Change default appointment duration in iCal (Calendar)

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iCal has a feature whereby you can easily create new calendar appointments. Just click ‘+’ at the top left of the window and start typing. For example, “Friday BBQ 20:00” will create an appointment on the next Friday at 8 pm and is called “BBQ”.

iCal always create 60 minutes appointments. With the default write command it is possible to change the default duration of appointments.

defaults write com.apple.iCal "Default duration in minutes for new event" -int 30

Change the number at the of the command to the number of minutes you want events to last for.

Revert back to default with:

defaults delete com.apple.iCal "Default duration in minutes for new event"

Screencast:

2 thoughts on “Change default appointment duration in iCal (Calendar)”

  1. Thanks for the suggestion. Please tell me how to use the default write command or point me to a source for it,

  2. Please send instructions for entering the command to change the default duration of appointments. Cannot read the “green” writing on the video. Thank you.

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