Stay informed about major releases, performance improvements, and installation guides to ensure you're always using the most up-to-date tools. We regularly update this page with the most relevant announcements and encourage you to bookmark it for easy reference.

We know that integrating external data sources is essential for many of you, and we’ve made it easier than ever by expanding iCal compatibility. Now, you can link iCal data sources using "http" URLs, allowing even more flexibility in bringing in calendar data from different sources.

Why this rocks: With support for "http" iCal sources, you can now link to a wider variety of calendars, such as older holiday sites, local community event boards, school district calendars, and independent weather or tide trackers. Whether you’re pulling in data from legacy systems or niche sources, this new capability gives you more options to keep everything organized in one place.

Managing multiple data sources? We’ve improved our Multisource View to make it smoother and easier to use. Now, only calendars with events will display, keeping your calendar clutter-free by hiding sources with no events.

How this helps: With more intuitive filtering, you can focus on what’s important, whether it’s a project timeline, team schedule, or other critical events. No more excess data clogging up your view — just the essentials!

We’ve made it simpler to locate users whose sign-ins have been blocked. Previously, blocked users wouldn’t appear when searching, making it difficult to manage shared mailbox permissions. Now, blocked users are easy to find, allowing you to better control access.

Why you might need to use blocked sign-ins:

• Security: Prevents unauthorized access to shared mailboxes, reducing phishing risks.

• Data Control: Allows access only through permissions, not direct login.

• Cost Savings: Avoids licensing costs for shared mailboxes.

• Simplified Management: No need to manage passwords or logins.

• Easy Access Control: Quickly adjust permissions during role changes.

1. New View: Flat Year

The new "Flat Year" view provides a comprehensive overview of the entire year, making it easier to manage long-term planning needs. With this feature, users can quickly assess available time off, coordinate plans, and easily spot long weekends for better scheduling.

Here are some scenarios where you might benefit from a Flat Year View:

1. Vacation and Holiday Planning: Easily track employee vacation schedules to avoid staffing shortages. Identify long weekends to encourage work-life balance.

2. Project Timelines: Visualize project deadlines and milestones over the year to better allocate resources and manage workloads.

3. Performance Reviews: Schedule and manage employee performance reviews and appraisals by visualizing all relevant dates.

4. Budgeting Cycles: Align budgeting processes with key dates in the calendar year to ensure timely financial planning and approvals.

5. Compliance Deadlines: Keep track of important compliance deadlines and regulatory requirements that occur throughout the year.

1. New View: Live View.

Let us introduce another new view – Live View.

When setting up this view, you can choose how often the calendar refreshes in the day view — from 5 to 30 minutes, ensuring you always stay updated.

Additionally, you can choose to hide the timeline showing the current time and non-working hours for a cleaner, more focused view.

Finally, we’re introducing Dark Mode for the browser version of Virto Calendar! Enjoy a more visually comfortable experience during late-night sessions or simply switch things up to match your aesthetic preferences.

Why you’ll love it: Dark Mode reduces screen glare and is easier on the eyes, especially in low-light environments. Access it by navigating to your display settings and selecting the dark theme option.

Currently, Group Member permissions for the Group Calendar can only be managed via Exchange PowerShell.

We are adding a feature to set permissions directly in the Virto Calendar App. For example, owners and members can modify and delete events in the Outlook calendar, which may lead to accidental or unauthorized changes, creating confusion, loss of information, or disruption in the schedule. Now, in Virto Calendar, you can prohibit these actions at the interface level.

To find this setting:

1. Click the cog icon in the upper right corner.

2. Locate the calendar you want to modify and click on it.

3. Navigate to General Settings.

4. Scroll down to Exchange Settings.

5. Click the cog next to the calendar for which you want to set permissions.

By default, all owners and members of the group are editors.

To prevent changes to events, select “Reviewer” and click the Save button.

For managing Group Member permission for the group calendar at the Microsoft 365 level, please refer to your admin. You can find more information here: Exchange PowerShell.

We’re excited to share that an update to enhance the installation experience for several apps is planned for early 2025.

While we finalize these improvements, you can still install the app manually as a custom app. Simply reach out to our support team, and we’ll provide you with the necessary files and guidance.

In the meantime, rest assured you’ll continue to enjoy all the great features of the app.

Previously, colors of Group and iCal calendars were sometimes displayed incorrectly. To improve the user experience, we have added this setting to Group and iCal calendars for your convenience. You can set the background color for your events using the color wheel on the left and the font color using the one on the right.