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Home > Blog > Project Management > Optimize Your Schedule with Year, Month, and Week Calendar Views

Optimize Your Schedule with Year, Month, and Week Calendar Views

A well-structured calendar is the cornerstone of productivity, but simply having a calendar isn’t enough. Leveraging the right calendar view—whether it’s a yearly overview, a monthly focus, or a detailed weekly schedule—is key to optimizing your time and achieving your goals. 

Choosing the right calendar view is more than a matter of preference—it can significantly impact how we organize our time and manage our workload. A year view provides a broad overview, ideal for long-term planning and identifying busy periods. Monthly views offer a balance between detail and scope, perfect for mid-range project planning. Week views drill down into the day-to-day, helping us navigate immediate tasks and appointments.

When used effectively, these different calendar views become invaluable assets in planning projects, scheduling meetings, and managing tasks. They can dramatically increase efficiency by providing clarity and structure to our work lives. 

This article will provide practical tips for leveraging each type of calendar view, complete with real-world examples of how they can be applied in various business scenarios. Moreover, we’ll explore how the Virto Calendar App, available for Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams, enhances these capabilities with additional convenient views and features.

Basic Calendar Views and Their Purpose

In this section, we’ll address the fundamental calendar views that form the backbone of effective time management and scheduling. Understanding these views and their purposes is crucial for maximizing productivity and organization in both personal and professional settings.

What are the basic calendar views?

The basic calendar views are different ways of presenting calendar data, each offering a unique perspective on your schedule. The three primary views are:

  1. Annual (Yearly) View
  2. Monthly View
  3. Weekly View

These views allow users to visualize their time commitments at different levels of detail, from broad overviews to more granular day-to-day planning.

👉 So, what is a calendar view? A calendar view is a specific way of displaying date-based information. It’s a visual representation of a period of time, showing events, appointments, and tasks scheduled within that timeframe. Different views cater to various planning needs and preferences, allowing users to interact with their schedule in the most effective way for their current task.

Year view calendar

Yearly view. 
Pic. 1. Yearly view.

The yearly calendar view provides a bird’s-eye perspective of your entire year at a glance. This expansive view is invaluable for long-term planning and strategizing. It allows you to:

  • Identify major events, holidays, and milestones across the year
  • Plan long-term projects and set strategic goals
  • Schedule vacations and time off well in advance
  • Recognize busy periods and potential conflicts early

This view is particularly useful for tasks that require a broad temporal perspective, such as strategic business planning, academic year scheduling, or mapping out annual goals and objectives.

👉 How do I change my calendar view? To change your calendar view, look for options like “View” or a dropdown menu in your calendar application. Most digital calendars allow you to switch between yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily views with a simple click or tap. On mobile devices, you might need to use pinch-to-zoom gestures or specific buttons to change views.

Calendar month view 

Monthly view. 
Pic. 2. Monthly view.

The monthly view strikes a balance between the broad yearly perspective and the detailed weekly view. It’s ideal for:

  • Planning and tracking shorter-term tasks and events
  • Visualizing workload distribution across a month
  • Scheduling appointments and deadlines
  • Balancing personal and professional commitments

This view is particularly useful for both personal and business planning in the near term. It allows you to see patterns in your schedule and make adjustments to ensure a productive and balanced month ahead.

👉 How do I display calendar by month? To view monthly calendar, look for a “Month” option in your calendar app’s view settings. This is typically found in a menu or toolbar at the top of the interface. In many applications, you can also click on the name of the month to switch to the monthly view. On mobile devices, you might need to tap a specific icon or use a swipe gesture to access the monthly view.

Week view calendar 

Weekly view.
Pic. 3. Weekly view.

The weekly view offers the most detailed perspective of the basic calendar views. It’s exceptionally useful for:

  • Managing daily tasks and to-do lists
  • Allocating work time efficiently
  • Monitoring project progress on a day-to-day basis
  • Scheduling meetings and appointments with precision

To use the weekly view effectively, try color-coding different types of tasks or events, blocking out focused work time, and reviewing your week ahead every Sunday or Monday morning. This allows you to prepare for upcoming commitments and adjust your schedule as needed.

👉 How do I get week view on my calendar? To access the week view, look for a “Week” option in your calendar app’s view settings. This is usually found alongside the day, month, and year view options. On desktop applications, you can often use keyboard shortcuts (like W for week) to quickly switch views. On mobile devices, you might need to tap a specific tab or use a pinch gesture to zoom into the weekly view.

