Be able to block dates on the calendar
Be able to block out dates on the calendar prior to scheduling so repeating events don't have to be removed from holidays or vacation days.
AdminAmy
(MTH Support, Music Teacher's Helper)
shared this idea
You can now block dates on the calendar! Click the red “block” icon in the corner of any day on the calendar to block or unblock it. Or setup blocks (including ranges and repeating blocks) from the Calendar → Blocked Dates menu. Enjoy!
Also, remember that the votes you used on this idea are now free for voting on other ideas. Keep your votes and ideas coming! Thanks.
45 comments
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For those interested in supporting the idea to block certain times, or part of a day, the idea is at: http://mth.uservoice.com/forums/116093-submit-your-ideas-here/suggestions/2285809-be-able-to-block-specific-hours-of-a-day-on-which-
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@Anonymous -- Unfortunately, you can't have any events on a blocked day, even if they're cancelled. If you'd like reminders to be sent about a cancelled event, you'll need leave that day unblocked and leave the events there. Notifications aren't sent for blocked days.
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Anonymous
commented
From the previous comment, I have a question.
I see the 3 steps one would take if you simply wanted to delete the event altogether: select "email students" (step 1,create an email to notify them the lesson was canceled, then (step 2), "delete events" and (step 3) block the day.
1ST ? FOR MTH STAFF -If you want to cancel the events but leave the information on the calendar and then block the dates so nothing else will be added to that day; this should allow the student to see canceled events when viewing the calendar (correct?) I would simply change the fee to $0 on these dates. That would involve more steps.
2ND ? FOR MTH STAFF - (A>) If one wanted to "cancel" those events vs deleting them, to allow the option to have a reminder sent the day before (reminding them the lesson is canceled) would the notice be sent if the date was "blocked" ?
I can see this being used more often when only canceling lessons on "odd days off" (those that are not regular holidays) or part of days. when one would want to remind students (the day before) that lessons were canceled.
If (A>) is possible, I can see where a one step process would be handy. But it would be nice to have the option to select which lessons to cancel (perhaps with the "select all" or be able to click on individual names from a drop down list and change the fee to $0 (such as when creating an event). It seems to get complicated. -
Jeff Carwile
commented
Thanks for doing this feature... I'm not worried about blocking portions of days, personally. I just don't schedule things at those times... What I am planning to use this feature primarily for is vacations, tours, school breaks, etc. Sometimes things come up that we need to block after lessons have been scheduled months in advance. Say for instance going on a tour in november - where you know you are going to be gone for an entire week. It would be nice if, when blocking the dates, you were told "there are currently events on this day (these days) - would you like to automatically send cancellation emails to the lessons that are affected and delete these events from your calendar?" Doing that all in one fell swoop would save a lot of time.
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Glad you're liking the new feature! Thanks for the feedback. For those who want to block specific times of day, please create this as a new "idea" and we'll get more votes on it. It's certainly a possibility and something our programming team can handle if there is enough interest.
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Anonymous
commented
Additional note: As Ross, I would like to "be able to block out certain parts of a day with a time range I.e. block out tuesdays 9am - 1pm but still open in the afternoon." This would make the feature complete and even more amazing. I am sure this is a programming nightmare and thanks again for all the things you do for us, MTH!
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Anonymous
commented
THANK YOU SO MUCH, MTH!!! This has to be one of the best features you have added recently!
I am trying it out, this AM.
LOVE this about it so far:1. One click option!!!! - SIMPLE and amazing!
2. That I can "add and event", such as I currently do on a date I plan to block (prior to blocking). I set it up "For all students" - then the event is labeled - example - "Thanksgiving Break - NO LESSONS" (the event shows even after I block the date. I am hoping that the students will still see the "Thanksgiving Break - NO LESSONS, when they log onto the calendar but I won't have to worry when I edit events that they will be added to that day.
3. That the date become a different color so you notice that it is different.
4. This will make the possibility of auto invoicing more likely for me, as I would not worry that something might have been added to the calendar, accindentally.
