The best best calendar app for mac is one that will help you have it all. That includes being able to check out the best calendar app for mac free. And if you’re looking for the best calendar app for mac for students, you’re in luck. There are many choices here, with something just right for your needs.
Discover the best free calendar app for mac to keep track of your event. Are you a student wondering what the best calendar app for mac free is? Here are some great ways to learn about the best calendar app for mac, and get started using it.
macOS Calendar
macOS calendar is one of the best calendar apps for Mac. Apple’s calendar, installed on your Mac, is clean, functional, and syncs effortlessly with your iPhone and iPad.
Adding appointments is easy – click the + button. Natural language processing means one can type something like “go for a walk at noon” and hope your computer understands what you mean. You can click and drag the calendar itself. There are four basic views: day, week, month, and year.
You can create several local calendars as you want, and they will all sync with iCloud. You can also add calendars ranging from Exchange, Google, Yahoo, or AOL accounts. This is useful if you have a balance at work and personal schedules.
Apple’s calendar previously offered a to-do list, but the tasks are now in a separate Reminders app. If you want to preview tasks with your appointments, this app will not mute it. But there are many other integrations. For example, directions appear on Apple Maps, and you can receive travel time notifications if you want.
Apple Calendar is simple, but if you only use Apple products, you should try it before installing anything else as it covers all calendar bases.
BusyCal
Another great option is BusyCal. This app automatically syncs up with any accounts that you’re using with the Mail app on Mac, and everything will be up-to-date. The design of the app itself is simple and clean, but there are plenty of powerful features as well. One of those is the Smart Filter, which lets you create rules for what events are shown. For example, you can set a filter to only show birthdays or repeating events. BusyCal also lets you have multiple Smart Filters set up at once, making it easier to organize your hectic calendar.
Other features of BusyCal include a menubar app, travel time, natural language input, and a ton of customization options including font face, size, colors, time format, and much more. If you don’t like Fantastical’s subscription model, BusyCal and its one-time cost is an excellent alternative to consider.
Microsoft Outlook Calendar (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Web)
The most stalwart of calendar apps, Microsoft Outlook Calendar is more of a personal information manager than a place to see your next appointment. The desktop app unifies your calendar, email, notes, tasks, and contacts into one view. Outlook’s mobile apps aren’t quite so ambitious, but they do at least combine your calendar and email.
Outlook, which is part of Microsoft Office, lets you share calendars with teammates, and that’s its real strength. With Exchange Server accounts and the appropriate permissions, team members can view and manage each other’s schedules and subscribe to one another’s calendars. Outlook offers options for how you can view multiple calendars at once: side-by-side or with calendars combined in an overlay view.
If you don’t use Outlook within an organization, you might still appreciate the calendar’s many features. You can drag and drop an email onto the calendar icon in the navigation menu to turn it into an appointment (available in the Windows app only), or quickly send a meeting request from either email or the calendar. Outlook supports multiple time zone views, too. There’s a lot to dig into.
You can get a free online version of Outlook, called Outlook.com, which is more streamlined and has fewer features. Outlook.com has family sharing, so you can add other household members to your account to make your calendar accessible to others. The Mac version of Outlook isn’t as robust as the Windows version, but if you like having everything in one place, this is an all-in-one productivity tool to consider.
Connect Outlook to Zapier for more power. That way, you can send calendar appointments to other apps, including other calendars or your to-do list.
Informant
Need your calendar app to be more than just a calendar? Then Informant is the one you’re looking for. This powerful app rolls your calendar, task manager, and notes into one, giving you everything you need in a single glance. The task manager element of Informant is also very flexible, working with you, whether it’s GTD, Franklin Covey, or a simple and basic task list. Informant also has support for multiple filters, so you can easily switch and access the important stuff whenever you need to.
Fantastical 2 (iOS, macOS)
Is it cheesy to call Fantastical 2 fantastic? Probably, but at least in this case, it’s not hyperbole. Fantastical 2 has just about everything one could want in a calendar app for iOS and macOS, in addition to an Apple Watch companion.
While it’s nice to have the mobile app, Fantastical 2 is at its best on desktop. The app is colorful without being gaudy or overwhelming, and it’s easy to use without sacrificing control over your event details. On a Mac, the menu bar app lets you quickly add an event or see what’s on your agenda in the coming days. Adding details to your events—such as notes, URLs, invitees, and locations—feels quick and smooth. Fantastical 2 also integrates with the rest of your system to give you a Today view widget, Handoff support, and a share sheet extension that lets you create events from other apps, like addresses in Maps and URLs in Safari.
Fantastical 2 is best known for its natural-language event creation. Start typing “Lunch with Casey at noon at Park Place,” and watch as the app parses your words into calendar fields and pulls in relevant information, such as addresses and team members’ availability. If you want the best Apple calendar on the market, this is the one you’re looking for.
Fantastical 2 Pricing: Free; Premium costs $3.33 per month
Itsycal
As good as macOS is, some missing features don’t make sense. For example: in Windows, you can click on the clock to display the calendar. Apple hasn’t added anything similar.
Itsycal is not a full calendar app, but it’s free and better than the default calendar app. Itsycal has a great menu bar, where the icon shows you the current date. Once you click on the icon button, you will find a miniature calendar, a perfect reference tool.
You can configure a global keyboard shortcut to see this icon. Below the calendar, you’ll see your appointments, and you can even use the keyboard to search for dates. From here, you can also quickly add appointments to your calendars.
This is a small addition to Apple’s Calendar app, of course, but it also allows you to check your appointments quickly. And it’s pretty customizable – for example, there’s a dark theme and a light theme, and you can change the icon to include the month and day of the week.
You can also pin a calendar, which is excellent when you need to refer to it while composing an email or note. Try this app if you find any of these useful as the price is no reason to object.
Mini Calendar
Do you want a calendar app that is simple and lightweight? Mini Calendar fits the bill perfectly. It gives you access to your calendars three ways: on the desktop, from the Dock, and from the menubar. When it’s on the desktop, it is always-on and sits above the wallpaper. From the Dock, you just need to click on the icon and it will bring up the calendar as a popup. Mini Calendar is configurable in terms of color, shortcut keys, and it can show you sunrise and sunset times too. It’s just a light and fast way to get to your calendar when you need to.
Conclusion:
The free best calendar app for mac keeps your schedule in sync across all your devices. From the best free calendar app for mac to the best cheap calendar app for mac, within moments you can sync, search and view events in one place. Whether you’re planning dinner with friends, booking flights online or need to schedule your student google calendar sync, our calendar keeps life organized.