Ward Calendar and organizations

I was tasked to keep a Branch Calendar of all activities going on for the Branch including all of the other organizations activities also. How have you been able to keep track of all activities in one main branch calendar? We thought about using Google Calendar and then merging all the other organizations into one main calendar. We tried looking at Lds tools calendar but it doesn’t seem to work as well. We want to include activities such as Youth Firesides, Branch potlucks, Temple trips, stake events, etc. all in one calendar for all Branch and organization activities.

I'd use the one that's on churchofjesuschrist.org. It links to Member Tools and provides a link URL for members of the branch. It's access is based on membership in the branch.

The stake should be recording their events on their calendar and the members would subscribe to the appropriate stake calendars as well.

Also you can create calendars for each organization as needed and give their presidency rights to that calendar and they can add their own events, that way you don't have to try and keep up with all of the things going on in all the organizations.

Not to mention, the Church calendar helps manage locations, too, preventing double-booking.

What are the limitations you're seeing in the Church calendar (in Member Tools and at ChurchofJesusChrist.org)? Is it the UI that's not as intuitive/easy to use, or are there specific features you're looking for that it doesn't have?

sbradshaw wrote:Not to mention, the Church calendar helps manage locations, too, preventing double-booking.

Which is really important if you're having to coordinate building use with another unit.

russellhltn wrote:

sbradshaw wrote:Not to mention, the Church calendar helps manage locations, too, preventing double-booking.

Which is really important if you're having to coordinate building use with another unit.

How do you enter a calendar event on the lds tools app? I tried but didn’t see an option in the app or can this only be done on a desktop PC? Is there a calendar view of the calendar on the lds tools app?

cchang wrote:How do you enter a calendar event on the lds tools app? I tried but didn’t see an option in the app or can this only be done on a desktop PC? Is there a calendar view of the calendar on the lds tools app?

I don't see any way of doing it via Member Tools. But the calendar on churchofjesuschrist.org will adapt to whatever size screen you have.

russellhltn wrote:

cchang wrote:How do you enter a calendar event on the lds tools app? I tried but didn’t see an option in the app or can this only be done on a desktop PC? Is there a calendar view of the calendar on the lds tools app?

I don't see any way of doing it via Member Tools. But the calendar on churchofjesuschrist.org will adapt to whatever size screen you have.

I've decided on the path to using LDS Tools calendar instead of Google Calendar since Google Calendar there wasn't an easy way to merge all calendars into one and then share that one only with all the other merged calendars. Plus it saves us time in entering stake and churchwide events.

When I set the 'Add Email Reminder' in the LDS Tools Calendar event, how do I specify who to send it to instead of just me or the event creator? I was hoping to send out a daily or weekly notification of all events happening for that day or week. I believe Google Calendar has this setting but it's only to the account holder. I'm trying to send email notifications to members when events come up.

cchang wrote:When I set the 'Add Email Reminder' in the LDS Tools Calendar event, how do I specify who to send it to instead of just me or the event creator?

You don't control who it gets sent to. It gets sent to those who have subscribed to that specific calendar and have requested reminders. So it's in the hands of the users.

eblood66 wrote:

cchang wrote:When I set the 'Add Email Reminder' in the LDS Tools Calendar event, how do I specify who to send it to instead of just me or the event creator?

You don't control who it gets sent to. It gets sent to those who have subscribed to that specific calendar and have requested reminders. So it's in the hands of the users.

Makes sense so that we don't "spam" everyone's email inbox. The other thing I was hoping to do was to able to create/add events on the mobile lds tools apps and not have to log into LCR each time.

Hello Amazing Techies

So it appears that I can NOT add calendar events in member tools to the calendar. Is that an accurate statement or am I missing something?

Also not all 'calendars or subscriptions' are syncing from our .com calendar to member tools. Is there a way to edit or add or sync calendars/subscriptions to both platforms? I have some events that are not showing up on both platforms, even when ALL calendars are selected to view.

Cane we delete some calendars or subscriptions that may be duplicated?

Lastly it also appears that I can only add events to calendars that directly relate to my calling. This creates other challenges, based on which calendars that different members and leaders will have selected to view, along with challenges that pop up if we have more than one building in close proximity to our events.

Thanks!!!!

calvinegbert wrote:So it appears that I can NOT add calendar events in member tools to the calendar.

As far as I know, that is correct.

calvinegbert wrote:Also not all 'calendars or subscriptions' are syncing from our .com calendar to member tools. Is there a way to edit or add or sync calendars/subscriptions to both platforms? I have some events that are not showing up on both platforms, even when ALL calendars are selected to view.

• Make sure you've selected all the calendars online.
• Allow time for the sync to take place. In the case of Android, that can take a day or so.
• Make sure you have all calendars selected in Member Tools

Even with all that, you can't sync events found on the Location calendar. Typically, that means you can't see events in Member Tools that are put on by other wards or stake - just your own. Those events can only be seen online.

