their priority. The undated items will appear at the bottom of the list of ToDo items of the same Priority.
4. ToDo categories
Today can show any of the ToDo categories that you choose. You can have Today load any combination of categories from the ToDo database. Choose "ToDo Categories..." from the options menu to select these categories. You will be presented with a list of checkboxes, one for each of your ToDo categories. Simply choose the categories you wish to load by checking them. Uncheck the categories that you do not want to load. The "All" checkbox will check or uncheck all of the categories' checkboxes.
Please note that the selection of ToDo Categories changes which categories are LOADED, not just displayed. Loading categories with a large number of ToDo items (more than 100) will result in a longer launch time for the Today application. Today will launch in approximately 1-2 seconds under normal conditions. If you are experiencing a longer delay, try unchecking categories with large amounts of records in the ToDo categories display.
Today assumes that you have selected all of the categories you would like to see. This means that if you add a new category in ToDo and do not have "All" selected in the ToDo categories, you will need to select this category manually from within Today before it appears in the Today screen.
4. Conclusion
That's all for Today. If you have any questions about Today or any other Synergy Solutions products, please send email to info@synsolutions.com. To report bugs send email to bugs@synsolutions.com. To get help email support@synsolutions.com.