By understanding and utilizing these basic calendar views effectively, you can significantly enhance your time management skills and boost your productivity across all aspects of your life.

How to Choose the Right Calendar View for Specific Business Needs

Different views offer unique perspectives, each suited to specific tasks and planning horizons. In this section, we’ll explore how to choose the right calendar view for your strategic planning needs. We’ll examine when to opt for annual, monthly, or weekly calendar views, discussing typical use cases for each. Additionally, we’ll provide valuable tips for making the most of these different perspectives. 

Check Out the Selection of Use Cases

Optimize vacation scheduling with Virto's comprehensive tools, providing a centralized platform for a high-level overview and strategic resource planning.
Master resource booking with Virto Calendar, ensuring optimal usage and real-time visibility for efficient, conflict-free scheduling across your organization.
Optimize your law practice's client interactions with the calendar management system, a tailored scheduling solution for legal professionals. Manage consultations efficiently, balance workloads, and improve client satisfaction through organized scheduling.

Annual calendar view: Choosing a calendar view for strategic planning

For strategic needs such as planning an annual budget or key projects, the annual calendar view is best suited. This expansive view provides a comprehensive overview of the entire year, allowing decision-makers to see the big picture and make informed, long-term plans.

A subset of the annual view, the quarterly calendar, can be particularly useful for businesses that operate on a quarterly basis. It offers a middle ground between the broad annual perspective and the more detailed monthly view, making it ideal for mid-range strategic planning.

Here are typical use cases where an annual calendar view proves invaluable:

  1. Strategic project planning: An annual view allows you to see the entire project cycle and important milestones throughout the year. This bird’s-eye view helps in allocating resources, setting realistic deadlines, and coordinating tasks between departments. It’s especially useful for complex, long-term projects that span multiple quarters or even the entire year.
  2. Vacation and staffing planning: HR departments can use the annual view to track employee vacations, avoiding overlapping vacation dates and ensuring required staffing levels during key periods. This foresight helps maintain productivity and prevents understaffing during crucial business phases.
  3. Budget management: When coordinating budget processes, an annual view is crucial. It allows financial teams to set dates for the preparation, approval, and revision of financial statements throughout the fiscal year. This ensures that all financial activities are properly scheduled and aligned with the company’s fiscal calendar.
  4. Tracking key events and dates: For businesses involved in long-term planning of corporate events, conferences, trainings, or important meetings, an annual view is essential. It helps in spacing out events, avoiding conflicts, and aligning them with other business activities.
  5. Regulatory deadlines: Many industries face numerous regulatory compliance deadlines throughout the year. An annual view helps track key dates for submitting reports, renewing licenses, or meeting other regulatory requirements, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
  6. Marketing campaign planning: Marketing teams can benefit greatly from an annual view when creating long-term plans for advertising campaigns, promotions, and other activities. It allows them to align their strategies with seasonal trends, holidays, or significant dates in the industry, ensuring maximum impact.
  7. Academic and educational plans: Educational institutions find the annual view particularly useful for planning study periods, exams, and vacations. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the academic year, helping administrators, teachers, and students prepare effectively.
  8. Performance review meeting scheduling: HR departments can use the annual view to plan and organize employee performance reviews. This allows for structuring these important events throughout the year, ensuring that all employees receive timely feedback and that managers have adequate time for preparation.

By using the annual calendar view for these strategic planning purposes, organizations can improve their long-term decision-making, resource allocation, and overall operational efficiency. It provides the necessary perspective to align various aspects of the business with overarching goals and timelines.

Monthly planning for projects and meetings

The monthly calendar view is an essential tool for managing short-term tasks, projects, and meetings effectively. This view strikes a balance between the broad perspective of an annual calendar and the detailed day-to-day planning of a weekly view. It allows users to allocate tasks to projects, track progress in the short term, and synchronize team activities efficiently.

By displaying an entire month at a glance, this view helps teams coordinate their efforts, schedule important events, and maintain a clear overview of upcoming deadlines. It’s particularly useful for synchronizing team meetings and follow-ups, as it provides enough detail to plan weekly activities while still offering a broader monthly context.

