System and method for intelligent personal timeline assistant

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for assisting a user in managing a timeline of appointments in which at least one appointment is associated with an event, and the appointment has associated appointment information that describes aspects of the appointment and/or event, including receiving free-form scheduling information from an electronic notification, inferring that at least a portion of the free-form scheduling information relates to an existing appointment and/or associated event, the existing appointment having presently associated appointment information that describes aspects of the appointment and/or associated event, selecting an appointment for modification, and modifying the selected appointment based on (a) the portion of the free-form scheduling information inferred to relate to the existing appointment and/or associated event, and at least one of the appointment information presently associated with the existing appointment, and a user preference signature representing prior