Milestones Calendar Software Documentation
Getting Started:
Calendar Screen:
Welcome to Milestones Calendar Software
Milestones is an easy
to use calendar program for Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or
XP. You can easily schedule appointments, plan vacations, add holidays,
and automatically calculate birthdays or anniversaries. Organize your
health records including doctor and dental visits, weight measurements,
blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose readings. There's even a
built-in menstrual calendar to record your periods and predict future
menstrual cycles.
Once you have entered your events, Milestones can draw your calendar
right on your desktop wallpaper. This lets you see your upcoming events
easily at any time without annoying popup alarms, or having to open the
program window. You may control the position, size, and colors that
best blend with your wallpaper image.
This documentation will assist you with the operation of Milestones.
For easier reference, functions that require you to click on a button
on the Milestones screen are highlighted as a
Button, and functions that require you to press a key
on your keyboard are highlighted as a
Key.
The Milestones program and documentation are Copyright 2011 by Mountain
Software, all rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication of the
program or documentation is a violation of federal copyright laws. The
trial version of Milestones may be distributed freely, provided all
original and unmodified files are included.
This product has been tested extensively and to the best of my
knowledge will not cause problems of any kind. However, neither
Mountain Software nor the author (Anthony Watson), will be held
responsible for any damage occurring to your system or other software.
I also make no guarantee as to compatibility with other software or
hardware configurations.
The Milestones calendar was written by Anthony Watson using Power BASIC
for Windows. This documentation file was written and validated with the
CSE HTML Validator.
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Basic Operations
Click the
About
button in the upper right corner of the program window to review the
program version, release date, registration status, contact customer
support, or check for updates.
Click the
Help button, or press function
key
F1 on your keyboard to access the program
documentation.
Click the
Minimize To Tray button to close
the program window. Milestones will continue to run in the background
so it can update the wallpaper calendar when the date changes. This
also allows easy access to your calendar from other applications. To
reopen the program window, click the Milestones icon in Windows taskbar
tray, or simply double-click the desktop icon again. If you need to
exit Milestones while it is minimized, you can
Right click the
icon in the taskbar tray and select
Exit Milestones from the
popup menu. You can also exit Milestones by
Right clicking the
Minimize To Tray button in the title bar
when the program window is open.
To move the Milestones window to a new location, click the title bar
and drag the window to the desired position.
To resize the Milestones window, place your mouse pointer over the
sizing borders around the edge of the window, then click and drag the
window to the desired size.
To make the Milestones window fill your screen,
Right click the
title bar. Right click the title bar a second time to return to the
default window size centered on your screen.
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How to Order Milestones
Milestones is available as a free
download from
www.mountainsoftware.com/milestones.php.
The program will operate as a 15 day fully functional trial version
until you enter an activation code. If you do not enter your code
within 15 days, the trial will expire and most program features will be
disabled.
If you enjoy Milestones and would like to activate the full program,
please visit
www.mountainsoftware.com/milestones.php
to purchase an activation code. Activation includes:
- Unlimited use of the program
- No trial version "Nag" screens
- FREE unlimited support by email
- FREE upgrades for one years
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Customer Support
You may access this help document at any time
by clicking the
Help button in the upper
right corner of the program window, or by visiting:
www.mountainsoftware.com/milestones-help.php.
You can learn more about Milestones and download the most recent
version from:
www.mountainsoftware.com/milestones.php.
To learn more about Mountain Software and our latest products, please
visit our home page at:
www.mountainsoftware.com
If you are unable to find the answers you need on our web site or in
this documentation, email us at:
support@mountainsoftware.com
Please include the Milestones version number, and the version of
Windows you are using (Windows 7, Vista, or XP). Any additional
information you can provide, such as the steps you are taking, or the
hardware you are using, will help us better diagnose the problem.
As always, if you have a comment or suggestion for future updates, I
would love to hear from you!
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Upgrades
There is no charge for upgrades within one year of
your registration date. When your registration expires, you must
purchase Milestones again before you can upgrade. There is no
obligation to upgrade when your registration expires.
If an internet connection is available, Milestones will check our web
site for updates each time you use the program. When a new version is
available, an upgrade button will appear in the title bar (below the
Minimize To Tray button). You can also
check for upgrades manually by clicking the
About button, then clicking the "Check For Updates"
link.
