Don’t want your week starting on Sunday? That’s a tall order in real life; in the Mac’s Calendar app, though, it’s an easy fix.

Not only will Calendar (or “iCal,” as it was called until the Mac’s recent “Mountain Lion” update) let you start the week on any day you want, it’ll also let you adjust the number of days in a week (oh, if only it were so in reality), when a day starts and ends, and how many hours are squeezed into the daily calendar window.

Ready to shape your week—or your week in Calendar, at least—just the way you want?

Let’s start with…

1. Start the week on any day you want

Want the week to start on, say, Monday instead of Sunday? No problem.

  • Open the Calendar menu (just click on “Calendar” in the top-left corner of the screen), select Preferences, then click the General tab.
  • Click on the pull-down menu labeled “Start week on,” then pick a day—Monday, for the sake of example.
  • Presto! Your week in Calendar now begins on Monday, with your precious weekend days huddled together at the end of the week, where they belong.
Mac Calendar settings

Visit the Preferences menu to change the first day of Calendar’s week, when the day starts, and more.

2. Shorten the week

Want Calendar to only show you the days in your work week? Let’s do it.

  • Go back to the Preferences menu (click Calendar, Preferences) and select the General tab.
  • For the “Days per week” setting, click the pull-down menu and select “5” instead of “7.” (Yep, those are the only options.)
  • Now, check out the Week view in Calendar, and you’ll only see Monday through Friday listed. As for Saturday and Sunday,  you’ll still see them in Calendar’s Month and Year views.

3. Start (and end) the day when you want

Strictly speaking, each and every day starts at 12 a.m.; that said, it doesn’t make much sense for your daily and weekly views in Calendar to begin in the wee hours of the morning.

Luckily, you can “start” and wrap up your days in iCal whenever you want.

  • Still got the Preferences window open, and the General tab selected? Perfect.
  • Find the “Day starts at” and “Day ends at” pull-down menus and make your selections, keeping in mind that Calendar won’t let you start the day after—or end it before—noon.

4. Pack in more (or fewer) hours each day

Wish you had more hours in the day? Well, you can—sort of—in Calendar, by tweaking a key setting.

  • Head back to the Preferences menu (Calendar, Preferences) and select the General tab.
  • Find the pull-down menu labeled “Show [x} hours at a time” and pick a setting, anything from six hours to a full 24.
  • Go to the Day or Week view in Calendar, and you’ll see more—or fewer—visible hours in your day.

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