Redcast Calendar & meetings
Join your next meeting with one key, see your day, and show the next event in the menu bar.
Redcast reads the calendars already on your Mac, finds the join link in each meeting, and lets you join with one keystroke. It works with any calendar account macOS supports, like iCloud, Google or Exchange.
Turn it on in Settings → Calendar → Join meetings from Redcast. It's off by default. When you turn it on, Redcast explains what it reads, and then macOS asks for calendar access. See Permissions.
Events are read on your Mac and never leave it.
Four ways to join
- The join card. When a meeting is about to start, a card with a live countdown appears at the top of the launcher. Press return to join.
- Join Next Meeting. A command you can assign a global shortcut. It joins the meeting shown on the card, a meeting that's already running, or the next meeting with a link.
- The menu bar. An optional calendar item shows your next event, and its menu lists upcoming events by day.
- Auto join. Meetings can open automatically when they start.
If there's nothing to join, a short message says Nothing to join right now.
The join card
The card appears a set time before a meeting starts and stays for the same amount of time after, but never past the meeting's end. Show the join card sets that time: 1, 2, 5 (default), 10 or 15 minutes.
| Action (⌘K) | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Join Meeting | return |
| Copy Meeting Link | ⌘return |
| Open in Calendar |
A meeting without a link opens in Calendar instead.
Which links it finds
Redcast checks the event's URL, location and notes, in that order. It recognizes Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Jitsi, Whereby, Amazon Chime, GoTo Meeting, BlueJeans and Skype, and falls back to any other web link in the event.
- A link to a known service always takes priority over a plain link, so a "reset your password" link at the top of an invite never wins over the Meet link below it.
- Links that aren't meetings, like
zoom.us/downloador a Meet dial-in page, are ignored. - Zoom and Teams open in their desktop apps if they're installed, and in the browser otherwise.
- Google Meet opens with the right account. If you're signed in to several Google accounts, the link opens with the account whose calendar has the meeting, instead of the account chooser.
- Copy Meeting Link copies the link exactly as it appears in the event.
Declined, canceled, all-day and finished events are always skipped.
Commands
| Command | Does |
|---|---|
| Join Next Meeting | Opens the card's meeting, the running one, or the next one |
| My Schedule | Shows your meetings as a list in the palette |
| Create Event | Asks for a title, start time and duration, then adds the event |
| Copy Meeting Link | Copies the next meeting's link |
| Open in Calendar | Opens the next meeting in Calendar |
Each command has a checkbox, a shortcut recorder and an alias field in Settings → Calendar.
Meetings in search
Upcoming meetings also appear in launcher search, in their own Meetings section. Upcoming meetings in launcher sets how many: 1 next, 3 next, 5 next (default) or All. Show in launcher removes meetings and calendar commands from search, while the join card, the menu bar item and your shortcuts keep working.
My Schedule
My Schedule lists your remaining events for the days Redcast reads, grouped by day. Type to filter. return joins the selected meeting, and ⌘K offers Open in Calendar.
How far ahead it reads
Days to Show sets how far ahead Redcast reads: Today, Today and Tomorrow (default) or Next 7 Days. My Schedule, the menu bar item and launcher search all use this setting.
Auto join
Auto Join Meetings (off by default) opens each meeting when it starts.
- It only joins meetings that start after you turned it on.
- It joins each meeting once, even if you decline the confirmation.
- Confirm before joining (on by default) asks you first.
Camera preview
Camera Preview (off by default) shows your camera before you join, so you can check how you look and what's behind you. return joins and esc cancels.
The preview replaces the confirmation, so you're never asked twice. The camera only turns on when the preview opens and turns off as soon as it closes. It's the same camera screen as Open Camera.
The menu bar
The calendar has its own menu bar item, separate from the Redcast icon. You can show either one, both or neither.
| Setting | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar in Menu Bar | Disabled · Meeting Icon · Meeting Title | Disabled |
| Days to Show | Today · Today and Tomorrow · Next 7 Days | Today and Tomorrow |
| Show Upcoming Events | Today · 2 · 5 · 10 · 30 minutes before | Today |
| Only show events with meetings | On · Off | On |
| Hide Current Event | Keep visible, show time left · Automatically · After 5, 10 or 30 minutes | Keep visible, show time left |
With Meeting Title, the item shows something like Standup • in 4 min. When there are no more
events today, it shows No upcoming events. "Today" includes the first 30 minutes after midnight.
The item's menu has Join, Open in Calendar and Dismiss Event. Below those, it lists your upcoming events by day, for the days set in Days to Show. A filled dot marks the meeting in progress. Click an event to join it; an event without a meeting link opens in Calendar. The menu ends with My Schedule (⌘O) and Calendar Settings… (⌘,). Clicking the item itself never joins a meeting, so a stray click in the menu bar can't start a call.
Dragging the item out of the menu bar sets it to Disabled.
Choosing calendars
The Calendars list at the bottom of the pane has a checkbox for each calendar. Holidays and Birthdays are the ones people usually turn off. Calendars you add later are on by default.
Backups
Full backup carries calendar display configuration and calendar choices, but importing it does not enable calendar access, Auto Join Meetings or Camera Preview. Review the available calendars on the destination Mac, where accounts may differ. See Backup and restore.