If iCal doesn't launch/display properly

Question

Some general things to check for and do when iCal won't launch or doesn't display calendars/events/todos properly in Tiger. Try these things in order and make sure you understand each step fully before you start it :
0.
Backup your iCal data.
If you can, open iCal and go to the File menu and choose Back up Database... to save a copy of your calendar data to your Desktop, just in case something goes wrong.
(You should be doing this regularly anyway
1.
Is the problem with the Application or your user's data?
Make a new user account on your computer, and log in as that user. Open iCal as the new user. If you are still having the same problems it is likely that the problem is with the application and you should re-install it, if not the problem is with the data and you should move on to step 2.
To re-install iCal you will need your Tiger installer disk. On the installer disk go to System> Installation> Packages> (you'll need to scroll down to see the System folder). In here there is iCal.pkg, double click this to install iCal.
If this fixes your problem there is no need to do the following.
2.
Refresh your preference files.
There are some preference files related to iCal in your user's Library > Preferences. These are called:
com.apple.iCal.alarmsCache.plist
com.apple.iCal.AlarmScheduler.plist
com.apple.iCal.helper.plist
com.apple.iCal.plist
Quit iCal and move these files to your desktop. When you start iCal they will be re-created in the Preferences folder with the default values as needed. This does not affect your calendar data, just preference choices.
You should go into iCal preferences and make any changes you want to your preferences after doing this.
If this solves your problem delete the copies on your Desktop, there is no need to do the following.
3.
a: If iCal launches and you can see the calendar list:
Check the calendars in turn.
In iCal uncheck all the calendars in the list. You can do this by Command-Clicking one calendar's check box.
Then do the following with each calendar in turn: Check the calendar's check box and see if your problems still exist. If iCal seems to be ok, then uncheck the check box and select the next calendar. If the symptoms still exist then this calendar is probably corrupted.
If you find a corrupted calendar in iCal, select it in the calendar list and from the File menu choose Export.. and export a copy of the calendar to your Desktop. Still in iCal, from the Edit menu choose Delete to remove the calendar from iCal. Then from the File menu choose Import... and select the 'Import an iCal file', find the calendar file you saved to your Desktop and import it.
Go to step 4.
b: If iCal does not launch or you can't see the calendar list, it's a bit more involved:
Using the Finder to remove the data and replace it in turn.
Make sure iCal is not running, then go to your user's Library > Application Support > iCal> Sources folder, and copy this entire folder to your Desktop.
Go back to your user Library > Application Support> iCal> Sources. In this folder there will be one folder for each of your iCal calendars. These have long alpha-numeric names. Open these folders in turn and delete the file corestorage.ics in each one.
Open iCal. It should launch now, but there will be no events/todos and each calendar will have an exclamation mark by it.
Close iCal and repeat the following for each folder in iCal's Sources folder: (I found this easiest to do if you open both Sources folders next to each other in Finder's List View) From the copy you made to the Desktop, move the corestorage.ics file back into the correct folder in your Library> Application Support> iCal> Sources, and open iCal. If iCal is launching and functioning ok then the data in this calendar is good and you can move on to the next calendar.
If the symptoms you originally had have returned, then this calendar is corrupted.
With the corrupted calendar, move the relevant corestorage.ics file back to the correct sub-folder on your Desktop> Sources folder. In this folder will be a file called Info.plist. Open this file in a text editor, and look for the line that contains <key>Title</key>. The following line contains the title of the affected calendar between string tags (e.g. <string>Home</string>). Open iCal and with the calendar of this name, click the red exclamation mark and choose 'Reset' from the resulting dialog. Quit and re-open iCal. In iCal, make sure the same calendar is selected in the calendar list and drag the corestorage.ics file onto iCal's main window. (I got warning dialogs about unsafe alarms - I went with keeping the alarms.) This should clean up your calendar's data.
4.
Reset sync history.
If you have sync-ed your calendar data (either with .Mac iSync or third party apps.) there may be a corruption in the data stored by Sync Services which will be passed back into iCal when it syncs next.
Open iSync and from it's preferences select 'Reset Sync History' and in the confirmation dialog choose 'Reset Sync History' again.
I hope this will be of help to anyone having these types of problems. This (obviously) is not intended to be complete solution for every problem you'll come accross in iCal.
Please, feel free to post and correct my errors.
Thanks
John M

Answer 1

Hi Nancy,
> When I go into LIbrary>Application Support> there is now no ical.
Hmm, looks like you are having some problems there. (You are looking in the Library in your Home folder aren't you?) Were able to make a backup .icbu file as I suggested in point 0 above? If so you might want to open iCal and select File> Revert to Database Backup... and revert to the data you had before doing this, and start over again.
Otherwise, do a Spotlight search for 'iCal' and look at all the folders returned titled iCal. The most likely explanation is that you have inadvertently moved the iCal folder from your user's Library> Application Support to somewhere else on your harddrive. If this is so move it back.
Where exactly were you in the process? You say step 4, that is about re-setting iSync.
You say you moved the 'corestorage.ics' file to the Trash (and then emptied the Trash). Are there still corestorage.ics files in every folder in Sources on your Desktop?
> I still have the sources file on my desktop.
Keep it there. You might want to re-name it 'Sources Old'.
> when I click on the desktop sources folder and try and go into plist it is coming up as an itunes doc and attemptint to open with itunes
You seem to have plists associated with iTunes for some reason. To see the file's contents Control-Click one of the plist files and choose 'Open with' from the contexual menu and open it with TextEdit.
Please let me know how you get on.
Best wishes
John M