Here are some typical use cases where the monthly calendar view proves invaluable:

  1. Scheduling work and client meetings: The monthly view allows you to easily see how meetings and appointments are distributed throughout the month. This helps in balancing workload, avoiding scheduling conflicts, and ensuring adequate preparation time between meetings. It’s especially useful for client-facing roles where regular check-ins or presentations need to be scheduled.
  2. Managing projects with short-term deadlines: For projects that span several weeks, the monthly view is ideal. It allows project managers to track tasks, set milestones, and monitor progress towards deadlines. This view helps in identifying potential bottlenecks or periods of high activity, allowing for proactive resource allocation and task prioritization.
  3. Planning marketing activities: Marketing teams can use the monthly calendar to structure their activities based on the strategic plan for the coming weeks. This includes scheduling email campaigns, social media posts, content releases, and promotional events. The monthly view helps ensure a consistent and well-paced marketing effort throughout the month.
  4. Managing personal tasks and deadlines: For individual users, the monthly view provides a clear picture of upcoming tasks and assignments for several weeks in advance. This allows for better personal organization, helping users plan their responsibilities, set realistic goals, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
  5. Preparing for reporting periods: Accounting and finance departments find the monthly view particularly useful for managing the submission of reports and other financial documentation. It helps in tracking monthly closing procedures, scheduling review meetings, and ensuring all necessary financial activities are completed on time.
  6. Planning educational activities: Students and teachers can leverage the monthly calendar to track important academic events and deadlines. This includes exam dates, class schedules, and submission deadlines for coursework or other academic assignments. The monthly view helps in managing study time, planning for major academic milestones, and balancing multiple courses or teaching responsibilities.

By using the month calendar view for these purposes, individuals and teams can improve their short-term planning, task management, and overall productivity. It provides the necessary perspective to balance daily activities with monthly goals, ensuring that both immediate tasks and longer-term objectives are met efficiently.

The month calendar view also facilitates better communication within teams. By sharing a common monthly calendar, team members can easily coordinate their schedules, plan collaborative work sessions, and ensure that everyone is aligned on project timelines and deadlines. This shared perspective enhances team cohesion and helps prevent miscommunications or scheduling conflicts.

Weekly planning for operational tasks

A weekly calendar view is an invaluable tool for day-to-day time and task management. This granular perspective allows individuals and teams to focus on immediate priorities, allocate time efficiently, and maintain a clear overview of short-term goals and commitments.

The weekly view bridges the gap between high-level monthly planning and the minute-by-minute details of daily schedules. It provides enough context to plan ahead while offering the detail necessary for effective daily execution.

Recommendations for using a weekly calendar to manage personal and team tasks:

  1. Start each week with a planning session: Review your goals and priorities for the week ahead.
  2. Block out focused work time: Designate specific periods for uninterrupted work on important tasks.
  3. Use color coding: Assign different colors to various types of tasks or projects for quick visual reference.
  4. Include buffer time: Leave some unscheduled time for unexpected tasks or overruns.
  5. Review and adjust daily: Spend a few minutes each morning reviewing and adjusting your plan for the day.
  6. Integrate with to-do lists: Link your calendar events with corresponding task lists for a comprehensive view of your workload.
  7. Share with your team: Use shared calendars to improve coordination and transparency within your team.

Typical use cases for weekly calendar views include:

  1. Daily task and meeting management: A weekly view allows you to track your workload for each day, quickly assessing available time for meetings, tasks, or events. This helps in balancing your daily schedule and ensuring you have enough time for both collaborative and individual work.
  2. Travel and trip planning: When organizing business trips or personal travel, a weekly view is particularly useful. It helps in planning meetings, completing pre-trip tasks, and organizing post-trip follow-ups. You can easily see how travel days impact your regular schedule and adjust accordingly.
  3. Weekly team coordination: For team leaders and project managers, the weekly view is crucial for distributing tasks within a team, scheduling regular check-ins or status meetings, and monitoring project progress. It provides a clear picture of each team member’s availability and workload for the week.
  4. Shift planning: Businesses and organizations that operate on shift work benefit greatly from a weekly calendar view. It allows managers to quickly see employee schedules, organize shifts efficiently, and avoid overlapping or understaffing issues. This is particularly useful in industries like healthcare, retail, and hospitality.
  5. Personal task and weekly planning: For individual users, a weekly view helps in balancing professional and personal commitments. It’s ideal for planning workout sessions, personal appointments, household chores, and social activities alongside work responsibilities.

