ALM - The eternal Almanac / Calendar program by Boray

ALM

Makes the difference

This program works from some very different concepts compared to other calendar programs. I have designed it to be a tool that is fast to work with, to get a good overview of coming events, to not having to reenter birthday notes every year, to get an easy way of setting alarms for TV shows repeating every week.

What's displayed in the main window is a long list of notes with the coming week focused. You can easily scroll up or down when you want to see more. Or use the search box. One long list, no notes are hidden inside pages of months or days like in other calenders. This gives you a great overview.

For every note, it also says how many days that are left until the date. All notes are color coded depending on note type.

ALM has the coolest ALarM clock around as well!
ALM ALarM

ALM uses a kind of self explanitory programming language in the data file. But don't you worry, ALM writes the program code by itself. You just press the buttons. But if you like programming, then use the built in editor and edit all you want...

That the data file is a normal txt file which actually can be understood just by reading it, is an important factor for future safety. Even if you for example move away from Windows in the future, a text file will always be understood.

If your native language isn't English, you can localize what is displayed in the main window by defining your own words for day names and things like "tomorrow" and "days left".

ALM is simple to use but can still be very advanced if you like it to be: How about making it auto backup to a different drive, or how about setting up a joint data file over a home network for all of your family, or why not use the same data file (and program) for a Windows/Linux dual boot... These things are possible, but let's start a bit more simple... ;-)

Download

ALM.exe V7.0.0 ~390 kB (Version news)

The program doesn't need any installation. Just save it somewhere, for example on your desktop.

Data and settings will by default be saved in your documents folder. If you prefer a portable install instead, then read here.

Free

Since V7.0 ALM is now freeware. That doesn't mean that you are free to do anything with it, just that you can download and use it for free! You are also free to buy my music at bandcamp ;-)

Quick Start

Adding a note

Adding a new note can be done in many different ways. Here is one of the easier ways:

Either press the "Add note" button or select it from the task bar menu.

The window below will pop up. Now press the appropriate button for the note you want to add:

In this example we press the middle alternative: "Note repeating every year" for a birthday note and the following windows pops up. Here we choose the date, enter the note text and then press "Add".

And the note will be shown in the ALM window (below). Note that the birth year *1973 is translated to his age when displayed:

With the default settings, the note will only be shown if it's within one year of the future or within one month of the past. Being a note repeating every year, this is certainly the case.

Color codes

The notes are color coded. The date headers have different colors depending of the type of note:

The same colors can also be seen in the "add note" window as well as in the note filter in the ALM window controls:

With the note filter, you can switch on and off the different note types separately. Green is a bit special as there really are no green notes. When green is checked, it shows empty notes in green for all days not covered in the current filter setting. When all four boxes are checked, green means a date without notes. But if you for example have checked just red and green, then green dates simply mean there are no red notes for that date. The purpose of the green ones is that all days should be visible in the window so that you can mark any date header to add a note for it (as described below).

Adding a note by marking a date header

Make sure the "mark-actions" checkbox is checked as well as the green box of the note filter. Then use the mouse to mark the date header of an empty day (for example "2011 - 10 - 10") and the "add note" window will be opened with that date preselected. This method is better when for example scheduling a meeting as it's easier to see when you have free time. Only the date needs to be marked, but to quickly mark the whole date header in one click, just click in left of it:

Deleting a note

In the display window, make sure the "mark-actions" checkbox is checked. Then use the mouse to mark some text of the note you want to delete.

The editor window will open and the same text you marked will be marked in the editor:

Now, click the buttons as follows:

1. "Mark this note"
2. "Delete marked"
3. "Save + Close"
Ready

An alternative to deleting a note is to change the word #note into #not. The note will then not be shown in the display window but the data will still be in there. You can change it back to #note some day if you like.

Editing a note

Do the same as for above, but instead of marking and deleting the note, just make your changes instead.

Autostart

If you want to launch ALM when the computer starts, then just check the "autostart" checkbox. (You can uncheck it again at any time). If you make ALM to start like this, the window will only be shown to you if there are any notes in the current note filter for the coming week.

Putting ALM in your startup will make some use of the otherwise useless waiting time when all of your windows programs are starting up. When my computer is loaded and fit for fight, I have already looked at the coming events in ALM.

The Scroll-back button and the time span control

The time span control increases the time span shown in the display window. By default you have a time span of one year in the future and one month of the past. This control can increase both the past and future with up to two years each = a time span of about 5 years. But with a too high time span, it will take time to update the window. You can change the time span even further in the editor.

The Scroll back button simply takes you back to the start position in the window, in other words, to the nearest future. A quick way back if you have scrolled around.

Ready to go?

Well... This is all you need to use the program. If you want to look things up or learn more about something, then take a look in the ALM reference manual. Oh, if you live in USA, you better turn off the week numbers.

Here is an ALM demonstration film you could watch:

Page Jump Table

Introduction
Download
Free

Quick Start
Adding a note
Color codes
Another easy way of adding a note
Deleting a note
Editing
Auto start
The Scroll-Back button and time span control
Ready to go?

Also available:
ALM Reference manual.

ALM antivirus scan report at softoxi.com

Softoxi.com editor team:
"ALM - a powerful, lightweight, flexible alarm clock tool complete with notes, recurrency features and much more."

"ALM immediately impresses due to its simplicity and elegant design; within a lightweight interface, you can quickly view all incoming events in their chronological order."