A Lightweight Transparent Calendar For Your Windows Desktop

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 10, 2012
Updated • Apr 9, 2014
Software, Windows software
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11

When you want to look at a calendar in a default Windows installation the only option you have is to click on the clock in the lower right corner of the screen.

And while that's an option, it is not a very comfortable one if you need to look at the calendar regularly. The calendar on top of that does not provide any additional functionality that one would expect, for instance an option to set reminders.

You could use the calendar of a messaging software like Outlook or Thunderbird, or install a third party calendar like Desktop Calendar.

The free portable software displays the current date and the days of the current month on the desktop. The display is fully transparent which means that it fits nicely with any desktop background.

When you first start the application you will notice that it is positioned in the upper left corner of the screen. You can move the calendar by holding down the shift key, and dragging and dropping the window to another location on the screen. Only the controls at the bottom of the calendar can be used for that.

Right-click the window afterwards and select save position from the menu to lock in it place there. Options in the same menu opens the application preferences. Here you can change the calendar font type, size and colors, spacing, the date format and other relevant preferences. Depending on the desktop background, font and size, you may need to experiment with the available color font colors to find one that is readable.

Edit Reminders is the third and final option available in the context menu. This allows you to set custom reminders, one-time or recurring, for birthdays, appointments and other events. New event types, along with their color code, can be defined in the program options.

The biggest issue that you may have with the program is that you cannot synchronize the data with online calendars or calendars in other applications. The portable nature of the application allows you however to synchronize the data between multiple computer systems.

You can download Desktop Calendar from Glenn Delahoy's website. The program is fully compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

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Comments

  1. Frank said on January 19, 2022 at 12:01 pm
    Reply

    I’m assuming that, since this was last updated in 2010, it won’t work with Windows 11?

  2. Kathy said on June 4, 2021 at 4:13 pm
    Reply

    I accidently put 5 calanders on my desktop. How can I delete some of them?

  3. coz said on October 22, 2016 at 7:44 pm
    Reply

    Hello,
    Perfect!
    It is what it should be without having to “scync” with anything.
    I have tried many a calendars even that rainlender, but this one is the one. I generally work on linux, which has calendars like this, and , in my experience, linux is far superior to both windows and apple’s unix system, but needed this on my windows desktop.
    Great small application, many pats on your back!!

  4. ted said on June 28, 2012 at 8:59 pm
    Reply

    This is a calender for those of us that want simplicity. I do not want my calendar talking to Google everyday/ every-time I boot my pc like my icalendar does..

    I just need a quick reference to check to see what day a date is on or other simple stuff. Rainlender is great for what it does but many miss the point. small and simple is good to.

    Yeah the rain is a nice background image, I’ll just go grab it and add it to my wallpapers too. :)

  5. Ademas Z3MN said on January 11, 2012 at 6:33 pm
    Reply

    Cool wallpaper!
    Mind to share it to your reader, Martin? ;-)

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 11, 2012 at 6:38 pm
      Reply
  6. IT_Andy said on January 11, 2012 at 6:27 pm
    Reply

    Hi

    Rainlendar Pro shows and syncronizes with multiple goole calendars and even tasks! It supports skins and various views. It consumes on my PC about 13 MB.

    Definite my favorite No# 1

    Andy

  7. Jyo said on January 10, 2012 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    How much resources does it use? Since you claim it is lightweight, I’m curious.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 11, 2012 at 12:05 am
      Reply

      Last time I checked about 5 Megabytes.

  8. B. Moore said on January 10, 2012 at 7:42 pm
    Reply

    I guessing Rainlendar2 is still the best way to go or is the “Desktop Calendar” above worth checking out?

  9. Dean said on January 10, 2012 at 5:13 pm
    Reply

    Was about to say “Brilliant” – then I read this: “The biggest issue that you may have with the program is that you cannot synchronize the data with online calendars or calendars in other applications.”

    My life is in Google Calendar at the minute and everyone who needs access can get at it so this wouldn’t work for me. :-(

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