Now, let’s summarize the most typical use cases, industries, and suitable calendar types in a table:

Use caseIndustriesSuitable calendar type
Strategic project planningAllAnnual
Budget managementFinance, allAnnual
Marketing campaign planningMarketing, RetailAnnual, Quarterly
Regulatory complianceLegal, Healthcare, FinanceAnnual
Academic planningEducationAnnual, Monthly
Client meeting schedulingConsulting, SalesMonthly, Weekly
Short-term project managementIT, ConstructionMonthly, Weekly
Personal task managementAllMonthly, Weekly
Team coordinationAllWeekly
Shift planningHealthcare, Retail, HospitalityWeekly
Daily operational tasksAllWeekly
Travel planningBusiness Services, TourismWeekly
Fig. 1. Choosing an appropriate calendar view depending on task type and industry.

This table provides a quick reference for choosing the most appropriate calendar view based on the specific use case and industry. However, it’s important to note that these are general guidelines, and the best calendar view may vary depending on individual or organizational needs. Many professionals and businesses benefit from using a combination of these views, switching between them as needed for different planning and management tasks.

Tips for effective use of calendar views

Effective time management often involves using a combination of different calendar views. While each view has its strengths, the most efficient approach typically integrates multiple perspectives to balance long-term strategy with day-to-day execution.

It’s important to remember that choosing calendar views is a highly individual process. What works best depends on personal preferences, work style, and the specific demands of your role or industry. Some people thrive on the detailed structure of a weekly view, while others prefer the broader perspective of a monthly or even yearly view. The key is to experiment and find the combination that enhances your productivity and reduces stress.

Here are some tips and life hacks for optimizing your use of calendar views:

  1. Start with the big picture: Begin your planning with an annual view to set long-term goals and identify key dates or deadlines.
  2. Drill down progressively: Move from annual to monthly, then weekly views as you get closer to execution time. This helps maintain alignment between daily tasks and long-term objectives.
  3. Use the weekly view as your home base: For most people, the weekly view provides the right balance of detail and context for day-to-day planning.
  4. Regularly zoom out: Take time each week or month to review your longer-term view. This helps ensure you’re not losing sight of the big picture while managing daily tasks.
  5. Use split views: Many digital calendar apps allow you to view multiple timeframes simultaneously (e.g., month view alongside weekly view). This can be incredibly helpful for context-switching.
  6. Adapt to your work cycles: If your work follows specific cycles (e.g., quarterly reporting), make sure to incorporate views that align with these periods.
  7. Consider paper backups: While digital calendars are powerful, some people find that a physical planner or wall calendar can provide a tangible, always-visible reminder of key dates and goals.
  8. Leverage time-blocking: Use your calendar (especially in weekly view) to block out chunks of time for focused work, meetings, and even breaks.
  9. Review and adjust regularly: Your optimal calendar setup may change over time. Regularly assess if your current system is working and be willing to make adjustments.

In addition to choosing the right views, there are several other techniques that can enhance your calendar management:

  • Color coding: Assign different colors to various types of activities (e.g., meetings, focused work, personal time) or projects. This provides a quick visual reference to understand how you’re allocating your time.
  • Set up notifications: Use reminders and alerts judiciously to ensure you don’t miss important deadlines or meetings. However, be careful not to over-notify yourself, as this can become distracting.
  • Overlay calendars: Many digital calendar tools allow you to overlay multiple calendars (e.g., work, personal, team) into a single view. This can provide a comprehensive picture of all your commitments and help avoid conflicts.
  • Use categories or tags: Categorize your events and tasks to make them easily searchable and to generate reports on how you’re spending your time.
  • Integrate with task management tools: Link your calendar with your to-do list or project management software for a more comprehensive productivity system.
  • Schedule buffer time: Don’t pack your calendar too tightly. Include buffer time between meetings and tasks to allow for overruns, breaks, and unexpected issues.

By combining these techniques with thoughtfully chosen calendar views, you can create a personalized time management system that enhances your productivity, reduces stress, and helps you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Remember, the goal is not just to fill your calendar, but to use it as a tool to prioritize what’s truly important and make the most of your time.

While we’ve discussed the benefits of various calendar perspectives, it’s equally important to know how to access these views in the tools you use daily. In this section, we’ll explore the practical aspects of switching between calendar views on three popular platforms: Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook. 

