An online calendar planner has to hold a week that often lives in two places: the plans that are yours, and a calendar at work that someone else keeps. This post shows how VoiceFirstPlanner puts the two in one week without ever changing the work calendar, using one week from our film.
One disclosure up front: VoiceFirstPlanner is ours. The week used here is the one in the film, and the film is further down the page.
Two calendars, one week
The film opens on the line that names it: “Work’s calendar knew my week better than I did.”
It’s a common shape for a week. Work’s side is in a calendar that belongs to the job. The personal side is somewhere else, or nowhere. A day planned from one of them gets surprised by the other. A calendar planner earns its keep by holding both, so the day being planned is the day that is actually coming.
Your side, by voice
In the film, the personal side of the week goes in first, said out loud, one sentence each:
- “Dinner with Jo on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.”
- “Football with the kids on Saturday at 9 a.m.”
Each lands on its day, at its time. That’s one side of the week. Work’s side is still in a calendar this planner doesn’t own.
A file, not a connection
Here is the part worth being clear about. VoiceFirstPlanner doesn’t log in to a work calendar, and it isn’t connected to one. Work’s appointments come in as a calendar file: the standard .ics file that calendars export.
The planner’s own note says where the file comes from: “Export a calendar file (.ics) from Outlook, Google or Apple and bring your commitments into your planner.”
In the film, a calendar file is exported from work and brought in from Settings, under “Bring in your work calendar”, with “Choose file”. There is more on how calendar import works on its own page.
The planner brings in appointments, and nothing else, for the next 90 days. And it can be done again whenever it is useful. In the planner’s own words: “Import again whenever you like; anything already here is skipped.”
Tick what comes in
Before anything lands, the planner shows what it found. In the film: four repeating meetings and five one-off appointments, every one with a tick box. The repeating ones show their pattern, such as every weekday or weekly.
Not every meeting on a work calendar belongs in a personal week. The all-company update is one nobody in the film goes to, so it gets unticked, and the count at the top drops to match. Then one button, and what was ticked is in the planner. What was unticked stays out.
One way, and it says so
This is the line that matters most, and the planner puts it on the screen in its own words: “One-way — nothing you do here ever changes your work calendar.”
Nothing is sent back. Whatever happens to those meetings in the planner stays in the planner. Work’s calendar stays exactly as work keeps it.
And if the import turns out not to be wanted, one tap undoes the whole import.
The week, holding both
Back in the week, Thursday now reads the work huddle at 9:45 in the morning and dinner with Jo that night. Saturday still has football with the kids at nine. Work’s side and the personal side, in one place, in time order.
From there the week is planned like any other: say a new appointment and it books, move one with a tap, and plan around the meetings that came in.
See it come in
In this film: two personal plans said on a phone, then a calendar file from work brought in, one meeting unticked, the one-way line on the screen, and the week holding both. The film was made on a paid plan.
Prefer YouTube? Watch it there ↗
Out again, the same way
The planner’s appointments can also go out as a calendar file, an .ics. That is one way too. A one-way copy out, and a one-way copy in.
An online calendar planner, on phone, iPad or computer
VoiceFirstPlanner runs in any browser, so it is an online calendar planner in the plain sense: the same week on a phone, an iPad or a computer, with nothing to install. On an iPad held sideways, Planner view opens the week across the full width of the open planner. Planner view is part of the free plan.
Common questions
What is an online calendar planner?
A planner that runs in a web browser and holds the calendar side of the week, appointments at their times, alongside the tasks and plans of each day. VoiceFirstPlanner is one: it runs in the browser on a phone, an iPad or a computer, with nothing to install.
Can a calendar planner app use my work calendar?
VoiceFirstPlanner can bring in a calendar file exported from it. It is not connected to the work calendar: the file comes in once, a tick box on every meeting decides what enters, and the planner never changes the work calendar. It can be brought in again whenever you like, and anything already there is skipped.
What is the best calendar planner app?
The one that holds the whole week, not half of it. For a week split between work’s calendar and personal plans, three things matter: a way to bring work’s appointments in that never changes the original, a say in which ones come in, and a quick way to add the personal side.
Can I use it as a Google Calendar planner?
Yes, one way. Export a calendar file from Google Calendar and bring it in from Settings. VoiceFirstPlanner isn’t connected to Google Calendar: the file comes in, a tick box on every meeting decides what enters, and nothing done in the planner changes the calendar it came from.
Does importing a calendar file change my work calendar?
Not in VoiceFirstPlanner. The planner says so on the screen: “One-way — nothing you do here ever changes your work calendar.” And one tap undoes the whole import.
Three books. All free with your account.
The VoiceFirstPlanner Instruction Manual, The VoiceFirstPlanner Voice Command Guide and The Voice First Life Planning System — Starter Workbook.
$19.98 for the Starter Workbook alone — all three free when you create your free account.
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