If an update check locates a new version, Milestones will display the
new version number and release date. Click the
Upgrade button to install the new version, or click the
Details button to see what is new in the
update. Your personal data will be not be affected by the upgrade.
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Navigating The Calendar
The calendar screen is the main screen
of Milestones. This is where you can move forward and backward through
the calendar, add and edit events, or print your calendar.
When you click the
Minimize To Tray button
in the title bar, Milestones will minimize to an icon in the Windows
taskbar tray and continue running in the background. This lets
Milestones update the desktop wallpaper calendar each day
automatically. You can click the tray icon to open Milestones for
additions or changes, or you can RIGHT click the tray icon if you want
to completely exit the program. Depending on your system configuration,
Windows may hide the Milestones icon in the taskbar tray. In this case,
you can simply double-click the Milestones icon on your desktop to open
the program window.
There are a variety of ways you can navigate the Milestones
calendar:
- By Day - Use the Left or Right cursor keys on
your keyboard to move forward or backward one day at a time.
- By Week - Use the Up or Down cursor keys on your
keyboard to move forward or backward one week at a time. You can also
use the scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll quickly through the
weeks of your calendar.
- By Month - Click the arrow buttons above
the calendar, or use the Page
Up/Page Down keys on your keyboard to
quickly move from one month to the next.
- By Year - Hold down the Control key while clicking the arrow buttons or
Page Up/Page Down
keys to move quickly by year.
-
Select A Date - Click any date on the calendar to select it.
You can also click a date and "drag" the selection to a new date.
Milestones will scroll the calendar forward or backward if you drag
your selection above or below the calendar. Note: Click the date
only. Dragging an event will Move or
Copy that event.
- Return to Today - Click the Today button above the calendar, or press the
Home key to return to todays date.
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Add An Event
To add a new event click twice on the desired date
in the calendar, or highlight the date and press the
Enter key. Then select your desired event type:
-
Generic Event - Select this event
type if you need to add an appointment, birthday, holiday,
anniversary, vacation, or other generic event.
-
Weight and Measurements - Use this
event type to record your weight, height, and other body
measurements. Using the values you save here, Milestones can
calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI), ideal weight, body fat
percentage, and more.
-
Menstrual Cycle - Menstrual events
allow you to keep an ongoing record of your menstrual cycle.
Milestones will use these records to estimate the start dates of
future periods.
-
Blood Pressure - Record your blood
pressure readings using this event type, so Milestones can chart
your readings for you.
-
Cholesterol - Record your
cholesterol readings using this event type, so Milestones can chart
your readings for you.
-
Blood Sugar (Glucose) - Record your
blood sugar readings using this event type, so Milestones can chart
your readings for you.
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Generic Events
Click your desired calendar date to
add a generic event. Generic events default to a one
time event with no start or end time. You can simply type in your
description and save the event. Milestones will only display the first
line of your description (maximum 150 characters) on the calendar grid,
but you may enter up to 900 lines of text for each event (about 15
pages of text). For better control, you can assign the event to a color
coded category or define start and end times.
Categories:
Assigning events to color coded categories makes it easier to identify
events for other family members, or to better define holidays,
birthdays, pay days, etc. To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired
category from the popup list.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Start and End Times:
If your event begins at a specific time, click the
Time: display and select the desired start time from
the list. Set the start time to "All Day" if there is no defined start
time (holidays, birthdays, etc.).
If your event ends at a specific time, click the
Ends: display and select the desired end time from the
list. Set the end time to "No End" if there is no defined end time. An
end time can not be selected unless you have already defined a start
time.
- You may set a start time without setting an end
time. For instance, a family reunion may start at 12:00pm, but you
may not know ahead of time how long it will last.
- The start time may be set later than the end
time, but you will receive a warning when you save the event. For
example, your child may have a sleepover event that starts at 7:00pm
but lasts until 8:00am the following day.
Repeat Options:
Unless otherwise specified, events will only show up once on the
calendar. If you would like the event to repeat, click the
Repeat: display and select your desired repeat method
from the list. Milestones will create a new event for each occurrence
(maximum of 150 occurrences). This allows you to move or modify
individual occurrences if a regular meeting is rescheduled, or if the
activity is postponed.
- To add a Birthday, scroll the calendar back to
your actual date of birth, and add an event there using the "Every
Year (Calculate Age)" repeat method. This allows Milestones to
properly calculate the age for each following birthday.