Wonderful!!!! that's all I can say! -
Ross Hammond
commented
I have just used this feature this morning and it is very effective. However i dont think it is fully completed. For instance some days I can teach only afternoons so i can't block the entire day. I would like to see an option to be able to block out certain parts of a day with a time range I.e. block out tuesdays 9am - 1pm but still open in the afternoon.
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Our goal is to launch it by Sep 30 (just a couple days!). Yes, it was a bit more complicated than we anticipated, and we simplified some aspects of it for now (for example, there will be no titles for the blocked dates shown on the calendar), but we thought getting the basic functionality launched soon was better than adding everything in and launching it later. We'll of course welcome your feedback even after it's launched to see how we could improve it. Thanks!
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Laura Galbraith
commented
So when is this feature going to be available? I see that it's started but that was in July...any date for it yet? It'll make life so much easier!
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Anonymous
commented
I can hardly wait for this feature. It must be complicated. Thanks MTH!
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Anonymous
commented
btw - can't wait for this feature :)
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Anonymous
commented
To comment on Anonymous from 9/8/11 - Yes! I too have students that are every other week. I find the same difficulty as you when scheduling. This year I decided not to mess with it because of the hassle, so if it was possible for everyother week events to skip the blocked weeks, that would help elminate students missing 3 weeks when there are not lessons on a particular week. Thanks for that post!
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Anonymous
commented
Too throw in another twist...I have many students who come every other week on a recurring basis. I name each week in my calendar "A" week or "B" week so those particular students know which rotation weeks their lessons fall on. This rotation normally works fine, until there is a holiday week. I usually just ignore vacation week in the rotation that week so I don't skip some students lessons that month. Ie: Thanksgiving week: Oct 31-Nov 4 is 'A" week. Nov7-11is "B" week, Nov 14-18 "A" week, Nov 21-25 Thanksgiving week - no lessons - not counted in the rotation so the following week Nov 28-Dec 1 is "B" week. That works well to get student's lessons in but it wreaks havoc on the calendar and trying to schedule a fill semester in advance. it also confuses my families so i'd like to find a way to show them that rotation on the calendar well in advance. When I have the recurring dates selected to the end of December for my weekly students, I can only schedule recurring lessons for "A" or "B" week students through Thanksgiving week. Then I manually have to go in (during Thanksgiving week) and change the rotation on the calendar for each student for the rest of December. That takes a lot of time and confuses my people because I cannot schedule that change in rotation in advance. Maybe other people don't teach students every other week, but if they do, I'd like to know a good solution or have a way when blocking vacation weeks to continue scheduling to the end of the semester when I first set up their calendar.
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Jeff Carwile
commented
Someone had asked about being able to block specific times vs. whole days or series of days. I just thought I'd let you know I've found a way to do that. What I do to accomplish the time block feature is have MTH as a separate calendar visible in mesh with my regular calendar in Google. Then when I see conflicts between the two calendars I know that is something I need to resolve. So I use my google calendar as primary... Anyway, its a lot easier than entering everything into my MTH calendar (especially since I don't get paid for miscellaneous appointments).
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I think we're going to start with just blocking dates. For those who want to block specific times of day, please submit this as a separate idea. This would require a more complex interface and conflict checking logic, and we need to gauge interest before committing to it.
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Anonymous
commented
OK, having just stated earlier that being able to block a specific time, instead of entire days, was most important; I just realized that for almost every vacation I plan (days of no lessons) I almost always have one date where I teach through 2PM. I can see where being able to block specific hours on a specific day is equally important to this feature (at least for my application), otherwise I will still have to go through and delete lessons from the evening on those days. Thanks Ross for thinking about that!
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Anonymous
commented
I am hoping that if on "blocks a date" after events are already added to that date, it will automatically delete the events on that day and notify you that events will be deleted. ?? I am already working on the schedule for 2011-2012 and hope once this feature is available I will be able to easily block my vacation dates.
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Anonymous
commented
I think the main idea is to block dates that are vacations so one doesn't have to delete events from those dates when you create an event that surrounds that date. However, I can imagine that being able to block specific time (say 6 - 8) on a particular day might be helpful. For me the first is going to be amazing, the second is not nearly as important but could be helpful as well.
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I can see this as useful for my studio at times.