Of course, if leaders don't add their events to the calendar, there will be nothing to see. And you won't see events by other wards and stakes unless you can see the location calendar of the place they're being held (but only in the online calendar.)

calvinegbert wrote:Cane we delete some calendars or subscriptions that may be duplicated?

Only a calendar administrator can delete a calendar. (That would typically be a member of the bishopric/clerks for a ward calendar or stake presidency/clerks for a stake calendar)
You can always turn off the display or sync for a calendar you're not interested in.

calvinegbert wrote:Lastly it also appears that I can only add events to calendars that directly relate to my calling.

As to be expected. Only a calendar administrator has broad powers across all calendars for a unit.

calvinegbert wrote:This creates other challenges, based on which calendars that different members and leaders will have selected to view, along with challenges that pop up if we have more than one building in close proximity to our events.

The users are in complete control of what they see or don't see.

The system can work with most building situations, so I'm not sure what kind of issue you're seeing there. An admin may need to review the names of the buildings to make sure the names are clear to thee members.

russellhltn wrote:

calvinegbert wrote:So it appears that I can NOT add calendar events in member tools to the calendar.

As far as I know, that is correct.

calvinegbert wrote:Also not all 'calendars or subscriptions' are syncing from our .com calendar to member tools. Is there a way to edit or add or sync calendars/subscriptions to both platforms? I have some events that are not showing up on both platforms, even when ALL calendars are selected to view.

• Make sure you've selected all the calendars online.
• Allow time for the sync to take place. In the case of Android, that can take a day or so.
• Make sure you have all calendars selected in Member Tools

Even with all that, you can't sync events found on the Location calendar. Typically, that means you can't see events in Member Tools that are put on by other wards or stake - just your own. Those events can only be seen online.

Of course, if leaders don't add their events to the calendar, there will be nothing to see. And you won't see events by other wards and stakes unless you can see the location calendar of the place they're being held (but only in the online calendar.)

Does it usually take a day for the website calendar to sync with lds tool's calendar? I've tried syncing it on lds tools and have not seen the events show up. I see that all the events are from the Branch's calendar so I would have expected to see them. What I'd like to see is for the sync to auto sync each time we log in and not take over a day to sync between calendars. I've had members say that their lds tools isn't updated and I tell them to sync and it then is updated. Just seems more work to manually sync each time.

cchang wrote:Does it usually take a day for the website calendar to sync with lds tool's calendar? I've tried syncing it on lds tools and have not seen the events show up. I see that all the events are from the Branch's calendar so I would have expected to see them.

I'm not sure what the sync is like between Member Tools and the calendar. The day or so was referring to how the sync URL works with Google to sync with an Android's calendar system.

In the Member Tools Calendar screen, you can pull down on the screen to cause an update. The little circle will spin, and soon you will have the updates.

This assumes you are connected to the Internet, and that you have selected the calendars you wish to view. This also assumes you are using Android, but I suspect iOS works the same way.

lajackson wrote:In the Member Tools Calendar screen, you can pull down on the screen to cause an update. The little circle will spin, and soon you will have the updates.

This assumes you are connected to the Internet, and that you have selected the calendars you wish to view. This also assumes you are using Android, but I suspect iOS works the same way.

I tried manually syncing it and pulling down and adding all the organizations calendars but I do not see the other events. I’m thinking it’s what someone else posted that if it has a specific location, it overrides the organizations calendar and you probably have to select a different calendar view.

Anyone run into this issue where they aren’t see events that have the building location associated to it? Is this a bug?

cchang wrote:I tried manually syncing it and pulling down and adding all the organizations calendars but I do not see the other events. I’m thinking it’s what someone else posted that if it has a specific location, it overrides the organizations calendar and you probably have to select a different calendar view.

Anyone run into this issue where they aren’t see events that have the building location associated to it? Is this a bug?

We need to clarify something. Broadly speaking, there are two types of calendars. The unit calendars, where ward and stake events should be placed. And Location calendars. Unit calendars are under the control of the unit. your ward controls the ward calendar, and the stake controls the stake calendar. Again, this is where all the church events should be placed.

In addition, there's the location calendar. It will show all events taking place at that location, regardless of what unit calendar it's placed on. As such, you can see events for other wards even when you can't see that ward's calendar.

The location calendar is under the control of the building scheduler. In addition to the ward/stake calendar events that appear there, the building scheduler can add "events". Typically this would be to block off the building for maintenance, or perhaps to schedule private events that are not really a ward or stake activity.

Member Tools (and all other forms of calendar syncing) will only sync the ward/stake calendars. They don't sync anything added directly to the location calendar. That means there's no way to see other ward's events in Member Tools. Nor would you be able to see the maintenance or private events placed there.

Where problems really start is that some areas are insistent on following the old model of one person doing all the scheduling of a building. That made a lot of sense back when everything was done with paper. But not now. Never mind that the calendar system handles scheduling automatically. Where this becomes a problem is that the building scheduler doesn't have access to ward calendars. So they use the only tool they have - the building calendar. So you may find some church events have been placed directly on the building calendar, where they won't sync to anywhere else. That's not a bug, that's a misuse of the system.

russellhltn wrote:So you may find some church events have been placed directly on the building calendar, where they won't sync to anywhere else. That's not a bug, that's a misuse of the system.

