How To Create Calendars on Fruux

Vagn Scott

2014-12-31

Technology Department

Suffield Academy

What is fruux?

Quoting directly from the site:
[Fruux will] keep your contacts, calendars and tasks in sync across all the devices you set up with fruux.

Pretty much the same thing as iCloud in keeping your contacts, calendars and tasks in sync across all your devices but with fruux, we offer more. You can share your calendars publically to anyone via the web

Also, unlike iCloud, which is limited exclusively to Apple's own devices, we support pretty much every single device. So, no matter how old your mobile phone is or whatever operating system you're using, chances are that fruux will work on it, problem-free of course :)

Why Change?

The Suffield Academy Master calendar is currently hosted on a server where
  • the application is out of date
  • the hardware is no longer supported by the vendor
  • it is time to retire the server
  • documentation could be better
Rather than host our own calendar server we can use the free fruux provided calendaring service. (There are other such services, but this one seems nice.)

Scope

This document will talk about
  • for the calendar owner
    • creating a fruux account
    • creating a calendar
    • publishing the calendar
    • updating (syncing) the calendar
  • for the calendar user
    • subscribing to the calendar
Departments and individuals can use the service to set up their own calendars.

Limits of the Free Service

The Basic Plan is free of charge.

You are allowed:

  • two shares
  • two devices (your laptop and phone, for example)

Creating an Account

To create an account, go to the registration page:
https://fruux.com/account/register/
Mine looked something like this when I filled it out:
create account

Here's a closeup:
create account detail

Fill out the form and hit the green 'Create my account!' button.

You will be sent an email that you need to respond to in order to activate your account.

Login

Once you have an active account you can login. Navigate to
https://fruux.com/account/login/

and fill out the login dialog:
login screen

Click 'Login'.

Dashboard

After logging in to fruux you will be at the 'dashboard'.

Calendars

On the 'Calendars' tab you can see your calendars. You will have a default calendar. I was playing around and renamed mine to Master and made it Orange. I should probably change that since Gina owns the Master calendar (and maybe the color orange.)

Delete a Calendar

From the calendar tab, choose the 'gears' next to the name of the calendar to delete.

On the next screen select 'Delete calendar'

Check the "Ok, I know what I am doing!" checkbox and then click on "Delete".

Create a Calendar

Select "+ New Calendar" in the lower left corner.

Give your new calendar a name, description, and choose a color. Then click on "Save".

Publish a Calendar

On the calendar tab, click on the 'gears' next to the calendar name.

On the next screen, click on the "Publish calendar" link.

Sync a Device to Calendar

Select the 'Sync' tab. On the 'Sync' tab select "+ Sync with a new device".

On the "Setup syncing" screen choose your device. This example will be based on syncing a macbook running 'Mavericks.' Click on the appropriate area:

Follow the instructions to setup your device.

No to contacts.
Yes to calendar sync.

ADVICE: You will need to note your username and password. Your password is not recoverable if you lose it.


Importing a Calendar

CLick on the 'Import' button at the bottom of the 'Calendar" tab

On the 'Import calendar data' screen select the calendar to import to. Browse to a .ics file on your computer, and then click 'Import'.

The import does not happen immediately. You will see something like the following at the top of the 'Calendars' tab.

The import will typically complete in a few minutes. Then you will get an email!

Check that Calendar Updates

  • You can add events using your client software.
  • Note the 'refresh calendars' menu item that you probably have.
  • Your calendar should update with new events or changes after a while.
  • Be patient. Updates can take two or three refresh cycles.
  • Be patient. Repeated imports, or repeated creation of events will just create duplicate events on the calendar when it finally syncs everything.
  • Be patient. But, if it is not there the next day, then it didn't happen.

Calendar on the Web

The easiest way to find the URL for your calendar is to click the 'gear' icon next to the calendar name on the calendars tab.

Then select the 'Open' button in the lower right corner:


Bookmark your calendar in your browser for easy reference. Note the URL. You can cut/paste that URL into an email or other notification message (such as your blog.).

If the URL is too long for your taste you can use shortening services like google's https://goo.gl/

Subscribe to a Calendar

When a person has found the web page for your calendar they can subscribe using the menu at the lower right of the page:

That's It

Go schedule something!