Many of my iCal events are consulting jobs or trainings I am going to deliver. When I work on such an iCal item in my calendar or my to do list, it happens very often that I need to open a file or folder with accompanying information.
I never liked that I needed to switch to the Finder and click my way to a folder deep down in my file system whenever iCal told me to update project information, call people, etc.
Yet, iCal allows you to enter URLs which can be opened if you click on them.
In the detailed view of an iCal event you see a field called ‘url’. Just drag the file or folder of choice on it, and it will show you the path to the file:
If later you need to access this file, just click on url->Go to Location to open it in the Finder:
This doesn’t work with multiple files by default, but it’s perfect if you work with a single folder per project.
Tip: If you want to access more than files and folders, let’s say e-mails, URLs, and so on, drop a smart folder on your iCal event. The smart folder’s saved search function can contain multiple folders and multiple search criteria or just show everything within selected folders. This way, you can e.g. access recent mail correspondence, files exchanged with a person, presentation drafts you prepared, and much more by just clicking on Go To Location. Great, isn’t it?
I have to admit that this much preparation is especially useful if you work with recurring events. For a single event it might be too much work…