Filtering & Tags

Tags and filters are the power tools of BlendedCal. They let you create dynamic, precisely-tuned calendar views that automatically update as you add new sources.

The Tag System

Tags are labels you add to calendar sources to categorize them. You can add as many tags as you want to each source, and you can reuse the same tags across multiple sources.

Adding Tags to Sources

When creating or editing a source, add tags in the "Tags" field. For example:

• Carter's soccer calendar: carter, sports, soccer
• Carter's school calendar: carter, school
• Kayden's baseball calendar: kayden, sports, baseball
• Family events calendar: family

Filtering by Tags

When creating a blended calendar, you can filter sources by tags using two different modes:

Any Tags (OR logic)

Include sources that have any of the specified tags. This is the most common filter mode.

Example: Any Tags = carter

• ✅ Includes: Carter's soccer (tagged carter, sports)
• ✅ Includes: Carter's school (tagged carter, school)
• ❌ Excludes: Kayden's baseball (tagged kayden, sports)

Example: Any Tags = sports, family

• ✅ Includes: Any source tagged sports
• ✅ Includes: Any source tagged family
• ✅ Includes: Sources tagged with both sports and family
• ❌ Excludes: School calendars (not tagged with sports or family)

All Tags (AND logic)

Include sources that have all of the specified tags. This is useful for more precise filtering.

Example: All Tags = carter, sports

• ✅ Includes: Carter's soccer (tagged carter, sports, soccer)
• ❌ Excludes: Carter's school (tagged carter, school — missing sports)
• ❌ Excludes: Kayden's baseball (tagged kayden, sports — missing carter)

Combining Any Tags and All Tags

You can use both filters together for very precise control:

Example: Any Tags = carter, kayden AND All Tags = sports

• ✅ Includes: Sources tagged (carter OR kayden) AND sports
• This would show sports calendars for Carter and Kayden, but not Briella

Text-Based Filtering

In addition to tags, you can filter events by text search. BlendedCal searches event titles, descriptions, and locations for your filter text (case-insensitive).

Filter Text on Sources

When you add filter text to a source, BlendedCal excludes events from that source that don't match the filter. This is useful for noisy calendars.

Example: TeamSnap calendar with lots of practices, but you only want games:

• Source: TeamSnap Calendar
• Filter text: game
• Result: Only events with "game" in the title/description are imported

Filter Text on Calendars

When you add filter text to a blended calendar, only events matching the filter appear in that calendar.

Example: Show only away games from all sports sources:

• Calendar: "Away Games"
• Any Tags: sports
• Filter text: away OR @
• Result: Only events with "away" or "@" in the title appear

Excluding Specific Events

Sometimes you want to hide a specific event without changing your filters. BlendedCal lets you exclude individual events by ID.

To exclude an event:

1. Go to the blended calendar you want to modify
2. View the calendar's events
3. Find the event you want to hide and click Exclude

The event will no longer appear in that calendar, even if it matches your tag and text filters.

Tag-Based Calendars (Dynamic)

One of the most powerful features of BlendedCal is dynamic calendars: calendars that automatically include new sources as you add them.

How it works:

1. Create a blended calendar filtered by tags (e.g., Any Tags = carter)
2. Later, add a new source and tag it carter
3. The new source's events automatically appear in the calendar — no need to edit the calendar!

This is much easier than manually selecting sources for each calendar, especially if you frequently add new sources (like new sports seasons, new school years, etc.).

Example Filtering Scenarios

Best Practices

• Keep tags simple and consistent — carter is better than Carter's Stuff
• Use person tags for everyone — Tag each source with the person it belongs to
• Use category tags liberally — sports, school, activities, etc.
• Prefer tag filtering over source selection — Dynamic calendars are easier to maintain
• Test your filters — Preview the calendar after creating it to make sure it shows what you expect
• Use exclusions sparingly — They're great for one-offs but don't scale well