Calendar symbols

A checkmark beside a calendar or calendar group means any events on the calendar are showing in the main calendar view. (To hide the events, deselect the calendar's checkbox.)

A curved arrow represents a calendar that you've subscribed to. You can't make changes to subscribed calendars. An exclamation point on the subscribe icon means the calendar had problems updating, and you should check your Internet connection.

A broadcast icon means the calendar is being published on the Internet so that other people can subscribe to it using iCal. An exclamation point on the broadcast icon means the calendar had problems updating, and you should check your Internet connection.

A birthday cake icon represents a calendar that is automatically created from the birthday information stored in your Address Book. You can't make changes directly to this calendar.

Event symbols

The symbols that you see in the title bar of an event, in the Info drawer, or on a message in the Notifications box provide additional information about an event.

A series of small boxes in the title bar of an event means it's a recurring event (it occurs more than once).

An alarm in the title bar of an event means the event has an alarm associated with it.

A notepad in the title bar of an event means comments about this event have been added to the Notes field (in the Info drawer).

A people icon in the title bar of an event means you've added an attendee to the attendees list for this event (in the event's Info drawer), but you have not yet sent the event invitation (by clicking Send at the bottom of the Info drawer). Once you send the invitation, or when people reply to your invitation, you see an additional symbol next to the people icon. For more information, see the symbols below.

A diagonal upward arrow means "sent."

A diagonal upward arrow appears in the attendees list in the Info drawer next to people who have been invited to an event but have not yet responded. A diagonal upward arrow also appears next to the people icon in the title bar of an event when invitations to the event have been sent, but none of the invitees have replied yet.

A diagonal downward arrow means "received."

A diagonal downward arrow next to an item in the Notifications box represents an incoming message--either a response to an event invitation you've sent, or a new or updated invitation sent by someone else. A diagonal downward arrow also appears in the title bar of events you've been invited to.

An "x" means "declined."

An "x" appears in the attendees list in the Info drawer next to people who have declined your invitation. An "x" also appears next to the people icon in the title bar of an event when all invited guests have declined your event invitation.

A checkmark means "accepted."

A checkmark appears in the attendees list in the Info drawer next to people who have accepted your invitation. A checkmark also appears next to the people icon in the title bar of an event when all the invited guests have accepted the event invitation. If you've accepted an event invitation, a checkmark appears in the title bar of the event and by "my status" in the Info drawer.

A question mark means "tentative."

A question mark appears in the attendees list in the Info drawer next to people who have replied to your invitation as "tentative." A question mark also appears next to the people icon in the title bar of an event means all the invited guests are tentative. If you've replied as "tentative" to an event invitation, a question mark appears in the title bar of the event and by "my status" in the Info drawer.

An ellipsis means "mixed responses."

An ellipsis next to the people icon in the title bar of an event means there are mixed responses to your event invitation (responses include "accepted," "declined," or "tentative").

An exclamation point means "needs updating."

An exclamation point next to the people icon in the title bar of an event means you've made changes to this event but have not notified the attendees of the changes (to notify the attendees, click the Send button in the event's Info drawer).

If you haven't yet replied to an updated event notification (by selecting the notification and clicking Reply at the bottom of the Info drawer), an exclamation point also appears next to the updated event message in the Notifications box.

A circle with a line through it means "cancelled."

A circle with a line through it appears on cancelled event messages in the Notifications box and in the title bar of cancelled events. (When you acknowledge the cancelled event by selecting the notification and clicking OK in the Info drawer, the cancelled event and notification disappear.)

To Do item symbols

A checkmark beside a To Do item indicates it's completed (you set whether it's completed in the Info drawer).

One, two, or three bars beside a To Do item indicate whether the item has been marked as not important, important, or very important (you set the priority in the Info drawer).

An alert symbol beside a To Do item indicates it's past the due date set in this item's Info drawer.

Main iCal window symbols

In Month view, three dots (an ellipsis) at the top of the day indicates there are more events on that day than can be shown. To see all the events in Day view, double-click the ellipsis.