Juiced On Writing

I spend far too much time online. With wireless broadband, my writing tool of choice – a laptop, is always on the internet, even if I’m not. Rather than struggle against the fact that my own life-base seems to sit on top of the world wide web, and browsers, I decided to make the most of it.

ReminderFox, a free plugin for Mozilla Firefox, keeps me more productive. Through ReminderFox, I have a prompting reminder and task system, alerting me towards all those appointments and tasks I should be doing on a regular basis. Here, I’ll show you a peep into my current ReminderFox system.

Install and Options

If you’re a Firefox user, you’ll find ReminderFox as a download and install from the normal Mozilla plugin database. First, go to the developer’s website, Mozdev.org, to ensure you are sent to the latest version. Currently that’s at Version 1.9. Then you will be sent to download the add-on from Mozilla’s database.

Once installed, you can go to the Options (Tools –> Addons) and select where ReminderFox will display. You can choose which ever toolbar you want to see the reminderfox icon and reminders popup from). You can set on the top menu bar, or as I have done, the bottom status bar).

Other options include file imports/exports, configuration of notifications and alerts, default settings, what appears in your pop-up reminders, and how often these should appear.

Lists and Subscribed Calendars

The Options windows for ReminderFox also allow you to set tooltips, notifications, and lists. From the Lists tab, you can add a new list, or subscriptions to other ical calendars. I have subscribed to one of my google calendars in this way – one for UK Bank Holidays for this year. Once you have selected a calendar within Google (in this example), go to the settings section for that calendar and select the ical URL for sharing it. This should be pasted into ReminderFox.

Once subscribed, the new calendar shows as a separate tab in ReminderFox, and activities out of this calendar show in your reminder pop-ups. In this way, you can use ReminderFox as a one-place reminder system for your family or individual google calendars or similar also.

Note: the subscribed calendars are updated real-time, but you do not have the option to input new items or edit existing items in those calendars from ReminderFox. If you want to add or edit items, you will need to go to the calendars online (such as Google Calendar). Once input there, those items will then show up as views on your list tab within ReminderFox once you’ve refreshed your browser etc.

I also created a new list – calling it Writing List. Once created this provides a separate tab where I could create To Dos specifically for that list. Any items added under this list show as a separate list within the pop-up reminders also.

Adding Reminders and To-Dos

Now that ReminderFox is installed into your browser, you will find it there everytime you open FireFox. Find the little grey ribbon icon on the menu bar you selected in Options (mine is on the status bar) and click on the ribbon to open the ReminderFox window.

The ReminderFox input window will contain separate tabs for Reminders, To-Dos and any subscribed calendars you have listed. All have a calendar display to help with dates also, with today in yellow.

Adding a reminder or to-do is simple and easy to work through, using dates, a drop down calendar, and times for appointments. You can also set repeats and alerts on both, and choose if you want the items to appear in the tooltip.

Items added to ReminderFox can be categorised also – I have several categories setup. You can add and edit categories within the Options menu, or on the fly as you add reminders or to-dos. This ReminderFox window stays open as a separate browser window, even if you minimise your actual browser page, meaning you can have the ReminderFox input window open as you are in other applications such as outlook or your writing work.

Tool-Tip Reminders

Now that some reminders and to-do tasks have been set, or you are parsing through these via your ical subscription, ReminderFox will prompt you with those due over the next few days.

You can access these reminders simply by mousing over the ReminderFox ribbon icon in your browser menu bar at anytime.

Or ReminderFox will animate these reminders as a popup window from this icon periodically through the day. The time period for these recurrent notifications are set in the options for ReminderFox, with the default being every 120 minutes.

Editing, Printing and Completing

Reminders and To-Dos within ReminderFox are easily edited, by clicking on them, and using right-click menu options. Finished tasks or appointments can be “completed” off which draws a line through them. You can choose to have such completed tasks made unviewed from your lists also.

Each tab can also be selected for viewing (and therefore printing off) in html form. You can then print these off daily, and add to your filofax or planner should you wish.

Sending Reminders, Import / Export

Finally, ReminderFox makes sending appointments and events a breeze. Select a reminder and choose Send To from the right-click menu and your email program will open. Select a recepient(s) and send the reminder as an attachment. This attachment can then be imported into their calendar programs such as Outlook etc – any which can accept ical formats.

ReminderFox also has an import / export facility similarly. You can therefore accept other invites / appointments sent to you in this way, and import them in. Imports and Exports of To Dos and Reminders happen via the Files Option tab in the Options window for the addon.

Summary

For those like me who spend a lot of their daily time working through a browser, ReminderFox provides a simple but feature-rich solution to your reminder needs. The ability to be reminded of all of your events and tasks setup in online calendars and imported from desktop PIMs makes this an excellent tool to bring things together for you whilst you remain working in your FireFox browser. Plus it’s reminder system actually works for me.

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