- To add an Anniversary, scroll the calendar back
to the day you were married, and add your event there using the
"Every Year (Calculate Age)" repeat method. Use this same method for
any other anniversary events (years you've been employed, vow
renewals, when you moved into your home, etc.)
Legal Holiday:
The legal holiday option is used to notify Milestones an event has an
effect on other repeating events. For example, if you add "New Years
Day" to January 1st, check the legal holiday option so Milestones knows
to reschedule vacation days or pay days, even if January 1st falls on a
weekday. Legal holidays only affect events that use "Closest Weekday",
"Weekday Before", or "Weekday After" repeat modes.
Saving Events:
Click the
Save button or press
Control+S to save your
event. Use this button when adding a new event (one time or repeating),
or when you only want to edit a single occurrence of a repeating
event.
Click the
Save All button when you want to
update all occurrences of an event you are editing. If you are adding a
new event, this button will have the same result as the regular Save
button.
Click the
Cancel button to abort any
changes you have made and return to the calendar.
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Weight and Measurement Events
Click your desired calendar date
to
add a weight event. Weight events do not
repeat, so you must add a new event each time you want to record your
weight or body measurements. You must enter a weight or a height
measurement, all other fields are optional unless you want to perform
management calculations.
Categories:
To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired category from
the popup list. Assign each person in your family to their own category
to make it easier to monitor individual progress.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Description:
You must enter a description to identify the weight measurement on the
calendar. This can be as simple as your first name. When you add new
weight events, Milestones will automatically retrieve the description
you last used for that category. This makes it easy to track weights
for multiple family members, by assigning each person to a separate
category.
Weight:
Enter your weight in pounds, or specify the measure you are using (For
example: "6 lb, 9oz", or "102 kg"). Milestones will automatically
convert your weight to pounds or kg, depending on the preference you
select on the
Options screen.
Height and Other Measurements:
Enter your measurements in inches, or specify the measure you are using
(For example: "5 ft, 10 in", or "180 cm"). Milestones will
automatically convert your measurements to inches or cm, depending on
the preference you select on the
Options
screen.
Manage Your Weight:
Milestones can use your weight, measurements, gender (Male or Female),
and activity level to calculate charts that will help you manage your
weight. Simply complete all fields and click the
Manage button. Your information will be saved, and the
management screen will display the results of your measurements.
Saving Events:
Click the
Save button to save your
event.
Click the
Cancel button to abort any
changes you have made and return to the calendar.
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Menstrual Events
Add a menstrual
event on the first day of your period. Milestones will calculate the
time between your periods, then use that average to predict your next
twelve periods. To accommodate changes in your cycle as you age,
Milestones only averages your cycles from the last year. This generally
results in better predictions than averaging cycles over your lifetime.
Milestones defaults to a 28 day cycle until you have added at least two
menstrual events. The prediction accuracy will improve as you add more
menstrual events.
Categories:
To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired category from
the popup list. Assign a category to each woman in your family so
Milestones can correctly calculate your individual cycles.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Description:
You must enter a description to identify the menstrual cycle on the
calendar. This can be as simple as your first name. When you add new
menstrual cycles, Milestones will automatically retrieve the
description you last used for that category.
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Blood Pressure Events
Add a blood
pressure event each time you take your readings (with a home monitor,
kiosk at a store, or measurements at your doctor office). Blood
pressure normally fluctuates from day to day, so a single high reading
isn't necessarily a cause for concern. By tracking your readings in
Milestones you can better see how your readings change over time, and
when you should seek medical advice.
Categories:
To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired category from
the popup list. Assign a category to each member of your family so you
can review readings for each person individually.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Description:
You must enter a description to identify the blood pressure reading on
the calendar. This can be as simple as your first name. When you add
new blood pressure events, Milestones will automatically retrieve the
description you last used for that category.
Manage Your Blood Pressure:
Milestones can use your blood pressure readings to chart your results.
Simply complete all fields and click the
Manage button. Your information will be saved, and the
management screen will display the results of your readings.
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Cholesterol Events
Add a cholesterol
event to record the cholesterol readings from your doctor's office. By
tracking your readings in Milestones you can better see how your
readings change over time, and when you should seek medical advice.
