[iMore Question]

how can I search the calendar app for events before 1 year ago. There are events in the calendar, however, they don't show when searched.

[Just_Me_D]

Go to Settings - Mail, Contacts, Calendars and then scroll down to the "Calendars" section. Next to the "Sync" option, select "All Events". All of your calendar events will begin syncing to your device. By the way, I am *assuming* you're using an iPhone or an iPad and are using the native Calendar app since you didn't state otherwise. Anyway, you can then search for events that occurred more than 1 year ago.

[kch50428]

Are you syncing all past calendar events? Your device may not have all events if you're not syncing all events.

[EskeRahn]

Sorry for the very late answer, just hope that other can use this.

It is just yet another bug in Ios... you can only search +/- one year.

Try this simple test:
1) Create a new post in the calender, 1 year and one day ago - you can not search it.
2) Open the month manually, open the day, edit it, and move it forwards two days - now it can be found...
3) Move it forward to one year and one day ahead from now - you can not search it
4) Move it back two days - you can search it again.

(BTW there are a couple of curious -though rather academic- bugs: If you try to move an event more than roughly 13 years, the scroll ends, and you can either double-tap the end to be able to scroll further, or if you try to swipe beyond the end more than once, it moves the event-date about 13 year each time - I think it is 5000 days, but did not check accurately)

[Rob Phillips]

Sorry for the very late answer, just hope that other can use this.

It is just yet another bug in Ios... you can only search +/- one year.

Try this simple test:
1) Create a new post in the calender, 1 year and one day ago - you can not search it.
2) Open the month manually, open the day, edit it, and move it forwards two days - now it can be found...
3) Move it forward to one year and one day ahead from now - you can not search it
4) Move it back two days - you can search it again.

(BTW there are a couple of curious -though rather academic- bugs: If you try to move an event more than roughly 13 years, the scroll ends, and you can either double-tap the end to be able to scroll further, or if you try to swipe beyond the end more than once, it moves the event-date about 13 year each time - I think it is 5000 days, but did not check accurately)

I don't know if that's as much of a bug as it is simply how Apple designed it.
Yet another bug? I'd say iOS is much less riddled with bugs than its competitors.

[EskeRahn]

I don't know if that's as much of a bug as it is simply how Apple designed it.
Yet another bug? I'd say iOS is much less riddled with bugs than its competitors.

I hate bugs that are not fixed over years - no matter what OS, so let us keep the 'religious' war out of this.

It can be hard to put an exact line between bugs and not thought through 'design decisions'. Preventing people from searching in a window more than +/- one year, is not the smartest decision - I hope we can agree on that?

At the least they could put the limits in the settings, so people could change it to suit their needs. OR (more complex) they could add an event list-view, so people at least had a chance to find stuff.

A smart alternative could be to let it default to search +/- one year (as is), and then along with any search results add a button for 'search all events' - what this 'all' would search could depend on the calendar sync-setting.

[Rob Phillips]

I hate bugs that are not fixed over years - no matter what OS, so let us keep the 'religious' war out of this.

It can be hard to put an exact line between bugs and not thought through 'design decisions'. Preventing people from searching in a window more than +/- one year, is not the smartest decision - I hope we can agree on that?

At the least they could put the limits in the settings, so people could change it to suit their needs. OR (more complex) they could add an event list-view, so people at least had a chance to find stuff.

A smart alternative could be to let it default to search +/- one year (as is), and then along with any search results add a button for 'search all events' - what this 'all' would search could depend on the calendar sync-setting.

Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps you should submit it to https://www.apple.com/feedback/#mn_p.

[Ledsteplin]

I hate bugs that are not fixed over years - no matter what OS, so let us keep the 'religious' war out of this.

It can be hard to put an exact line between bugs and not thought through 'design decisions'. Preventing people from searching in a window more than +/- one year, is not the smartest decision - I hope we can agree on that?

At the least they could put the limits in the settings, so people could change it to suit their needs. OR (more complex) they could add an event list-view, so people at least had a chance to find stuff.

A smart alternative could be to let it default to search +/- one year (as is), and then along with any search results add a button for 'search all events' - what this 'all' would search could depend on the calendar sync-setting.

Maybe I don't understand your concern, but I can go back one year on my stock Calendar and see events that were on there at that time. Set it to "all events" in settlngs > Mail, Contacts and Calendar > Calendar> sync> set to your liking. It gets you to about a little over a year ago. But not much more. Most people would never have reason to go back farther than a year.

