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How to change default calendar

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by Mark Lang

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This is a followup to an earlier question that is archived. For many months I used the Lightning Calendar within Thunderbird synced to my Google calendar using TBSync. While TBSync no longer formally supports Google accounts, my previous settings still work fine, and there is prefs parameter to enable support. My problem has been that I can no longer set the default calendar for new entries.

Previously, I followed instructions to edit the Config File by adding a calendar.registry.....default value for the calendar I wanted as default, making it true, and making the previous default parameter false. However, that no longer works. I can change the settings, but they revert back every time I restart Thunderbird.

I just discovered that there is a list of calendars pane on the left that can be activated. I was not seeing it because I had extended the calendar body over the pane area. By enabling Calendar List in the Views menu, and carefully opening an area to the left of the calendar, I got the calendar list back. If I click on one of the calendars in the list, then that becomes the default. I checked, and this actually makes the changes in the prefs file that I had previously made to set the default. However, now the default reverts back to Home every time I restart. This appears to be a feature of Thunderbird itself, perhaps added when Lightning was integrated into Thunderbird.

I am trying to find out if there is a way to get set the default calendar different from Home and keep it there after future restarts. The properties box for the calendars in the calendar list has some options, but none to set a default calendar. Does anyone know of any way to do this?

I was considering abandoning TBSync and just setting the link to Google with the new CalDAV feature that is included in Thunderbird. However, I assume that this will not change the way that Thunderbird seems to always reset the default calendar on startup.

This is a followup to an earlier question that is archived. For many months I used the Lightning Calendar within Thunderbird synced to my Google calendar using TBSync. While TBSync no longer formally supports Google accounts, my previous settings still work fine, and there is prefs parameter to enable support. My problem has been that I can no longer set the default calendar for new entries. Previously, I followed instructions to edit the Config File by adding a calendar.registry.....default value for the calendar I wanted as default, making it true, and making the previous default parameter false. However, that no longer works. I can change the settings, but they revert back every time I restart Thunderbird. I just discovered that there is a list of calendars pane on the left that can be activated. I was not seeing it because I had extended the calendar body over the pane area. By enabling Calendar List in the Views menu, and carefully opening an area to the left of the calendar, I got the calendar list back. If I click on one of the calendars in the list, then that becomes the default. I checked, and this actually makes the changes in the prefs file that I had previously made to set the default. However, now the default reverts back to Home every time I restart. This appears to be a feature of Thunderbird itself, perhaps added when Lightning was integrated into Thunderbird. I am trying to find out if there is a way to get set the default calendar different from Home and keep it there after future restarts. The properties box for the calendars in the calendar list has some options, but none to set a default calendar. Does anyone know of any way to do this? I was considering abandoning TBSync and just setting the link to Google with the new CalDAV feature that is included in Thunderbird. However, I assume that this will not change the way that Thunderbird seems to always reset the default calendar on startup.

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I followed instructions to edit the Config File by adding a calendar.registry

What instructions? Can you post a link?

If I click on one of the calendars in the list, then that becomes the default.

I'm not aware of a 'default' calendar concept in Thunderbird. What exactly do you want a default calendar to do or to be?

However, now the default reverts back to Home every time I restart.

I'm still not sure about the meaning of 'default'. Here the calendar selected in the left pane of the Calendar tab is still selected after a Thunderbird restart.

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Thanks for responding. The instructions for changing the default calendar are as follows:

"When you have several calendars opened in Lightning, it’s a bit of a pain to double check everytime that the correct one is selected… If you have the same issue, here is the solution :

   Open Tools > Options > Advanced tab, and click Config Editor button.
   In the “Filter:” box enter “calendar.registry”
   Find a .calendar-main-default key – it will be set to true
   Other calendars either won’t have a .calendar-main-default key (or it will be set to false)
   Right click on the value of the .calendar-main-default key that goes with the calendar that currently shows up by default in new events to toggle the value to false
   Click on the .calendar-main-in-composite key that goes with the calendar you want as default
   Right click on the same key and choose Copy Name from the menu that appears.
   Now right click on the key again and select New > Boolean
   Paste the name of the key and Use the backspace key to erase “in-composite” and type “default”
   Click OK and Choose true and click OK
   Now exit out of Thunderbird and restart"

As suggested above, the default calendar is the one that new events are entered in unless you explicitly select a calendar. When the default is Home, then the events are only recorded locally; they do not sync to other devices. I want my Google calendar to be the default so new events automatically show locally but also sync to Google, and through there to my phone and other devices.

As I noted, I am able to make the changes suggested above. They are in the prefs.js file when I open it while Thunderbird is still active. However, when I restart Thunderbird they revert to the old (Home set as default). The prefs.js file is as it was before I made the changes. I discovered that, if you have the list of calendars showing on the left pane and you click the Google calendar, then it becomes the default, e.g. events are entered into the Google calendar without having to select it specifically for the rest of that Thunderbird session. I also found that, when I review the config editor, the changes noted above have been made. However, everything goes back to to Home when Thunderbird is restarted. That is, Home appears at the top of the list of calendars, and it is the default again. Until a month or so ago, one could make the suggested change in the Config Editor and the default would stay on the selected calendar when Thunderbird started. I had thought the issue might be related to TBSync, which I am using to sync to Google, because there was an update about that time that made Google syncing unsupported. However, it now seems that Lightning might have been made to reset the default calendar to Home whenever the code was integrated within Thunderbird (rather than the add-on), which also happened around that time.

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I noticed you brought up this problem before. There isn't much more I can tell you other than what has been suggested to you already. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1317215#answer-1374448

They are in the prefs.js file when I open it while Thunderbird is still active.

Not sure if this is what you meant, manually editing prefs.js while Thunderbird is running is usually a bad idea.

I discovered that, if you have the list of calendars showing on the left pane and you click the Google calendar, then it becomes the default, e.g. events are entered into the Google calendar without having to select it specifically for the rest of that Thunderbird session.

As mentioned before, the once selected calendar is still the selected one after a Thunderbird restart. So try with a new profile and stop messing with the prefs.js file.

I had thought the issue might be related to TBSync, which I am using to sync to Google

That sounds very unlikely to me.

it now seems that Lightning might have been made to reset the default calendar to Home whenever the code was integrated within Thunderbird (rather than the add-on)

Again, not very likely.

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I did not make changes to the prefs.js file while Thunderbird was active. I only viewed the file. I did try changes with Thunderbird not active as a last resort (after I saved the profile). Making a new profile is not realistic as I have more than 5 email accounts with several years of emails and many local folders, also. I cannot afford to start over unless there is some way to retain all that.

I did decide to try moving away from TBSync. The calendars were easy to create using the CalDAV process directly. Now, when I select a calendar as the default, it stays selected when I restart Thunderbird. I also installed Cardbook for my contacts. That also seemed to work well. However, after I created a new contact, it started having problems. Whenever I select a contact from the remote Google address book, the screen now blinks about every second and selecting a contact becomes unstable. It seems to be stuck trying to sync. I placed a note on the Cardbook github page.