So are you saying when we create a Branch calendar event for the elders Quorom, we select the organization Elders Quorom and for location not select Church building but select either none or other? Why does it give us the option to select the church building as the location? Maybe I’m not exactly clear when you say the location calendar which I might not have access to see what you are saying.

cchang wrote:So are you saying when we create a Branch calendar event for the elders Quorom, we select the organization Elders Quorom and for location not select Church building but select either none or other?

Not at all. Using that calendar and selecting the location is the right way of doing it. The event will be visible in the EQ Calendar, and because you've selected the location, you'll see it in the location calendar as well. Since it's on the EQ calendar, it should sync out to other devices (assuming you have the settings correct.)

The misuse is telling the building scheduler that you'll be having a EQ event. Since they may not have access to the ward calendars, they'll use what they have - the location calendar. The event won't be visible anywhere else but the location calendar. And it won't sync anywhere.

What might be going on is that you don't have some of your ward calendars enabled. In the example, you don't have EQ Calendar. But you have the location calendar and you're seeing the event that way. And because you're not subscribed to the EQ calendar, it's not syncing to your device.

A number of comments.

1. While you can't edit the calendar thru LDS tools you can thru your phone's web browser. In android open lds.org in a web browser.(tested both chrome and firefox) In the top right corner is 3 dots. Click on it and select the desktop site link. This causes your phone to load the full web page rather than the shortened phone version and lets you use the calendar (including adding events editing etc), LCR etc from your phone just like from a computer.

2. It sounds like many of the people discussing this need to create more ward specialty calendars. We have a ward calendar, Leadership calendar, YM calendar, YW calendar, a combined YM/YW calendar for combined events, RS calendar, EQ calendar, Primary calendar and a Sunday church use calendar. The church use calendar lets us have room use for Sun on the calendar so others can schedule other rooms during meeting hours but keeps it out of the ward calendar so it can be hidden and turned off Bishopric by default has access to all calendars that are public. Then presidencies were assigned their calendars by calling who as access changes. Bishopric controls the sunday room use calendar and enters the data at the start of the year. The ward calendar every member of every ward presidency has access by calling. The ward leadership calendar is RS, EQ by calling. The YM and YW and combined calendars are mostly kept to presidencies of those organizations. But if we have a youth that is doing really well with it we sometimes turn privileges on for the youth's current calling. The other calendars are the respective their organization's presidency. 2 other calendars you might want are FHC calendar and a private events calendar. Currently we just put private events on the ward calendar and where they are rare that works. If they were common it might work better as a separate calendar. Because we share the building with another ward we did the FHC calendar as a stake level calendar so both wards can see it. Problem is the stake can't assign stake level calendar access by ward calling. So all changes there have to be done at the stake level to assign new calendar editors by name rather than by calling. Because of this, this calendar has failed for us.

3. If your ward can't create other calendars and control room not just building use then likely your stake hasn't set up the calendar for your building. To do the initial set up for the building takes stake level access. If you can't get them to do it for you, you may be able to get them to give you access by name so you can do setup for your building.

jirp wrote:Because we share the building with another ward we did the FHC calendar as a stake level calendar so both wards can see it. Problem is the stake can't assign stake level calendar access by ward calling. So all changes there have to be done at the stake level to assign new calendar editors by name rather than by calling. Because of this, this calendar has failed for us.

Is this for scheduling events/classes that both wards are invited to, or is it just the schedule the room? If the latter, I'd treat it like a room in the building. Otherwise, I think you're doing the best you can with what you have.

russellhltn wrote:

jirp wrote:Because we share the building with another ward we did the FHC calendar as a stake level calendar so both wards can see it. Problem is the stake can't assign stake level calendar access by ward calling. So all changes there have to be done at the stake level to assign new calendar editors by name rather than by calling. Because of this, this calendar has failed for us.

Is this for scheduling events/classes that both wards are invited to, or is it just the schedule the room? If the latter, I'd treat it like a room in the building. Otherwise, I think you're doing the best you can with what you have.

The goal was both classes that were open to both wards and to show when workers were present. The FHC is manned about 20 hours per week and because people have lives it changes on short notice at times. The goal was to allow everyone to see when it is manned and show those occasions when the schedule had to be revamped. Since the church is about 5 miles from each town in the middle of farm area it is a ways to drive to find no one there. PS both wards can still schedule it as a room in the building.

jirp wrote:The goal was both classes that were open to both wards and to show when workers were present.

The stake calendar seems like the best way to do that.

EVERY TIME I try to sign in I have trouble using the user name and password that I set up. I'll probably stop using this app.

charlesfranklin48 wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:46 am EVERY TIME I try to sign in I have trouble using the user name and password that I set up. I'll probably stop using this app.

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