Set up A Drupal Events Calendar with Recurring Dates

Do you need an event calendar that may need recurring events? I needed a calendar, installed calendar, loaded a bunch of events, then hit the need for recurring events. OOPS. Not supported. I had to go in, reload the calendar handling and reload the data. Boo. Well, for those of you needing a calendar with recurring events, here is what you need to do.
1. Download the three modules Ctools, Views, & Date. Install and activate the modules. Note: the Date module requires that you set the timezone and first day of the week settings. If you haven’t, it should alert you when you install the modules. Make certain you activate Date components Date Repeat API, Date Repeat Field, and Data Tools. You may also want to activate Date Popup if you want to use a popup calendar to help load dates.
2. Click on Structure > Views, and you’ll see what the Calendar module has done. You can see it has created a “Calendar” view. This calendar view includes a block, a feed, and a page. Don’t use it yet. Don’t run off and use the calendar until you follow the next step.
3. Go to Structure > Date Tools to create a calendar item. It will create a bunch of views, the correct content type, etc. Follow the date wizard to setup your calendar. Make sure you change the Content Type name, the default label “Date,” is just too ambiguous when looking to create a event. I suggest using the name “Event” as the name for the Content Type.

Some recommended settings and things to remember.
• In the “Date Field” section, select the correct option for “show repeating date options”. Changing this later creates problems. Also, decide now whether or not you want repeating dates. Select to allow repeating dates doesn’t hurt and protects you for later.
• In “Advanced Options”, confirm the way you want this calendar to handle the timezone.
• Select “yes” for “create a calendar for this date field”.
• And, you’re ready to go! If you go to “Add Content” you’ll see your brand new “Event” content type.

The calendar tool is fairly basic in this module, but you’ll see it has quite amazing recurrence features, which is nice.

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