Color coding the calendar items

Jorge

Can we have the calendar items be color coded based on the color coding of the first tag associated to the item?

Looking at the calendar all blue doesn’t help much, but if the calendar events could use the same color coding of the tags (and just he first one, because it would be impossible to tell when an event has more than one tag), but this way at least we would know that the first tag is the main driver for the event.

ahp

Jorge Can we have the calendar items be color coded based on the color coding of the first tag associated to the item?

I use color coding in my gCal - orange for calls, green for travel, etc. And, I use an appscript to automate the process based on key attributes of a calendar event (i.e., is subject includes “Call”, color orange, if the description includes “Flight” or “Travel” or “AA” or “UA” color green)

You could code the same logic with your tag descriptors and at least get the colors to automatically show up in gCal.

Here’s the reference article I used when I started: https://rickpastoor.com/2019/05/30/google-calendar-color-coder.html

SteveZ

Jorge I second this motion!

Jerud

Jorge can you clarify how you’re thinking the color would actually be set?

For example: No tags = blue; #tag = text color of #tags; +tag = text color of +tags
Or do you mean that we would assign colors to tags in some kind of tag manager? So #tag1 = red, #tag2 = orange, etc.

If it’s the former, then…okay, but it needs to be optional because the only thing worse than lacking color IDs is having color IDs that don’t make sense in my system.

If it’s the second, then…the idea needs more fleshing out. Would we set colors by explicit tag? #Tags can be created on the fly by just typing them, how would that be handled, a default color? What about applying a color based on “sub-tags” e.g. “all #tags that being with status get color=red”? So #status:urgent and #status:hold would both get colored red.

This whole concept could be generalized to a (much more ambitious) Autoformatting feature (best suited for Pro) where Legend takes actions (text formatting, calendar color, auto-add prefix, etc.) to items that match a regex expression. That could get crazy powerful, real fast.

LauraH

Oohh, I like this.
I’ve often wanted to see my calendar with colors other than just the blue.

Jerud

Different -color calendars has been on my list for years, but implemented another way: we could create more than one “local” calendar (each with a name/color). But with mirrors in the mix now, the question of choosing a “default” gets very hard. One option is to always have the same default, but I don’t like that — When I did use multiple (goal) calendars, I was constantly having events in the wrong one (the default) by accident.

My choice of calendar is fully independent of my tag-system so doing it by tag doesn’t appeal to me.

My suggestion is to set a global default calendar and then have a per-pane override to the default. But that is exactly where the request goes off the rails, since adding more pane config options seems unlikely. This could instead work at the board level. But we don’t currently have settings at that resolution at all, so that’s also a difficult request.

SteveZ

Jerud I suggested a little earlier today to add additional stars for highlighting items in different colors. Perhaps these could be the colors used in the calendar as well. Just a thought.

Jorge

Jerud Jorge can you clarify how you’re thinking the color would actually be set?

Sure @Jerud . The existing functionality that @Jay just implemented to format the color of tags would be sufficient. What I am suggesting is simply to use the same color tag found in Display Options and simply apply them to the calendar entries. That way you would have consistency in the meaning of colors throughout our outline.

Jerud Or do you mean that we would assign colors to tags in some kind of tag manager? So #tag1 = red, #tag2 = orange, etc.

Yes this is what I suggested, but as I said the tag manager that sets the colors is already implemented in Display Settings.

Jerud Would we set colors by explicit tag?

The exact mechanism that is implemented today in the Display Settings is sufficient for me. It allows you to define color scheme by prefix in the tags. That way you could set color green for all your _#finance.xx_x prefixes and color red for all your #problem.xxx prefixes. As you can see in my example above all my tags that have prefix #cat (for category) are purple, however the #catproblem prefixes are red and the #cathigh prefixes are yellow.

Jerud #Tags can be created on the fly by just typing them, how would that be handled, a default color?

Yes a default color is the solution that is already implemented. Any new tag would be created under the default color for tags already implemented.

Jerud What about applying a color based on “sub-tags” e.g. “all #tags that being with status get color=red”? So #status:urgent and #status:hold would both get colored red.

This is already working as you described, and I am already using in my definition of tag colors. So if Jay only implements those same colors in the immersed calendar and in the integrations to external calendars (now google; in the future microsoft etc..) that would be a simple thing to do, and sufficient for me to be very happy because it complies with all your requirements as well.

Jerud

Jorge I must have lost track of the Beta Updates thread. I had no idea Jay had pushed out the Tag Colors update. So I suppose my last response must have sounded pretty dumb in that context 😅 The new tag-colors feature appears at first glance to be a tidy solution and I look forward to implementing it, which should be quick, given my existing tag structure.

Based on the above, and what you’ve described, I agree that a similar approach to applying calendar colors could work. However the way that tag-colors are driven by the text of the tags would not work for what I want, which is to differentiate the tasks in calendar Panes by “where they are”, not “what they are”. Tasks in my “work” document/node may have similar or even identical text to Tasks in my “personal” document/node, only being differentiated by their location. So that method of coloring calendars would be of no use to me. I’m not going to name every item in my Work node with some unique ‘prefix’ just to get it colored right.

Maybe this could be connected with prefixes somehow? So that only the text of Headings or Projects are evaluated to set a calendar color, and all their children get that same color when scheduled?

Mirrors make this harder, since a single item could be in locations with contradicting colors.

mqzur

Up. One (actually, two, if we count disabled states too) color is not enough for a calendar. There should be an option to choose a color for every entry. I should be able to make a distinction between tasks without having to read them.
Now, it’s impossible.
I would also add something like time blocking (with background colors) to make it easier for users to set the right time.