How to see your next meeting on a Mac without opening Calendar
Hover over the notch and look at the Home tab. It lists Today with your next two events, and Reminders with up to two open items. Each event shows the colour of its calendar and its start time. For more, choose the Calendar tab, which lists up to four events and four reminders. You do not need to open the Calendar app to see what is next.
Steps
- Hover over the notch, or click it if you use click to open mode. The Home tab is the first screen.
- Read the Today section on the right. Events that have not ended yet appear in time order.
- Choose Calendar for more. Under Up Next it shows up to four events, through the end of tomorrow, and Reminders shows up to four items.
- Click a circle in the reminders list to mark one done.
- Move away. The notch closes.
A pre meeting routine
A common pattern is to check the time, open Mirror for a look at your framing, and join from your meeting app. If you need to read from notes, put them in a Quick Note in advance. If the meeting has a hard stop, start a countdown in Timers.
How the data gets there
NotchStar reads Calendar and Reminders through macOS. The first time, macOS asks permission. Every calendar that is visible in the Calendar app appears, including iCloud, Google and Exchange accounts you have already added to your Mac. Nothing is copied off your Mac.
What it does not do
- It does not create or edit events. Make them in Calendar.
- No alerts. It will not tell you a meeting is about to start. Use Calendar’s own alerts for that.
- No join links or meeting details. It shows the title and time. Open the event in Calendar for the link.
- Only to the end of tomorrow, so next week’s meetings do not show.
- If you declined permission, the tab shows a card telling you how to allow it in System Settings.
- Home shows only two of each, so a busy day is cut off there. The Calendar tab lists up to four of each.
Keep the tabs you need
If you never use some tools, you can hide them in Settings under Tools, and reorder the rest, so the notch opens faster to what you use. The Calendar and Reminders page lists the limits, and the deadlines page covers the reminders side in more depth.
