SharePoint 2010 Color Calendars / Launch Event

It is safe to say that I am looking forward to the potential that SharePoint and Office 2010 will bring to the workplace. I attended the Launch event for Office and SharePoint last week and was impressed with the new functionality that was introduced. At a glance, it seems like Office is a brand new software suite from the ground up and SharePoint has a totally different look and approach. If you have not viewed the launch event video yet, it is well worth your time if you have an interest.

SharePoint Launch Event Video

I have been fortunate enough to spend some time on the new SharePoint release. Like many others I assume, I have been spending time trying to figure out how to migrate over all of the SharePoint customizations I have comes to rely on. I am speaking of mainly Jquery and CSS customizations using a CEWP. One of the customizations that has made SharePoint much better for me is color calendars. When you have a calendar full of events, color coding each event helps a lot. I have been using a solution created by Christophe from http://blog.pathtosharepoint.com/. This functionality allowed me to create an employee absence calendar (with many absences) and color code them by what type of absence it was.

After working with SharePoint 2010 calendars, I discovered that the color feature comes packed with 2010 out of the box. The feature doesn’t directly work as it should, but the end result is pretty similar to Christophe’s solution without any code needed.

I will briefly describe how to make this work on SharePoint 2010. The first obvious thing you need to do is to create a new calendar. When you create the calendar, you can notice that a “Category” column is created by default which is a choice column. The first alteration I made to the default calendar was to change the “Category” column options.

The next step for me was to create 3 custom views that display only one of the available choices of the “Category” column. So I created 3 views named PTO, Training / Conference, and Sales Visit. For each of the views that were created, I had to add a filter to each so that only one specific absence type would be displayed on the view.

After this was complete, I made the PTO view the default view of the calendar. I did this so that the colors would display correctly on the calendar. If you keep the default view as “All Events” then your calendar will have an additional color that will not be represented on the calendar.

The next step was to add additional views to the PTO calendar view. Adding additional calendar views to the same calendar is a new feature for 2010. When doing this, you can also assign unique colors to each view that you add (another new feature). 

To do this, you will have to click on the “Calendars in View” link found on the left hand side of the menu. You will then have to add the other two views to the PTO calendar view. To do this, you need to enter the web URL of the site that your calendar is hosted on and then when you click on the “Resolve” button it will populate the available calendars and views for you to add. Add the views, pick your favorite colors and then you have it.

An Introduction

Hello all, and welcome to the Tech Trends. My name is Jamen Elbert and I am the thoughts and keystrokes behind this blog. I guess it would be appropriate to give you a little background about who I am and what my interests are to set the underlying theme of this site. Computer and mobile technology have been a part of my life now for 7 years since I started as a freshman in college at Purdue University as a Computer Information Technology major. I now make my living working for an engineering department that is in the business of motor repair and industrial solutions. I myself know very little about engineering or large motors, but they employ me to come up with the computer solutions they need to run business more efficiently. I’m sure as these blog posts roll on, you may come to know a little more of exactly what my job entails.

As far as what piques my interest; sports, music, movies, computers, mobile devices, cars, and a few flavors of social networking are a good group of topics that may be blog worthy. I have a whole host of laptops and desktops that I use interchangeably to perform my favorite computing tasks. I am never usually on the cutting edge of computing technology because I am not a computer gamer of any sort. I pocket an iPhone with me wherever I go to stay connected to everything I need. Because where I come from, you can’t find a Wi-Fi hotspot on every block. When I am on the Internet, I am a constant visitor of Yahoo, CNET, Mint, and many different Google services (And yes I am aware that Facebook and Twitter are missing from this list, hah).

I have never really had any aspirations to become a blogger or a writer of any sort. However, with the always frequent search for technological knowledge in this field, and the power of Google, I have formed quite a personal relationship with the intertwined network of blog posts out on the web. By becoming a dedicated blog follower of many talented individuals in the tech world, I have expanded my personal knowledge, and remained current as to how new technology will be changing our digital landscape. It has also helped me think outside the box, because sometimes it’s hard not to become blindly loyal to a piece of technology that will inevitably fade in its functionality and relevance.

Throughout my studies and professional career, I have become the go-to-guy when it comes to a computer question. I also play the role of an informed reference for all of the new gadget’s that come to market. These roles may be all too familiar for some of the readers out there. That is where this blog site comes in. Because of my appreciation for the use-case narratives from many of the tech bloggers out there, and to continue to inform my family, friends, and co-workers about the newest blue blinking widgets and how they work, I am writing this blog. So I am going to give this thing a whirl with no set structure, and with one goal in mind. Staying up to date with THE TECH TRENDS!

Thanks for reading!