The problem i have is that I need a 12 month calander that highlights and tells me when a contract is up for a renewal. For example if a customer's contract expires in May, I want it to advise me of this and possibly even highlight it on screen. As well as providing me with a hardcopy

I have attempted to do this using excel with the job names down one side and the months from jantodec along top, but i cant seem to get it to filter the relevant info.Within the cells i've been typing the word "renew" where a renewal is due.

is there any easier,software i can use that will allow this? i have thought about doing it in outlook and using the diary/appointment manager but i dont think u can print off the events or the entire run from jan to december.

Any advise appreciated.thanks so much.

Hi,
to my knowledge, "classic" calendar apps deal with tasks, appointments, aniveraries, and meetings, so you could mimic this creating a task as long as the contract goes and an additional appointment/meeting/aniversary for the end date to trigger the reminder event (sound, mail, message).
You may also check out a typical project management application, and add the contracts as project (milestones) or similar. They usually have a calender-like view which you can print, but I don't know if there is something like a reminder.
Maybe you can play with a tyical calendar app, such as Sunbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/) to find out if this type of app actually works. Or give Outlook a try if you have it already installed.
Maybe you can create a little sketch (handdraw/scan, illustration), safe this image, and provide some URL to view it so we can see what you're after?

Have fun,
CirTap