So…maybe I’m doing it wrong… it I’ve not figured this out yet.
I have a shared iCloud calendar created under my iCloud account and then shared it with my wife so we each have our own calendar as well as r/w access to the combined one. What we want to happen is either of us can put an event on the calendar and then set alerts…and the alerts to show up on all of our devices (iOS and watch mostly). The problem is that the alerts only happen for the one that created the event.
We’ve tried both having invitees and not…doesn’t solve the problem.
The events show up on all devices regardless of originator. We can work around the issue by creating two events…one on combined and then the other of us creates their own corresponding event on the personal calendar…that works but you get 2 entries and is extra work. We can also work around by enabling the default all events alert in Preferences…but there are events that don’t need alerts and this just generates alert overload.
So…is it not possible to have a shared calendar and either share-ee can set alerts for some events that will alert on both share-ee’s devices? Maybe I’m just missing something obvious.
Thanks for reminding me about this issue. My wife and I have noticed this but never sought a solution. We just got in the habit of relaying the alerts to each other. Your inquiry inspired me to check a theory.
Your wife should be able to edit the shared events and add alerts that only her devices see. I do not know of a way that you can set an alert that she sees.
My mental model is that each user of a shared event gets to choose to be notified of that event. You could say “has to choose” if you prefer.
Thanks Mark…some further experimenting after I posted led us to the conclusion that each of us setting alerts is the only way other than just setting a default alert for all events…when she did that then she got the alert for the event I created. It shouldn’t really work like that…to my mind her devices should honor the alerts if I set them…or at least have a preference to honor alerts in shared calendar events or something similar.
Fair point, Neil, but I find I value the feature of allowing each user to decide whether to get an alert or not for a particular event. What I would find useful is the ability to recommend a default alert for other users of an event in a shared calendar.
As an example, my wife needs to know when I will be attending a meeting so she can avoid scheduling me for a conflicting activity, but she doesn’t necessarily need to be reminded when I need to leave to get there.