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Additional Calendar Features

Creating a Private Appointment

There may be times when you want to create a private appointment in your calendar. The time will be blocked out on the calendar but only the owner would be able to see the details of any appointments marked private.

To make an appointment private:

  1. Create an appointment as you usually would within the Outlook Calendar interface.
  2. Before saving and closing, select the "Private" checkbox in the far right bottom corner. Note: Appointments marked "private" with Outlook 2003 are not visible using the Outlook Web Client, even to the owner of the Exchange mailbox.

private

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Creating a Recurring Appointment

  1. Create an appointment as you usually would within the Outlook Calendar interface.
  2. On the toolbar click RECURRENCE. Result: This will open the “Recurring” dialog box.
  3. Complete this box by adding your recurring appointment pattern.

recurring

  1. Click OK.  Result: The “Recurrence” dialog box will close.
  2. Click SAVE AND CLOSE. Result: Your recurring appointments will be added to your calendar.

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Editing a Recurring Appointment

  1. From your Outlook calendar, double-click on the appointment your want to edit.
  2. After double-clicking, you will be prompted to choose if you want to edit this one appointment or   if you want to “open the series” and edit all occurrences of this appointment.
  3. Select which occurrence you want and then click OK. Result: You will be directed to the appointment box where you can then make your changes.

edit_recurring

  1. Click SAVE AND CLOSE. Result: Your changes will be saved.

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Scheduling a Meeting/ Viewing Free Busy Time

If everyone in your office is using the Outlook calendar to keep track of their time, it may be a great opportunity to use the “Plan a meeting” feature. This feature will allow you to see when your coworkers are free and help you choose a time for when your meeting can occur.                      

To schedule a meeting with others:

  1. Open an appointment in Outlook Calendar.
  2. Click on the SCHEDULING tab. Result: The “Scheduling” tab will appear.

scheduling

  1. Click ADD OTHERS and choose ADD FROM ADDRESS BOOK. Result: Your Outlook address book will appear.
  2. Select the people you want to invite to your meeting by finding their names and then clicking REQUIRED (for people that are required to attend), OPTIONAL (for people that have the option of attending), RESOURCES (for people that would be an additional resource to have at the meeting). Then click OK. Result: You will see a chart of when these people are available.
  3. Click AUTOPICK NEXT to find when everyone is available or manually add your time using the date and time boxes located under the chart. When you find a time that is convenient for all, click back on the APPOINTMENT tab. Result: Your invitees and the time of your meeting will be added.
  4. In the message box, add any meeting notes if needed.
  5. Click SEND.  Result: Your request for a meeting will be sent to each recipient.

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Accepting a Meeting

In Outlook, if someone invites you to a meeting you will have the option to either ACCEPT or DECLINE the invite. The accept or decline option will be available in the email that is sent to meeting invitees.

To accept or decline an invite:

  1. Open the email message. Result: You will see the “Accept” or “Decline” option at the top of the email.

accept

  1. To accept the meeting click ACCEPT; to decline the meeting click DECLINE. Result: An email to the meeting organizer will be sent notifying them if you accepted or declined the invite.  If you accepted the invite, this meeting will be added to your calendar.

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Setting Reminders

In Outlook, there is an option to have a reminder appear a pre-determined amount of time before your meeting. The default reminder time is 15 minutes before your meeting.

To set a reminder:

  1. Schedule your appointment as you normally would.
  2. Before saving your appointment, change the default 15 minute time to a different time.

reminder

  1. Click SAVE AND CLOSE.  Result: Your reminder time will change for that meeting only.

Note: To change your default reminder time, click on TOOLS to OPTIONS.  On the “Preferences” tab under “Calendar” change your default reminder.

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Changing your Calendar’s Start and End Time

  1. Click on TOOLS to OPTIONS. Result: The “Options” dialog box will appear.
  2. Click on CALENDAR OPTIONS. Result: Your calendar options will display.
  3. Change your calendar start and end time.

cal_time

  1. Click OK.  Your start and end time will now change to your new times.

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Printing the Calendar

  1. Click on FILE to PRINT. Result: Your print options will appear.
  2. Choose a “Print Style” and a “Print Range”.
  3. Click either PREVIEW or PRINT. Result: If you click “Preview” you will be directed to a print preview screen. If you click “OK”, your calendar will immediately print.

print

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Adding an Email Sender to your Calendar

If someone new has sent you an email, you may quickly want to add them to your calendar.  To add this person to your calendar, simply drag the email message on top of the calendar icon on the left Navigation bar.  This will open the calendar window where you can add additional information.

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