5.7 Scheduling Recurring Items

Use Auto-Date to schedule recurring appointments, tasks, and reminder notes.

Auto-Dates can occur on the same day every week (for example, every Monday), the same days of the month (for example, the 15th and last day), or any other defined series of dates. You can also use Auto-Date to schedule irregular or infrequent events, such as holidays.

When you send an Auto-Date item, GroupWise copies the item and places one of the defined dates in each copy of the item. For example, if you define five dates for the event, GroupWise makes five copies of the item and schedules one copy for each date. If you send the item to other users, you have five outgoing items with a five-occurrence Auto-Date. If you receive the event, you find five copies of the incoming item in your Mailbox, each scheduled for a different date.

You can create an Auto-Date three ways.

This section contains the following topics:

5.7.1 Scheduling a Recurring Item by Dates

  1. In an appointment, task, or reminder note you are scheduling, click Actions, then click Auto-Date.

  2. Click the days you want to schedule.

  3. To move to a different year, click the year button, type the new year, then click OK.

  4. If you want to clear all the dates you have selected, click Reset.

  5. Click OK.

5.7.2 Scheduling a Recurring Item by Example

  1. In an appointment, task, or reminder note you are scheduling, click Actions > Auto-Date.

  2. Click the Example tab.

  3. In the Range group box, specify the starting date and ending date.

    or

    To specify a certain number of occurrences rather than a range, specify the starting date, click the End drop-down list, click Occurrences, then specify the number of occurrences.

  4. Click the Days of the Week drop-down list, then click an option.

  5. Click the months to schedule. To schedule all of the months, double-click any month.

  6. If you clicked Days of the Month, click an option from the On drop-down list, then click the numbered days you want to schedule (for example, 1 and 15).

    or

    If you clicked Days of the Week, click the ordinal number across from the day of the week to schedule (for example, 2nd Tue).

    or

    If you clicked Periodic, specify a period length (for example, Recur Every 15 Days).

  7. If you want to clear the dates you have selected, click Reset.

  8. To verify that you scheduled the correct dates, click the Dates tab. The dates you scheduled in the Example tab are selected in the calendars. If you want to deselect any occurrence, click the days you want to deselect on the Dates tab.

  9. Click OK.

5.7.3 Scheduling a Recurring Item Based on Another Day of the Week

You can schedule recurring items for events that occur a specified number of days prior to or after a specified day of the week. For example, you could schedule a meeting on the Monday following the first Sunday of each month (which might or might not be the first Monday of the month).

  1. In an appointment, task, or reminder note you are scheduling, click Actions > Auto-Date.

  2. Click the Example tab.

  3. In the Range group box, specify the starting date and ending date.

  4. Click the months you want to include. To include all months, double-click any month in the Months group box.

  5. Click one or more ordinal numbers in the row across from the day of the week you want to base your scheduling on (for example, 1st in the Sun row).

  6. Click a day of the week (for example, Sun).

  7. Specify the number of days to offset (for example, 1), then click OK.

  8. To verify the dates you have scheduled, click the Dates tab and check the dates selected in the calendar.

  9. Click OK.

5.7.4 Scheduling a Recurring Item Based on the Last Day of the Month

You can schedule recurring items for events that occur a specified number of days before or after the last day of the month. For example, if you want a reminder note to appear in your Reminder Notes List on the second-to-last day of each month, type -1 in Step 8 below.

  1. In an appointment, task, or reminder note you are scheduling, click Actions > Auto-Date.

  2. Click the Example tab.

  3. In the Range group box, specify the starting date and ending date.

  4. Click the months you want to include.

    To include all months, double-click any month in the Months group box.

  5. Click the Days of the Week pop-up list, then click Days of the Month.

  6. Click one or more days of the week (for example, Mon, Wed, and Fri).

    To include all days, double-click any day in the group box.

  7. Click Last, then click the Last button.

  8. Specify the number of days to offset, then click OK twice.

  9. To verify the dates you have scheduled, click the Dates tab and check the dates selected in the calendar.

  10. Click OK.

5.7.5 Scheduling Auto-Dates by Formula

Schedule items this way for events that occur on the same day each week (for example, every Monday), the same day each month (for example, the 15th and last day), the same day of the year each year (for example, June 20), or in a defined period of time (for example, every 14 days). You can accomplish the same type of scheduling more easily using the Example or Dates tabs. Formulas should only be used if you are comfortable working with them.

  1. In an appointment, task, or reminder note you are scheduling, click Actions > Auto-Date.

  2. Click the Formula tab.

  3. In the Range group box, specify the starting date and ending date.

    or

    To specify a certain number of occurrences rather than a range, specify the starting date, click Occurrences in the End drop-down list, then specify the number of occurrences.

  4. Type the formula text.

  5. If you want to clear the Auto-Date dialog box, click Reset.

  6. To verify that you have scheduled the correct days, click the Dates tab. The days you scheduled are selected in the calendar. If you want to deselect any occurrence, click the day you want to deselect on the Dates tab.

  7. Click OK.

If you want the item to be scheduled annually, just type the month and date in the formula text field (for example June 20). An annual appointment is helpful for reminder items like birthday reminders.

For information on how to enter formula text, see Using Auto-Date Formula Functions and Operators.

5.7.6 Using Auto-Date Formula Functions and Operators

You can schedule auto-dated items by formula, dates, or example. Formulas should only be used if you prefer them; scheduling is much easier by dates or example.

This section contains the following topics:

Auto-Date Formula Functions

Use the auto-date functions listed below to schedule specific days of a week, month, or year. You must use the exact spelling of the functions. For example, GroupWise reads “tue”, but not “tues”. GroupWise formula functions are not case-sensitive.

