Use Thunderbird, Lightning, Remember the milk, Twitter and Google Calendar to organize tasks and calendars. Part 1.

Hopefully, I will post more than before since today. The content of the bogs will concentrate on how to use freeware/open source software as alternatives of shareware/commercial software. Today I will try to introduce Thunderbird, a free email client from Mozilla, and how to organize tasks and calendars in it, synthesis with Google Calendar and mobile phones.

1. Install Thunderbird, Lightning and Provider for Google Calendar

First, you need to install Thunderbird. There are a lot of instructions out there so I do not want to talk about it here again. Then, download Lightning and Provider for Google Calendar. Install these Add-ons into Thunderbird through Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions -> Install..., choose the files you just downloaded and install them.
After restart Thunderbird, you should see three buttons on the left bottom corner.

Click the Calendar button will show the calendars you have.

2. Synchronize with Google Calendar

In your Google Calendar, click the arrow on the right side of calendar, select Calendar Settings.

Right click on the ICal button next to Private Address. Select copy link location.

Now go back to Thunderbird, right click in Calendar box, select New Calendar...

Select On the Network, click Next.

Select iCalendar (ICS), paste the calendar address just copied from Google Calendar to the Location box. Click Next.

Type a name for this calendar and also you can change the Color. Click Next then Click Finish. Your calendar is ready now.

If you have more than one Google Calendar, you can repeat the above steps to add them all in the Thunderbird. These calendars are two-way synchronized. Any change in the Google Calendar and Thunderbird will show in both sides.

Double click on the date will open the New Event dialogue, keep an eye on the Calendar name to make sure you are working on the right calendar. Click Save and Close to create the event.

Next blog will talk about using Remember the Milk, Twitter and mobile phone to create, organize and synchronize tasks.


 使用Thunderbird, Lightning, Remember the milk，Twitter和Google Calendar管理与同步日历与任务 (1)

从今天开始，我将争取增加Blog的频率，并将重点放在如何使用免费和开源软件替代商业软件上。

本文将介绍如何使用Thunderbird，Lightning，Remember the Milk，Twitter和Google Calendar来同步日历和任务，提高工作效率。

1. 安装Thunderbird, Lightning和Provider for Google Calendar

从网上下载Thunderbird, Lightning和Provider for Google Calendar。首先安装Thunderbird，网上有很多教程，这里就不赘述了。愿意的话，也可以安装绿色版。然后在Thunderbird里安装Lightning和Provider for Google Calendar这两个附加组件。

重新启动Thunderbird之后，点击左下角的Calendar（日历）按钮，就会显示日历。

2. 与Google Calendar同步

在浏览器里登录Google Calendar，点击日历名称后面的箭头，选择“日历设置”。

在私有地址那栏里右键单击ICAL按钮，选择“复制链接地址” 。然后回到Thunderbird，在左下方的日历栏的空白处右键单击，选择“新建日历”。然后在对话框中选择“远程（网络）日历”，在下一步选择“iCalendar”，并将刚刚复制的Google Calendar的地址粘贴到地址栏中。下一步命名这个日历，可以更改颜色，选择“下一步” ，然后选择“结束”。

现在你的Google Calendar应该显示在日历中了。如果你有多个Google Calendar，你可以依次添加他们。这些日历是和Google Calendar双向同步的。

单击日期就可以新建日程。注意选择正确的日历名称。单击“保存并关闭”就可以创建新的日程了。

下一篇将介绍使用Remember the Milk，Twitter和Lightning来创建和管理任务。