Categories:
To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired category from
the popup list. Assign a category to each member of your family so you
can review readings for each person individually.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Description:
You must enter a description to identify the cholesterol reading on the
calendar. This can be as simple as your first name. When you add new
cholesterol events, Milestones will automatically retrieve the
description you last used for that category.
Manage Your Cholesterol:
Milestones can use your cholesterol readings to chart your results.
Simply complete all fields and click the
Manage button. Your information will be saved, and the
management screen will display the results of your readings.
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Blood Sugar (Glucose) Events
Add a
blood sugar event to record the blood sugar (glucose) readings from
your home monitor or doctor's office. By tracking your readings in
Milestones you can better see how your readings change over time, and
when you should seek medical advice.
Categories:
To set the category for an event, click the
Category: display and select your desired category from
the popup list. Assign a category to each member of your family so you
can review readings for each person individually.
You can change the category descriptions by clicking the
Edit Category Descriptions button on the
Options screen.
Description:
You must enter a description to identify the blood sugar reading on the
calendar. This can be as simple as your first name. When you add new
blood sugar events, Milestones will automatically retrieve the
description you last used for that category.
Manage Your Blood Sugar:
Milestones can use your glucose readings to chart your results. Simply
complete all fields and click the
Manage
button. Your information will be saved, and the management screen will
display the results of your readings.
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Edit An Event
You may edit any event by
Right clicking
the event on the calendar, or highlight the desired event and press the
Enter key. The appropriate editor will open
for your selected event type:
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Delete An Event
To delete an event from the calendar, simply
highlight that event and press the
Delete key
on your keyboard.
- Delete Single Event - If you want to
delete a one time event, or a single occurrence of repeating events,
click the Delete button.
- Delete Group - If you want to delete all
occurrences of a repeating event, or all instances of an event you
have copied, click the Group button.
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Moving and Copying Events
To
Move an event to a
different date, simply click on the event and drag it to a new date on
the calendar. You can drag it above or below the calendar if you need
to scroll forward or backward in time.
To
Copy an event to a different date, drag it to a new date
using the
Right mouse button. The original event will remain
unchanged. The new event will be associated with the same group as the
original event, allowing you to
Delete all
copies at once.
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Print the Calendar
Milestones can print your calendar just as
it is shown on your screen:
- Open Milestones.
- Navigate the calendar until it shows the five
weeks you want to print.
- Click the Print button.
- Click the Printer display and select
your printer from the list.
- When the printer properties opens, select the
paper size and orientation you wish to print to (i.e. Letter,
Landscape). Then click OK.
- Click the Font display and select a font
from the list.
- If you wish, you can click on the margin
displays and set them as you wish. For instance, you may want to
increase the left margin if you are putting the printout in a
binder.
- Click OK to print the calendar.
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Navigating the Event Screen
The event screen lets you search or
browse through your events, print selected events, delete many events
at once, or move selected events to new categories.
- Click twice on any event to view that event on
the Calendar Screen
-
Right click any event to Edit
that event.
Filtering Events:
Click the
Category: display if you want to
filter events for a single category. Depending on the categories you
have defined, you may limit the events to holidays, birthdays, a single
family member, doctor visits, etc. You can also select All Categories
if you want to view all events regardless of the category they are
assigned to.
Click the
Display Mode: display if you want
to filter the event list to a specific event type. For example, you may
select a category for a single family member, then display only the
weight records for that person.
Navigating The Event List:
- Press the Up or
Down cursor keys to scroll through the event
list, or use the scroll wheel on your mouse.
- Press the Page Up or
Page Down keys to move through the list one
screen at a time.
- Press the Home key to
jump to the top of the event list, or the End key to jump to the end of the event list.
Selecting Events:
- Clicking on any event name will uncheck all
other events and check the current event.
- To check individual events, click the box next
to the event. Click the box again if you need to uncheck the
event.
- Select a range of events by checking the box
for the first event and dragging down to the last event you want to
check.
- Select all events with the current display
settings by pressing Control+A on your
keyboard.
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Find Events
Click the
Find button
on the Event screen to search for events. Enter the phrases you want to
find, then click OK. Milestones will find the events that match ALL of
your search terms.
