Below is the text of an email sent to the LASERS list. I am placing it here until 'proper' documentation is created. — John Benedetto 2019/08/15 19:21

Starting 8-18-19, you will be required to use the new Google Calendar(s) to schedule time on the cutter(s).

Reservations on the lasers email list will not be respected after that time.

The “old” brown 80w cutter is named Cutter Aleph. The “new” red/black cutter is named Cutter Bet.

For obvious reasons, Cutter Bet is not available for scheduling yet.

If you haven't done so, and you are a certified lasercutter user on Cutter Aleph, please send me your Google connected email address so I can add privileges to the calendar.

At some point, I'll build up a wiki page with screen grabs and everything for using Google Calendars, but here are some simple pointers for those of you that have not used Google Calendars before. Note that steps/appearance may differ somewhat depending on whether or not you are on a phone or a desktop/laptop.

1. be sure you are logged into Google, and that I've added your Google connected email address to the calendar.

2. navigate to Google calendars in browser (phone or desktop), or using the app on a phone. You can use their menu on the home page, or just go right to https://calendar.google.com

3.

• desktop
  • if it is not already expanded, click the “hamburger” icon at top left to expend the full left-hand nav menu
  • expand the “other calendars” submenu
  • look for “Quelab Aleph Lasercutter” and/or “Quelab Bet Lasercutter” and check the boxes so those calendars are displayed

• phone/app
  • if it is not already expanded, click the “hamburger” icon at top left to expend the full left-hand nav menu
  • under the list of calendars in the left-nav, click “show more” below the list of “your” main calendars
  • look for “Quelab Aleph Lasercutter” and/or “Quelab Bet Lasercutter” and check the boxes so those calendars are displayed

4. to add a reservation to the calendar, just click in the “day” you want to add your reservation, and you'll get a popup/overlay with some basic fields

5. the most important thing when adding your “event” is to choose the correct calendar. By default, you are generally adding to your “personal” calendar. You want to be sure to use the dropdown/selectors to choose the calendar for the cutter you are reserving.

6. for the “title/name” of your event JUST PUT YOUR OWN NAME so other users can see who is doing what

7. last but not least, be sure to “unselect” all day (phone/app) or click “add time” (desktop/laptop) so you can put your start and end times for your slot in.

8. POINTER – the “month” view will not show the full “range” of time slots in an intuitive way if you are trying to see when an open slot is – you can either click on the event (reservation) for the details, or switch to “day” view which will show you everything stacked up by time. Please be mindful of other users' time selections.

9. You can always edit your reservation after the fact if you are extending your time (and nobody else has claimed it). Likewise, I would appreciate it if you would shorten your time in the calendar if you leave early (thus opening up time for others). You can also just delete your event/reservation if you are “cancelling”. Likewise, every user can edit every event, so try to not edit other users reservations :)

Power users – you can set email notifications and push notification to your phone (if using the Google Calendar app) with reminders that your reservation is coming up.