You set the organization calendar the way you like it: the right view, the right range, only the event categories and locations you care about. You go file a membership, come back, and it has snapped back to the default. Log out at the end of the day and it definitely won’t be there tomorrow.
It’s a small annoyance, but staff who live in the calendar (education coordinators, rentals, the person booking school groups) can repeat that setup dozens of times a week. Here’s what is going on, what’s worth checking, and the workarounds that actually save time.
What Altru does and doesn’t remember
Altru is a browser-based application, and the organization calendar’s view choices and filters are largely treated as something you set for the moment rather than a saved personal preference. In practice, many users find the calendar returns to its default view when they leave the page or start a new session.
We can’t promise exactly how your instance behaves, because it can vary with your Altru release and your browser. So before building habits around a workaround, spend five minutes confirming the real behavior:
- Set the calendar to a non-default view and apply a filter.
- Open another area of Altru in the same tab, then return to the calendar. Note whether your settings held.
- Do the same using the browser’s back button instead of the navigation menu. Sometimes these behave differently.
- Log out, log back in, and check again.
If nothing is retained at any step, it’s a limitation of the product, not something you configured wrong. It’s still worth a quick question to Blackbaud support or a look at recent release notes, in case a newer version handles it differently than the one your team learned on.
Rule out the browser first
Some browsers, especially on shared front-desk or office machines, are set to clear cookies and site data whenever the window closes. Privacy extensions and private/incognito windows do the same. If Altru keeps any setting at all on the client side, those will wipe it.
- Check whether the browser is set to delete site data on exit, and add an exception for your Altru address if your IT policy allows it.
- Avoid private windows for daily Altru work.
- On shared workstations, have each person sign into their own browser profile so one person’s cleanup doesn’t undo another’s settings.
This won’t create memory Altru doesn’t have, but it removes one possible reason the calendar keeps resetting.
Workarounds that actually save clicks
Keep a dedicated calendar tab
The simplest fix is behavioral. Open the organization calendar in its own browser tab, set it up once in the morning, and do everything else in a second tab. Leaving the page is what usually resets it, so don’t leave. Be aware that an idle session timeout will still force a fresh login, so this works best for people who check the calendar throughout the day.
Bookmark the page
A browser bookmark at least gets you to the calendar in one click instead of several menu steps. It won’t necessarily carry your filters, so test whether the address changes when you switch views. If it doesn’t, the bookmark is a shortcut to the page, not to your saved view.
Use a query for the view you keep rebuilding
Often the filtered calendar people recreate every morning is really a list: “this week’s school programs,” “everything in the classroom this month,” “private events needing setup.” That is a good job for a saved query on events or program events, with the date range set relative to today. Queries are saved, shareable with other users, and come back exactly as you left them. You lose the grid layout but gain something you never have to rebuild.
Write the setup down
For staff who only touch the calendar occasionally, a short note pinned near the desk (“Week view, filter to Education, uncheck Rentals”) cuts the fumbling. It’s low-tech, but it keeps new and seasonal staff from reading the wrong default view and double-booking a room.
Share a calendar outside Altru, carefully
Some teams export a schedule from Altru on a regular basis into a shared calendar or spreadsheet that people can filter however they like. That gives everyone a persistent view, but it is a copy: it goes stale the moment someone books something in Altru. If you go this route, label it with when it was last updated and keep Altru as the place where bookings actually happen.
Quick answers
Is there a setting to change the calendar’s default view?
We’re not aware of a per-user setting that does this reliably. Check your version’s help documentation or ask Blackbaud support, since behavior can change between releases.
Will a security role or permission change fix it?
Unlikely. Roles control what you can see and do, not how the calendar remembers your layout. Confirm with your Altru administrator if you’re unsure.