[EskeRahn]

Maybe I don't understand your concern, but I can go back one year on my stock Calendar and see events that were on there at that time. Set it to "all events" in settlngs > Mail, Contacts and Calendar > Calendar> sync> set to your liking. It gets you to about a little over a year ago. But not much more. Most people would never have reason to go back farther than a year.

It is SEARCH that do not work - browsing works fine.

[Just_Me_D]

I was able to search more than a year without a problem. See the below screenshot.

[Rob Phillips]

Who do you use for your calendars (iCloud, Google, etc.)? Perhaps it's a server-side limitation with them.
Not to start a religious war, but I use iCloud for my calendars and was able to search back just fine.

[EskeRahn]

I was able to search more than a year without a problem. See the below screenshot.

Interesting. I wonder why you can, and I can not. It could be that you have it synced with something (I haven't)

I do not use a calendar really, mainly use it to see what weekday a specific date is. So the issues are more out of curiosity without any importance for me.
A assembled some curious bits on the calendar here: [redacted]

[templestreet109]

You can't on the phone. This Apple "design" is by far the most annoying, backwards and illogical function. I used O2 over 20 years ago and it could search the calendar without any time limit. I hope Apple can explain the reason behind this and fix this problem asap.

[Just_Me_D]

You can't on the phone. This Apple "design" is by far the most annoying, backwards and illogical function. I used O2 over 20 years ago and it could search the calendar without any time limit. I hope Apple can explain the reason behind this and fix this problem asap.

Did you read through the thread to discover that you CAN search calendar events older than a year on the iPhone?

[yogachap]

I just wanted to search for all items in my iPad calendar going back over more than one year. All items are synced in settings and yet I can only see results going back one year. I am using the current iOS updated software.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[imac80]

I have the same problem and have been waiting for Apple to fix it for a couple years now. I run a small business and keep customers info in my calendar. Phone numbers, prices etc. And find it annoying that I have to manually search something more than a year ago for information. It seems like an easy fix, why doesn't Apple just deal with it.

[wmeeryeck]

I also can NOT search my Calendar for events more than a year ago, though I can find them by scrolling through the Calendar. Neither the Calendar app Sesrch nor the Spotlight Search can find events more than a year ago.

Someone said he could and provided a screenshot. However, he made no attempt to explain why he could and no one else could. Furthermore, the screenshot doesn't look like a Calendar search results page. Perhaps this is the answer. Maybe there's another way to search the Calendar outside of the app. For example, Spotlight can search through Calendar events if you allow it to. But even so, my Spotlight only goes back 1 year in Calendar events.

Does anyone have ideas? Thanks!

[EskeRahn]

Well I got rid of my Ios device and thus the problem...

But the difference seems to be that IF your calender is locale on the device, you have the limit, but IF you have it synced with Icloud search seems to work.

Could be because aPple already indexed all your private info in Icloud for NSA and advertising anyway and kindly offer it to the users too.... :-p

[Akshat Bhati]

Dont search it in the calender app instead search at the home screen seach box

[pkcable]

Well I got rid of my Ios device and thus the problem...

But the difference seems to be that IF your calender is locale on the device, you have the limit, but IF you have it synced with Icloud search seems to work.

Could be because aPple already indexed all your private info in Icloud for NSA and advertising anyway and kindly offer it to the users too.... :-p

Storage issue maybe? But really we are probably beating a dead horse at this point! lol The original post is coming up on it's 2 year anniversary in a few months.

[edgauthier]

Just came across this thread from a year ago. I was trying to do the same, and finally was able to do so using Fantastical on the iPhone (which matches the screenshot shared above). Figured I’d post this in case anyone else came across this thread looking for a solution.

[rsldsl]

I managed to get Siri to “look up my Year 2016 calendar for xxxx”. There were 3 events. I also had Siri do “look up my 2017 calendar” which there should have been 3, 1 in Jan 2017, but only showed 2 for April & July.
Since this is Jan 2018 I’m guessing look up only goes 2 yrs. Bad news bcuz I need to file a grievance for which I need all xxxx events several yrs back.

[rsldsl]

Thx

[hellomalta]

I use Calvetica to search all calendar

[DL16]

I am also frustrated with the lack off a past events searching facility on the mobile Apple Calendar app. Fortunately, I can use the Calendar search without constraint on my iMac and MacBook Pro as all events sync via iCloud.