Deleting very old events

Question

I want to delete all of my events from over a year ago, but when I go to the preferences, I can't change the time period to delete (60 days) until I check the box next to it. When I check the box, I get a prompt that warns me iCal will immediately delete all events 60 days prior. Is there a way to change the delete time period without this happening? Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

I wanted to do the same thing, but being a pack-rat, I wanted to archive them, not delete them.
Here's my solution:
1.) Create a new calendar...say, archive2004.
2.) Show the search results list at the bottom of the main calendar pane.
3.) Disable all the other calendars except for the one from which you want to archive the events.
4.) In the search results pane, click on the "Date" column label so that the order is what you want it to be.
5.) Using click and shift-click, select the range of dates that you want to archive.
6.) Copy.
7.) Uncheck the current claendar and check/select the archive2004 calendar from the calendar list on the left.
8.) Paste the set of events into archive2004.
9.) Uncheck archive2004 and check the current calendar.
10.) Verify in the search results pane that the set of events you want to archive is still selected.
11.) Delete the set of selected events.
Voila!
Hope this helps,
Richard