Calendar Stacking Organization

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Level 1

20 points

Calendar Stacking Organization

So, this is making me crazy. Ever since the new update to iOS 18, my calendar randomly will stagger non-overlapping events. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t and there’s no one thing that seems to make a difference. It doesn’t matter if they are the same or different calendar or if they are repeating or not repeating events (see photo). I can’t fix it.

This is frustrating because that means that the description of events will get cut off when it decides to do this.

I can’t find anything in the settings that will fix it. Obviously it makes sense for overlapping times to stagger like this, but it doesn’t make sense for events that end at the same time the next one begins.

Is anyone else having this issue? Found a solution?

iPhone 13 mini, iOS 18

Posted on Oct 30, 2024 3:22 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 11, 2024 7:02 AM in response to DTKAI

I also confirmed that location is what's causing the stacking. And it only started with iOS 18.

Interestingly, this issue doesn't happen with events originating in Calendar or created/pulled from Gmail. But it is a problem for events created in Outlook. Turning off Location Suggestions doesn't fix it. Only going in to each event and removing the location fixed it. Which is impractical.

Suggestions?

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2024 12:07 AM in response to Yoursfemmely

The fact remains that it didn’t do it before the 18 update.

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Answer 3

Yoursfemmely Author

Level 1

20 points

Dec 11, 2024 1:41 PM in response to emma_goldman

I honestly somewhat gave up because it kept having strange factors I couldn’t predict. But it seems to have chilled out now more since I turned off the location suggestions. But when it was happening/does again, turning off the location doesn’t always help.

I do think the source of the entry makes a difference, though as you’re suggesting with Outlook. My version of that is it still can happen when it pulls up a past event to autofill for a new event (if I’m meeting the same person I have in the past and it fills in the info and notes, for example even without a location). Have you played around with outlooks settings at all since it sounds like you use it a lot and need to?

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2024 4:48 PM in response to Yoursfemmely

Hello Yoursfemmely,

I have managed to replicate your stacking issue and this is what I think is going on:

Using your example of two consecutive events at 7pm and 8pm I created to similar events. They did not stack in the single day view. This changed when I gave them both location addresses which were some distance apart. What happened then is that they became staggered.

What I conclude from this is that Calendar also uses the location of the event to present them in a staggered way as a visual cue to tell us that while they are contiguous in the calendar, there is in fact a clash between them. This clash is the travel time between the two locations.

Perhaps this is happening with your events?

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Answer 5

Yoursfemmely Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 30, 2024 5:24 PM in response to David McKinlay

Huh! Thank you for checking!

So, this is interesting.

It still does it if one has an address and the one below it doesn't (wait. Correction. I found one where it's like this and still stacked on top, not staggered! Most in this circumstance are staggered though). Also, if I remove an address from an event that previously had an address (like the above, so above one without) it stays staggered. But if I create a new event without an address and delete the old one, it stacks on top correctly. It also seems to do it when it's assuming an address as a suggested location. I definitely need addresses for some things.

Oh! I just tried duplicating an event at the same address, too and it still staggered even though there wouldn't be travel time. I also just tried to add an event without an address ABOVE an event with a suggested address and it stacked fine. That event has another correctly stacked event below it and when I tried the same test event BELOW, it staggered! Same when I moved things and tried to put it above. Both have suggested addresses of my home. Tried some other variations as well ,and they're still seemingly random for what it chooses.

When I just experimented with dragging some around up and down in their order until going back to the orginal, then it corrected! Wowwwww this is so random

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Answer 6

Yoursfemmely Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 30, 2024 5:27 PM in response to Yoursfemmely

I'm also wondering if something is at play with some of these events being old repeating events interacting with new events. Not sure what but seems related. Maybe try playing with some old repeating events of yours with new ones? Thanks for helping with this!

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Answer 7

Oct 30, 2024 5:39 PM in response to Yoursfemmely

There is some science to it, but it's a bit labyrinthine. I took out the address/location for the second of my two staggered events and it remained staggered. I took out the address of the first event and the two returned to not being staggered.

These are iCloud calendars and I haven't gone as far as seeing how they behave on my Mac!

Report back if you have any other insights. It would help others who find this conversation.

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Answer 8

DTKAI

Level 1

8 points

Dec 1, 2024 7:30 AM in response to Yoursfemmely

This problem drove me crazy too. If you still needed insight on this, I found the reasoning and solution.

It’s the suggestion of the location that is making the problem so in order to fix this problem:

Go to Settings, Apps, then Calendar

Turn off Location Suggestions at the bottom and reset the Calendar App.

Done!

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Answer 9

Dec 12, 2024 6:01 AM in response to Yoursfemmely

Unfortunately, I can't control Outlook settings (I have a stripped down version of Outlook 365). Funnily, my Outlook calendar shows my back-to-back events in a perfectly stacked format. So as you and others have mentioned, this is purely an Apple/iOS 18 issue.

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