Switching calendar views in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams offers a versatile calendar feature that easily integrates with your workflow. Here’s how to switch between different calendar views:

  1. Navigate to the Calendar app in the left sidebar of Teams.
  2. At the top of the calendar, you’ll see view options: Day, Work week, Week, and Agenda.
  3. Click on your preferred view to switch.
Switching between calendar views in Microsoft Teams.
Pic. 4. Switching between calendar views in Microsoft Teams.

As mentioned, Microsoft Teams offers an additional view—Agenda, which provides a list-style view of your events.

Checking the Agenda view in Microsoft Teams.
Pic. 5. Checking the Agenda view in Microsoft Teams.

Example: Use the Month view for team planning sessions to see the overall distribution of meetings and events. Switch to Week or Work week views when you need to focus on daily schedules and time-blocking.

Switching Calendar Views in Google Calendar

Google Calendar offers intuitive options for switching between views:

  1. On the top right corner of your calendar, find the view selector.
  2. Click to choose between Day, Week, Month, Year, Schedule, or 4 Days views.
Switching between different calendar views in Google calendar.
Pic. 6. Switching between different calendar views in Google calendar.

Interface features to improve workflow:

  • Use the mini-calendar on the left to quickly jump to specific dates.
  • Customize your view settings by clicking the gear icon > “Settings” > “View options”.
  • Enable “World clock” in settings to see multiple time zones.
Tweaking Google calendar settings. 
Pic. 7. Tweaking Google calendar settings.

Switching Calendar Views in Microsoft Outlook

Desktop App (Windows):

  1. In the “Home” tab, find the “Arrange” group.
  2. Choose from Day, Work Week, Week, or Month views.
  3. For more options, click the “View” tab and explore additional layouts.

Desktop App (Mac):

  1. In the main Outlook window, click on “Calendar” on the left-hand side.
  2. At the top of the calendar pane, you’ll see view options: Day, Three Day, Working Week, Week, and Month.
  3. Click on your preferred view to switch.
Switching between different calendar views in Outlook for Mac. 
Pic. 8. Switching between different calendar views in Outlook for Mac.
  1. For additional options, click on the “View” icon in the top menu bar.
  2. Here you can select “Agenda” or customize your current view.
Navigating to the Agenda view in Outlook for Mac. 
Pic. 9. Navigating to the Agenda view in Outlook for Mac.

Mobile App:

  1. Tap the calendar icon at the bottom.
  2. At the top, you’ll see options for Agenda, Day, 3-Day, and Month views.
  3. In Month view, you can tap a specific day to see its agenda.
Switching between different calendar views in Outlook mobile. 
Pic. 10. Switching between different calendar views in Outlook mobile. 

Web Version:

  1. Click the view selector in the top-right corner.
  2. Choose from Day, Work week, Week, or Month, and Split views.
Switching between different calendar views in Outlook for the web. 
Pic. 11. Switching between different calendar views in Outlook for the web.

Examples of using different views:

  1. Month view: Use this for quarterly planning. You can easily spot patterns in meeting schedules or identify the best weeks for team off-sites.
  2. Week view: Ideal for managing your workload. You can balance your daily tasks, ensure you have enough time for focused work, and identify potential scheduling conflicts.
  3. Day view: Perfect for busy days with multiple appointments. It allows you to see the details of each meeting, including attendees and locations, at a glance.
  4. Work week view: Great for team leaders to coordinate schedules. You can quickly see your team’s availability for the standard work week and plan accordingly.
  5. Split view: Use this when you need to simultaneously view two or more different calendars. For instance, you can view your own calendar alongside those of your colleagues, facilitating efficient scheduling and collaboration.  
Exploring “Split view” in Outlook for the web. 
Pic. 12. Exploring “Split view” in Outlook for the web.

By mastering these view-switching techniques across different platforms, you can adapt your calendar to suit various planning needs, enhancing your productivity and time management skills.

Explore the Top Project Calendar Apps

Virto Calendar

Consolidate events from SharePoint, Exchange, Google, and more into one calendar view for simplified planning.

Virto Calendar

Merge events from multiple sources like Exchange, Google, and SQL into unified calendar view.

Virto Time Blocking

Improve time management with an app that schedules breaks and sends reminders for a balanced workday.

