The DigiDay Reminder is a compact program that gives you just about everything you might need in a reminder application. When combined with the DigiDay Clock, you get a package that is both convenient and powerful.

Important note: In order to use alarms with this program, you will need to have the DigiDay Clock running.

To use the program for the first time, simply press the "New" button to add new reminders. Look at the screens below to get an idea of the different things you can do. Everything is pretty self-explanatory, except for a few concepts which are explained in detail below where appropriate.

As you probably already know, you must have at least one DigiDay program installed in order to use the Reminder. The Reminder figures out who you are by looking at the last person who "logged in" to DigiDay. It then looks in your personal DigiDay directory for your reminders. Each person listed in the DigiDay Logon program can have one set of reminders. This means that you don't have to bother with a File/Open or File/Save command, or any such nonsense: the Reminder takes care of all that for you behind the scenes.

Click on the part of the screen you want to learn about.

Today

Click the Today button to show just today's reminders.

All Reminders

Click the All Reminders button to view all your reminders (past, present, and far into the future).

Reminder List Area

#Days indicates the number of days before or after the current date that the reminder is/was set for. For instance, "( 1 )" was due yesterday, "----" is due today, and "1" is due tomorrow.

Date displays the calendar day the reminder was set for.

Alarm displays the time the alarm was set for that reminder.

Ntc displays the number of days notice you get in advance of the reminder’s due date. For instance, 7 means that you’ll start seeing the reminder 7 days in advance.

Nag displays important reminders that will remain in the list area until you delete it.

Freq displays the frequency in which the reminder is displayed. For example, a birthday would be displayed as "1 yr" where a mortgage payment would be displayed as "1 mo".

Reminder displays the reminder text that you entered on the "New Reminder" screen.

Cycle

Click the Cycle button to move the reminder forward by the frequency it is set to. For instance, cycling a birthday set for June 16, 1996 would reset the reminder to June 16, 1997. Most reminders cycle themselves automatically -- for them, you won't have to concern yourself with the Cycle button. But, at your discretion, you can set a reminder to "Nag" you, which means that it does not cycle itself automatically: you always have to do it. This is a great feature for reminders related to paying bills, for instance. You want to make sure you keep seeing the reminder until you've actually paid that bill!

New Reminder

Click the New button to add a new reminder via the "New Reminder" screen (see below). You can also perform this function by simply pressing the Insert key.

Use the Reminder Text box to enter your reminder descriptions.

Enter the reminder Begin date (F3=today, F4=show calendar). Use the left/right arrows, then the up/down arrows -- or just start typing.

Click inside the End check box to enter the reminder expiration date (F3=today, F4=show calendar). Use the left/right arrows, then the up/down arrows -- or just start typing. The default date is also the current date.

Enter the number of days in advance you want to see a reminder in the Advance Notice spin box

Click Nag to nag yourself about important reminders. A normal reminder, such as a birthday announcement or a meeting notice, will automatically cycle itself to the next date when the current due date has passed. This is great for many reminders, but what if you have a mortgage payment due on the first? You don't want it to disappear automatically on the second: you might not have paid it yet! If you select the Nag option, the reminder will keep appearing on the main screen until you cycle it yourself using the Cycle button.

Click the One-time only button if you do not want the reminder to be repeated. This box is checked by default.

Click the Every button if you want the reminder to be repeated.

Enter the number of periods between each occurrence using the spin box -- or just type the number yourself. If the frequency selected is "Weeks", and you enter a "6" here, the reminder will repeat every six weeks.

Select the frequency type using the pull-down (days, weeks, months or years). This will indicate how often the reminder will occur. You will also notice that check boxes may appear below the selection box. This will enable you to set the day of the week rather than a specific date. For instance, "First Monday in August" instead of August 1.

Click inside the Alarm check box to enter the time the alarm should sound (F2=clear, F3=current time). Use the left/right arrows, then the up/down arrows -- or just start typing. (Remember: you'll need to have the DigiDay Clock running in order to trigger the alarms). The time you enter here is the time the alarm will go off, not necessarily the time something is due. For instance, in this example, the stock club meeting is actually at 7:30, but our user entered the alarm for 6:30 because he knows he will need an hour to get there. Notice that the user documented the actual time of the meeting in the reminder text. This is a good habit to get into for alarms.

When you enter an alarm time, another checkbox appears titled Hide Today. If you check this, the alarm will not appear on the main list if you are looking at the Today's reminders (as opposed to All Reminders). This allows you to have lots of alarms without having them clutter up the main list. For instance, the lunch places around our office get awfully crowded around noon, so we have a daily alarm that goes off at 11:45 to remind us to beat the crowds. But due to the rather mundane nature of the reminder, we check Hide Today so we don't see it on the normal "Today" list.

Click the OK button to exit this screen and save your changes.

Click the Cancel button to exit this screen without saving your changes.

Each control has a context sensitive help description. Just set the focus on the control you want to learn more about and a brief description of it will appear in the inset panel on the bottom of the screen. In this example, the Begin date has the focus.

Edit Reminder

Click the Edit button to change a reminder via the "Edit a reminder" screen (see below). Note: You must first select a row prior to clicking the Edit button. You can also perform this function by simply pressing the Enter (or Return) key.

See New Reminder for a detailed description of each control (buttons, check boxes, etc.).

Each control has a contact sensitive help description. Just set the focus on the control you want to learn more about and a brief description of it will appear in the inset panel on the bottom of the screen. In this example, Reminder Text has the focus.

Delete Reminder

Click the Delete button to remove a reminder. Note: You must select a row prior to clicking the Delete button. You can also perform this function by simply pressing the Delete key. Once you delete a reminder, there is no "undo" to get it back, so be careful.