  • Day of the Week: For example, TUE schedules all Tuesdays.

  • Day of the Month: For example, the number 3 schedules the 3rd day of the month. Also, the word LAST schedules the last day of the month.

  • Day of the Year: For example, 35 schedules the thirty-fifth day of the year.

  • Month of the Year: For example, JAN schedules all days in January.

  • Year: For example, 2006 schedules all days in 2006.

  • Weekday of the Month: For example, TUE(1). This schedules the first Tuesday of the month. Also, SUN(LAST) schedules the last Sunday of the month, and FRI(LAST-1) schedules the second to last Friday of the month.

Auto-Date Formula Operators

An operator is a character or word you insert in an auto-date formula to perform a specific operation. Each operator is assigned a priority, meaning that when a formula is evaluated, some operations are performed before others.

You can use grouping operators to group operators according to their priorities. The table below lists operators and their priorities. Additional details about the operators are provided following the table.

Function

Priority

A blank space (high-priority And)

1

Plus or +

2

Minus or -

2

To or:

3

Every. . .Starting

4

Every. . .Ending

4

Before

5

On/Before

5

After

5

On/After

5

Near

5

Near/After

5

Or or ,

6

Not or !

6

And or & (low-priority And)

7

  • Grouping Operators: Use parentheses as grouping operators to change the priority of operators or to group functions together for clarification.

    For example, because the high-priority And operator (a space) has a higher priority than the Or operator (a comma), the formula below means that all scheduled days must fall on a Tuesday or must fall on a Thursday and be in the month of July or must be in the month of August.

    tue,thu jul,aug

    In other words, the formula is performed as if parentheses were inserted as follows:

    (tue,thu) (jul,aug)

    Now examine the following formula:

    (tue),(thu jul),(aug)

    This formula schedules all Tuesdays, all Thursdays in the month of July, and all days in the months of August. Notice how the meaning changes when parentheses are included as in the formula below.

    (tue,thu) (jul,aug)

    With the above formula, all scheduled days must fall on a Tuesday or Thursday and must be in the month of July or August. The end result is that only Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and August are scheduled.

  • High-Priority And: A space between two functions acts as an And operator, meaning that both functions must hold true. For example, 25 means the 25th day of all months in all years. But 25 oct means that all scheduled days must fall on the 25th day of the month and must be in October. And 25 oct 2007 means that all scheduled days must fall on the 25th day of the month and must be in October and must be in the year 2007.

  • Offset Operators: You can use a positive offset operator (+ or the word PLUS) or a negative offset operator (- or the word MINUS) to add a relative offset to a function or statement.

    For example, to schedule an event three days before the first Thursday in February for all years, you could enter the following formula:

    thu(1) feb-3

  • Range: The range operator (: or the word To) functions like a series of Or operators (see Or:) between each item (day, month, etc.) in the range. For example, if you want to schedule the 15th of every month, but only if the 15th is a weekday, you could enter either of the following formulas:

    15&mon:fri

    15(mon:fri)

    This formula means that all scheduled days must fall on the 15th of the month and must be a day from Monday to Friday. Another way of describing the formula is that all scheduled days must fall on the 15th of the month and must be a Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday.

  • Periodic Operators: The three periodic operators are Every, Starting, and Ending. Use Every in combination with Starting and/or Ending to schedule days at regular intervals, beginning on a specific date and/or ending on a specific date. For example, suppose you want to schedule a meeting for once a week starting on March 3, 2007 and continuing through June 11, 2007. You could use the following formula:

    every 7 starting mar 3 2007 ending jun 11 2007

    The formula schedules every seventh day starting with March 3, 2006 and ending with June 11, 2006. The starting date is always scheduled as the first day and the ending date is scheduled only if it naturally falls at the Every interval.

    If you do not use both the Starting and Ending operators, the starting or ending date is the first or last date in the Calendar file.

    For example, examine the following formula:

    every 7 starting mar 3 2007

    The above formula schedules every seventh day starting on March 3, 2007 and continuing to the last date in the Calendar file. The Every command works with numbers up to 30. For example, “every 45 starting mar 3 2007” is not a valid formula.

  • Relative Operators: The six relative operators are Before, On/Before, After, On/After, Near, and On/Near. Use these operators to schedule days relative to a specific date. For example, to schedule the Monday closest to November 6 in all years, you could enter the following formula:

    mon on/near nov 6

    If you need to schedule the first Tuesday after November 6, 2007, you could enter the following formula:

    tue after nov 6 2007

  • Or: You can use the Or operator (a comma or the word Or) to indicate that one or the other function or statement must hold true in order to schedule days.

    For example, to schedule an appointment on the 15th day of each month in the year 2006, but only if the 15th falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, enter the following formula:

    15 2007 (tue,thu)

  • Not: When placed before a function, the Not operator (! or the word Not) negates that function.

    For example, if you want to schedule all days in January 2007 except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, you could use the following formula:

    jan 2007 !tue !thu

  • Low-Priority And: Like a space, the low-priority And operator (& or the word And) between two functions indicates that both functions must hold true. However, the low-priority And has the lowest priority of all operators.

    For example, examine the following formula:

    tue,thu jul,aug

    This means that scheduled days must be a Tuesday or must be a Thursday and must be in July or must be in August. However, suppose you were to substitute the high-priority And (a space) with a low-priority And, as in the following formula:

    tue,thu and jul,aug

    The above formula indicates that scheduled days must be a Tuesday or must be a Thursday and must be in July or must be in August. In the first formula, the And operator is evaluated before the Or operators. In the second formula, the And operator is evaluated after the Or operators.