Enhance Your Calendar Experience with Virto Calendar App (for Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams)

Virto Calendar App is a powerful tool designed to streamline calendar management across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams platforms. It offers a comprehensive solution for viewing and synchronizing calendars, making it an ideal choice for team collaboration and business event management. With its ability to support various calendar views, Virto Calendar App provides users with unparalleled flexibility in organizing their schedules.

One of the standout features of Virto Calendar App is its capacity to overlay multiple calendars from different sources into a single, unified view. This includes Exchange Online calendars, SharePoint lists, Microsoft Planner tasks, public folders, and even external calendars via iCal feeds. This integration allows teams to have a holistic view of all their events and tasks, regardless of where they originate.

Switching between different calendar views in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 13. Switching between different calendar views in Virto Calendar.

Virto Calendar App offers an impressive array of 11 unique views, each tailored to specific planning needs:

  1. Day View: For detailed daily planning.
  2. Live View: Offers real-time updates at 5-30 minute intervals, ideal for time-sensitive scheduling.
  3. Week View: Provides an overview of upcoming events for the week.
  4. Work Week View: Focuses on Monday to Friday planning.
  5. Month View: A classic calendar layout with enhanced navigation.
  6. Year View: Perfect for long-term annual planning.
  7. Flat Year View: A simplified annual view, great for vacation planning, project timelines, and budgeting cycles. It’s particularly convenient for printing.
  8. Year Quarter View: Allows for quarterly planning (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4).
  9. Multisource View: Combines all calendars in one place for easy management.
  10. Task View (Hours): A Gantt-style view for hourly task management.
  11. Task View (Days): Provides a broader perspective for daily task management.

Setting up and managing events in Virto Calendar App is straightforward. After installation and configuration, users can easily create, delete, and move events across different views. The app’s intuitive interface allows for quick switching between timescales and color-coding of events and categories.

Here’s how to set up and choose different calendar views in Virto Calendar for easy reference:

  1. General setup:
    • Choose a calendar you’d like to edit and click on it.
Editing calendar settings in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 14. Editing calendar settings in Virto Calendar.
  • Navigate to the “General” tab in the settings.
  • Change the calendar name, add data sources, and edit any other options (such as internet calendars by pasting iCal URLs, setting up common categories for color-coding events, etc.) 
  • Select fields to display for various views (week, month, etc.).
Tweaking views settings in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 15. Tweaking views settings in Virto Calendar.
  • Define the default calendar view.
  1. Choosing and customizing views:
    • Day view: Customize in the “Calendar” tab by setting working days and workday duration.
    • Week view: Adjust in the “Calendar” tab, defining the day the week starts.
Changing day and weekly views in the “Calendar” tab within Virto Calendar settings. 
Pic. 16.  Changing day and weekly views in the “Calendar” tab within Virto Calendar settings.
  • Month view: Customize in the “Month” tab:
    • Set display mode, item height, and font size.
    • Define text for additional items.
    • Choose the number of weeks to display.
    • Option to hide event start time on event cards.
Changing monthly view settings in the “Month” tab in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 17. Changing monthly view settings in the “Month” tab in Virto Calendar.
  • Year view: Customize in the “Year” tab:
    • Set display mode and item height.
    • Define text for additional items.
    • Choose the month when the first quarter starts.
Changing annual view settings in the “Year” tab in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 18. Changing annual view settings in the “Year” tab in Virto Calendar.
  • Multiday views: Customize in the “Multiday” tab:
    • Set row height, number of rows, time labels per hour.
    • Choose time format, font size, and weight.
 Changing multiday view settings in the “Multiday” tab in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 19. Changing multiday view settings in the “Multiday” tab in Virto Calendar.
  • Task/Gantt view: Customize in the “Task Settings” tab:
    • Specify day count, item height, columns per hour.
    • Set time format in the header.
Changing task view settings in the “Task” tab in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 20. Changing task view settings in the “Task” tab in Virto Calendar.
  1. Additional view options:
    • Filter Exchange events by status.
    • Unify categories for better visualization across data sources.
    • Show/hide specific categories of events.
    • Customize the display of the data source legend and tooltip width.

To switch between views, use the view selector in the calendar interface (Pic. 13). The default view can be set in the General settings, and you can choose which views to display in the calendar.

Remember to save your settings after making changes to ensure your preferences are applied to the calendar views.

