Today Click to see a larger image

If you use iCal to keep track of your Events and Tasks, you might find yourself opening and closing iCal several times a day, or else leaving it open all the time. In this tip of Cool Tools, I show three tools you can use to quickly access your upcoming Events and Tasks without opening iCal.

Today

Today is a flexible list of your Events and Tasks for the current day with several preferences you can set to modify its behavior. You can set it to be visible all the time and float on top of all open window. Clicking on the Event in Today opens it up in iCal so you can see the full details. This works best with a larger screen where you can drag Today off to the side to keep it out of the way. You can also set Today to show tomorrow's Events as well. You can create new Events and Tasks directly from Today without opening iCal and you can set keyboard shortcuts for showing Today and creating Events and Tasks. Because Today only shows Events from the current day (and optionally tomorrow), it is best for people who have many Events to keep track of each day.

Today costs $22US and is available here.

MenuCalendarClock iCal

MenuCalendarClock Click to see a larger image

MenuCalendarClock is a small month view calendar that drops down from the Menu Bar. Days with Events are highlighted in light blue. Clicking a day on the calendar shows the Events and Tasks for that day. Clicking the name of the Event will open the Event in iCal. You can create Events and Task without opening iCal. Simple and to the point, MenuCalendarClock is best for people who don't have many Events on their calendar.

MenuCalendarClock costs $20US and is available here.

iCal Events

iCal Events Click to see a larger image

iCal Events is a Dashboard Widget. It presents a scrolling list of upcoming Events (no Tasks, but there are plenty of other Dashboard Widgets for Tasks). As with the others, clicking the Event name opens the Event in iCal. You cannot create new Events from the Widget or set shortcut keys. Even with these limitations, iCal Events is my personal favorite because it has an attractive, easy to read presentation and can be viewed with a quick tap of the F4 key (to activate the Dashboard). It is best for people who have a medium number of Events per day and month. Plus, it is free.

iCal Events is free and can be found here.

Related Items: iCal | Cool Tools.