Enter search terms in any order. These two searches will both
return the same results:
- appointment doctor
- doctor appointment
Add quotes to match specific phrases. For example, if you
want to find
birthday party but not
party birthday
Add hyphens to exclude words or phrases. For example,
searching for bridal or other showers, but exclude baby showers:
Add backslashes to add optional words or phrases. For
example, if you want to find
eye doctor or ear
doctor
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Edit Events
You may edit any event by
Right clicking the
event in the event list, or highlight the desired event and click the
Edit button. The appropriate editor will
open for your selected event type:
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Delete Events
Check the boxes next to the events you want to
delete, then press the
Delete key. Click the
OK button to verify you want to delete the
selected events.
- Deleting an event from the event list does
Not delete other occurrences of a repeating event, unless you
specifically select them.
- There is no "undo" for deleted events.
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Move Events to New Categories
If you want to move one or more
events to a new category, check the boxes next to the desired events,
then click the
Move button. Click the
Category: display and select the new
category from the drop down list. Then click the
Save button.
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Print Events
- Check the boxes next to the events you want to
print.
- Click the Print
button.
- Click the Printer:
display and select your printer from the list.
- When your printer properties dialog opens,
select the paper size and orientation you wish to use (i.e. Letter,
Landscape). Then click OK.
- Click the Font:
display and select a font from the list.
- If you wish, you can click on the margin
displays and set them as you wish. For instance, you may want to
increase the left margin if you are putting the printout in a
binder.
- Click OK to print
your selected events.
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Wallpaper Setup
If you wish, Milestones can draw your calendar
on your desktop wallpaper image. This lets you see your upcoming events
and appointments at a glance without having to open the program window,
and without annoying popup alarms that interrupt your work flow.
- Check the option to Draw Calendar On Desktop
Wallpaper if you want the calendar to overlay your wallpaper
image.
- Click the Outlines:
option to select light or dark colored outlines for the calendar,
with opacities ranging from completely transparent to solid. In
general, dark outlines show up best with light colored wallpaper
images, and light outlines show up best with dark colored wallpaper
images. Feel free to experiment to find the combination that works
best for you.
- Adjust the position of the calendar on your
desktop by dragging the preview box on the Options screen. The size
of the wallpaper calendar is set by the current size of the
Milestones window. You can resize the window by following the
instructions in Basic Operations.
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Edit Categories
To get you started, Milestones includes default
descriptions for each event category. You may rename the categories at
any time by clicking the
Edit Category
Descriptions button on the Options screen.
It is often helpful to name category descriptions for each family
member so you can better track and identify what everyone is doing. You
may also find it beneficial to dedicate categories to specific tasks
like pay days, menstrual cycles, or recycling pickups.
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Import Events From Milestones 1.x
If you are upgrading from an
older version of Milestones, click the
Import
Events From Milestones 1.x button to merge your old events into
the new version. A file selector will open for you to select the
event10.dat file from your old version. If your old version was
installed to the default location, the file selector should open to the
msdata folder. Otherwise, you will need to navigate to the Milestones
folder, then the msdata subfolder, and select the
event10.dat
file.
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Import Life Watch Records
Our Life Watch Health Manager was
discontinued in 2010. If you used Life Watch to track your health
records, you can merge that data into the Milestones calendar by
clicking the
Import Life Watch Data button.
A file selector will open for you to select the
lwatch10.dat
file from your old version. If your old version was installed to the
default location, the file selector should open to the appropriate
folder. Otherwise, you will need to navigate to the Life Watch folder
and select the
lwatch10.dat file.
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Weight Display Mode
When adding
Weight and
Measurement records to Milestones, you may enter your weight in
pounds, ounces, kilograms, or grams. You can choose how these weights
will be displayed by clicking the
Show Weight
In... display on the Options screen and selecting between pounds
or kg.
This setting also determines how Milestones will interpret weights that
do not specify a scale (i.e. Entering
150 instead of
150
lb, or
150 kg). You can always override this default
interpretation at any time by specifying pounds or kg when you enter
your weight.
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Measurement Display Mode
When adding
Weight and Measurement records to Milestones, you
may enter your body measurements in inches, feet, meters, or cm. You
can choose how these measurements will be displayed by clicking the
Show Measurements In... display on the
Options screen and selecting between inches or cm.
This setting also determines how Milestones will interpret measurements
that do not specify a scale (i.e. Entering
72 instead of
72
in, or
72 cm). You can always override this default
interpretation at any time by specifying measurements as inches or cm
when you enter your measurements.
Thank you for your support!
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