Virto Calendar’s “Flat Year” view 

Now, let’s turn our attention to a particularly versatile and insightful view: the flat year view. This unique calendar layout offers a comprehensive yearly overview that can transform how teams approach long-term planning and coordination.

In this section, we’ll explore Virto Calendar’s flat year view in more detail, examining its distinctive features and the specific advantages it brings to calendar management. We’ll explore how it differs from traditional annual views, identify scenarios where it proves most beneficial, and discuss how it complements other calendar perspectives.

Example flat year view in Virto Calendar. 
Pic. 21. Example flat year view in Virto Calendar.
  1. Here’s how flat year view differs from other views:
    • It displays the entire year at once in a grid format, with each month as a column and days as rows.
    • Unlike traditional annual views, it shows more detail for each day, including specific events and color coding.
    • It allows for a quick overview of patterns and distributions of events across the whole year at a glance.
    • Unlike weekly or monthly views, it sacrifices granular daily details for a broader perspective.
  2. Here’s when flat year view could be most beneficial:
    • Long-term project planning: Visualizing milestones and deadlines across the year.
    • Resource allocation: Identifying busy periods and potential conflicts over extended timeframes.
    • Vacation planning: Seeing team members’ time off throughout the year.
    • Marketing campaign scheduling: Planning and coordinating campaigns across seasons.
    • Event planning: Organizing company-wide events or product launches.
    • Fiscal year planning: Aligning business activities with financial quarters.
  3. Here are the benefits of flat year view in addition to other views:
    • Provides a bird’s-eye view of the entire year’s activities, complementing more detailed daily or weekly views.
    • Helps in identifying patterns or recurring events that might not be obvious in shorter-term views.
    • Facilitates better long-term strategic planning by showing the big picture.
    • Allows for easy comparison of workload and activities across different months or seasons.
    • Supports better coordination among team members by showing everyone’s schedules simultaneously.
    • Useful for printing or presenting a yearly overview in meetings or reports.

In essence, by offering a bird’s-eye perspective of annual activities, the flat year view enables better resource allocation, more effective project planning, and improved coordination among team members. It complements other calendar views by providing the big picture that’s often missing in day-to-day or week-to-week planning.

👉 How to show calendar for this month in Virto Calendar? To show this month’s calendar in Virto Calendar, open the app. Look for the view selector, located in the top right corner of the calendar interface. Click on this selector and choose “Month” from the dropdown menu. If you’re not automatically shown the current month, use the navigation arrows or date picker to select it. 

As you can see—with its extensive features and flexibility, Virto Calendar App enhances the calendar experience by providing a centralized platform for all scheduling needs. Whether you’re managing personal tasks, coordinating team projects, or planning company-wide events, Virto Calendar App offers the tools to make calendar management more efficient and effective across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams environments.

Conclusion

As we’ve explored throughout this article, the key to optimizing your schedule lies in choosing the right calendar view for each specific need. Whether you’re planning long-term strategies with a yearly view, coordinating monthly projects, or managing daily tasks with a weekly perspective, each view offers unique benefits that can significantly enhance your time management and productivity.

The Virto Calendar App for Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams stands out as a powerful tool in this regard, offering a seamless integration of various calendar views and features that cater to diverse business needs. By leveraging its capabilities, you can transform your approach to calendar management, making it more efficient and tailored to your workflow. We encourage you to explore Virto Calendar’s extensive feature set firsthand by either scheduling a demo call or installing a free 14-day trial version of the app.   

For those looking to dive deeper, our resources on calendar management tips and specific use cases—such as team calendars, corporate event planning, room and resource booking, and class scheduling—offer valuable insights into maximizing the benefits of strategic calendar use:

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]

Charts

Important: You’re just a few clicks away from exploring our app. Before you start the installation process, make sure to read instructions. This will prevent from possible technical issues in the future

If you will need further technical help for installation or configuration please contact our support team at [email protected]

Pop up alert

Important: You’re just a few clicks away from exploring our app. Before you start the installation process, make sure to read instructions. This will prevent from possible technical issues in the future

If you will need further technical help for installation or configuration please contact our support team at [email protected]

Download and extract the zip file to a folder on your SharePoint server
Run Setup.exe under SharePoint administrator account and follow the simple wizard

Request your 14-day trial. 

Download Free 14-day Trial

Choose your SharePoint version

Need any help? – email us at [email protected]