Does Basecamp have a formal calendar?

Basecamp lets you track milestones but does not have a formal calendar. Milestones are displayed in list format with late items at the top, upcoming items listed next, and completed items listed at the bottom.

How do I get my Basecamp milestones to integrate with my Backpack Calendar?

You can view your Basecamp milestones in your Backpack Calendar by adding the Milestones iCal feed.

To do this, you'll need to copy the iCal feed for your Basecamp Milestones. This Basecamp FAQ below will show you where to find your Milestones iCal link. Then follow the directions at this Backpack FAQ on adding an iCalendar to your Backpack Calendar. This instructional movie will walk you through the process.

Does Basecamp integrate with Microsoft Outlook?

Basecamp’s iCalendar feed for Milestones works with Microsoft Outlook 2007 (but not previous versions, so make sure you’re using Outlook 2007).

What is iCal(endar) and how do I use it with Basecamp?

Basecamp allows you to subscribe to your Milestone calendars and have them appear in your desktop/web-software Calendar such as The Backpack Calendar, Apple iCal, Mozilla Calendar, or eventSherpa (Basecamp does not work with Microsoft Entourage at this time).

To subscribe, click the “Milestones’ tab.

Then click the “Subscribe to iCalendar” link at the top of the right sidebar.

Can I subscribe to all milestones in a single calendar or do I need to subscribe to each project individually?

Yes, you can subscribe to all milestones at once by clicking the “Global iCalendar” feed at the bottom of the Dashboard. You can also subscribe to projects individually by going into a project, clicking the Milestones tab, and clicking the “Subscribe to iCalendar” link in the sidebar.

The advantage to subscribing to individual iCalendars is that your calendar program may allow you to color code each project’s iCalendar differently. The global iCalendar file will list all events in the same color since all the events are part of one big calendar.

My calendar program doesn’t recognize "webcal://" — what should I do?

If you try to subscribe to your Basecamp Milestones in iCalendar format, and your computer tells you it doesn't recognize "webcal://" you’ll need to manually subscribe to the milestones calendar in your calendar program by replacing "webcal://" with "http://".

Can I move multiple milestones at once?

Yes, edit one of your milestones to the right date and check “Yes, shift future milestones too.” For example, check the box and move a deadline out 5 days and Basecamp will also move all future milestones out 5 days as well. This also works when you move milestones forward. Selecting “Keep shifted milestones off weekends” will move milestones that land on a weekend forward to Monday.

Can we add a time to Milestones or only a date? What about a date range?

Milestones only have a single date and no times. You can use the date however you’d like. You can make it a due date, the start date, etc. It’s your call.

How do I assign a milestone to someone else?

To create a new milestone that’s assigned to someone else, click on the “Milestones” tab. Then click the “New milestone” link at the top of the page.

You’ll see there’s an option to select the “Party responsible” for the milestone. Pick the person you want to be responsible and hit the “Save changes” button.

To change the party responsible for an existing milestone, click on the “Milestones” tab. Then find the milestone you want and click the red “Edit” link to the right. Then follow the instructions as outlined above.

How can I see all the milestones assigned to me?

To see only milestones assigned to you, go to the Dashboard and click on the “Milestones” tab (the Dashboard’s “Milestones” tab allows you to see milestones across all projects).

At the top of the screen is a pulldown menu with text that says, “Pick someone else.” Choose yourself to see all milestones assigned to you (or pick someone else to see the milestones assigned to that person).

Can I make milestones “private”?

At this time Basecamp does not offer private milestones. Any milestones in the project will be visible to anyone that has access to the project.

Can I create recurring milestones?

At this time, there is no way to create a recurring milestone. Of course you can just enter it manually each time.

Can I make milestone templates?

We don’t support milestone templates at this time.

Do milestones send emails when they’re due?

Yes, you can have Basecamp send you an email reminder 48 hours before a milestone is due. When creating a new milestone, check the box that says “Send email reminder now & 48-hours before this milestone is due.”

To get a due date email for an existing milestone, click on the “Milestones” tab. Then find the milestone you want and click the red “Edit” link to the right. You’ll see a checkbox for “Send reminder” next to the pulldown menu for “Party responsible.” Check it off and the party responsible will get an email reminder 48 hours before the milestone is due.

Why do I get errors when I try to subscribe to the iCalendar?

There are a few possible reasons for this:

1. You don’t have an iCalendar-compatible calendar program installed on your computer. iCalendar is a file format and if you don’t have a program that can read it then you can’t subscribe to it.

2. You have an iCalendar-compatible calendar program BUT your computer isn’t set up to launch the program when you click on an iCalendar URL on the web. In this case you need to copy the iCalendar URL and manually subscribe to that URL from within your iCalendar-compatible program. If you don’t know how to do that please consult the manual or help files that came with your iCalendar-compatible program.

3. You changed your Basecamp password. When you change your Basecamp password your iCalendar URLs are reset for security purposes. So, if you were subscribed before, but now you can’t get to your iCalendar calendars, you may want to just resubscribe again.

For more information on the iCalendar format, see the iCalendar entry at Wikipedia.

How do I get my Basecamp milestones to integrate with my Backpack Calendar?

This FAQ at the Backpack help section will explain how to accomplish this.

Can I add comments or files on milestones?

Yes, you can easily attach files and post comments on to-dos and milestones.

Hover over a milestone and you’ll see comment icon after a milestone. A green icon means there are new comments on that item. A dark grey comment icon means there are comments on that item, but you’ve already read them. And if an item doesn’t have any comments, you’ll see an empty comment icon when you hover over that item.

Clicking the comment icon will take you to the comments view for that milestone. Each comment also has it’s own permalink, so you can deep-link to that specific comment.