Guide to Using Outlook Calendar for Meeting Arrangements (Office 2007)

Using Outlook Calendar to arrange meetings and share information on availability across the university can help to save time on administration and contribute towards team efficiency. This guide will show you how to do the following:

Page No. View your Outlook Calendar Use the Outlook To-Do Bar to display calendar entries Categorise your calendar Arrange a meeting Reply to a meeting request Invite a new attendee to a meeting that has already been set up Reschedule your meeting Keep track of your meeting Cancel your meeting Set up a series of recurring meetings Reschedule a meeting that is part of a series of meetings Cancel a meeting that is part of a series of meetings View a team/shared calendar Show annual or flexi leave on a team calendar Delete annual or flexi leave from a team calendar Copy a team calendar entry into your own calendar 2 3 4 5 8 10 11 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 19

Email: it.helpline@northumbria.ac.uk Online: www.northumbria.ac.uk/it/knowhow

How to View your Outlook Calendar

Click on then click on a particular date from the monthly calendar at the top of the page. The default will be to show todays date:

Click on a particular date from the monthly calendar

The day will be displayed with time slots listed for the main part of the day

You can use the scroll bar to find times earlier than 08:00 or later than 17:00

You can choose a different view by clicking the selection buttons on the ruler at the top of your screen:

Note: If you click Week you will see the options: This allows you to show a full 7-day week or the standard 5-day working week.

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Using Outlook To-Do Bar to view calendar entries beside your Inbox
The To-Do bar is a useful tool that you can activate to show in your Inbox. The To-Do bar will show your calendar entries in arranged by date so you dont have to switch to your calendar to check your schedule for that day. To activate your To-Do bar:

Open Outlook and switch to your Inbox

Go to View and select To-Do Bar

Select Normal

You will see the To-Do bar open in your Inbox

Go to View > To-Do Bar once again

Select Options

You can set your particular preferences here.

Click OK.

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Categorising your calendar entries

You can categorise your Outlook calendar to differentiate between, for example, a work meeting and a personal reminder.

Find an entry in your calendar and right-click on it

Select Categorize A menu will appear listing the different category types you can choose from, with different colours beside each.

Left-click on an option and the calendar entry will change to match the category colour

You can also select to make your calendar entry Private. Right-click on the entry and select . This will place a small padlock in the bottom right.

Note: This wont apply to team calendars where everyone can see entries.
Renaming / Setting up new categories Right-click on a calendar entry, select Categorize and then select All Categories Create a new category Click New and enter a name for your category Assign a colour and click OK Rename a category Select a current category and click Rename Enter a new name for your category and click Enter on your keyboard You can also change its colour by clicking the drop down arrow from the colour box to the right-hand side

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How to Arrange a Meeting

You can create and send requests for meetings. When you create a meeting, you identify the people to invite and you pick a meeting time. Responses to your meeting request appear in your Inbox. Follow these steps to set up a meeting: From your Calendar view click on

1 Enter a Subject and Location 2 Make sure you amend the

entry to show that you are busy/unavailable during the set time.

You can set a reminder to alert all attendees before the meeting starts

Enter a Start and End time using the date and time fields

Note: If you choose to setup an All Day Event the status will automatically display as . You should amend this now so that it displays correctly in the calendar.
You will need to consider the best time to set up your meeting. Outlook can help you check when people are available or busy. To do this you must invite people to your meeting.

3 To invite the people to your meeting go to the Actions menu and click
Click the button which has appeared above the Subject line.

4 Type the name of the person

you want to invite then click Required to add them to your list of attendees If you cannot find the person listed make sure that you have selected Global Address List

5 When you have selected all

the people required click OK for them to be transferred to your meeting request

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6 To check whether your attendees

are available at this time click on Scheduling from the Show menu

Your attendees will be listed to the left

Your proposed meeting time will be highlighted. If there are no coloured bands shown at your proposed meeting time then your attendees are available.

Coloured bands will show when they are busy

Please be aware that the accuracy of this view depends on how up to date these attendees have kept their own personal calendars within Outlook.

7 When you are happy that you have chosen the most appropriate time for everyone, go
back to your meeting request by clicking Check the details of your meeting then click the . button.

You will receive replies to your meeting request in your inbox. These can vary depending on whether the people can attend.

Note: Also see How to Keep Track of your Meeting.

What should I do if I cant see my colleagues availability? Sometimes you may find a colleagues calendar is blocked out with black diagonal lines This means that their calendar does not have advance viewing of this time period. To make their calendar available your colleague should open their calendar and carry out these steps:

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Click Tools -> Options

2 Under the Calendar section click Calendar Options

3 Under the
Advanced Options section click Free/Busy Options

4 Enter the number

of months ahead to be viewed in advance Then click on all screens to return to the normal calendar view

Can I use Distribution Lists to invite attendees? Yes, using distribution lists is a quick way to invite a lot of attendees. However, care should be taken as some people are included in more than one distribution list and this may result in them receiving your meeting request a number of times.

1 Create your
meeting request and add the distribution lists to the field

Click the sign next to each distribution list to expand them Click

The following box will appear:

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How to Reply to a Meeting Request

You will receive a meeting request in your inbox

1 2

From your Inbox, double click on the meeting request to view the details

The Respond menu displays the options you can choose from when responding to your meeting request: Accept Tentative Decline Propose New Time Click Accept if you are able to go to the meeting. This will send a reply to the meeting organiser and the meeting request will be transferred from your inbox to your calendar. Click on and you will see your meeting listed there.

Your calendar is marked with a full box indicating that you are busy at this time. To double-check this, right click on the meeting entry and select Show Time As. A tick will be displayed next to the current status. Click Tentative if you are not sure if you can attend the meeting.

Click Edit the response before sending if you wish to send an explanation with your reply

Enter your explanation and click

This will send a reply to the meeting organiser and the meeting request will be transferred from your inbox to your calendar. Click on and you will see your meeting listed there.
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Your calendar is marked with a striped band indicating that you may be busy at this time If, at a later date, you find that you can accept or need to decline the meeting you can send a new reply. Just double click on the meeting in your calendar and click the appropriate button. This will keep the meeting organiser up to date on how many people will be attending.

Click Propose New Time if you would like to attend the meeting but would prefer it to be held at a different time.

Use the drop down menus to enter your proposed date or time

Then click Propose Time

Check that your proposed time is correct

You can add a message if you wish

Then click

A message will be sent to the meeting organiser

Click Decline if you cannot attend the meeting. A message will be sent to the meeting organiser and the details of the meeting will NOT appear in your calendar

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How to invite a new attendee to a meeting you have already set up

You can invite additional people to a meeting even though you have already sent out the original meeting request. Within your calendar double click on the proposed meeting to open up the details

1 2

From the Attendees menu click on

Type the name of the additional person you want to invite then click Required to add them to your list of attendees

If you cannot find the person listed make sure that you have selected Global Address List

3 When you have

selected all the additional people required click OK for them to be transferred to your meeting request

You will see that your additional person has been added to your list of attendees

4 Click

5 Choose whether you want to send the

update to everyone involved in the meeting or just to the new attendee. Then click

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How to Reschedule your Meeting

If your meeting has been rescheduled you can change the date, time or location of your meeting and send an update to the people that are involved. Within your calendar double click on the proposed meeting to open up the details

Change appropriate details such as: Location Date Time

Write a note explaining that the meeting has been rescheduled.

Click the button at the top of the screen. A new meeting request will be sent to all the people involved and will update in their calendars with the new details. They can then accept or decline the new appointment.

How to Keep Track of your Meeting

Once your meeting has been set up and you have received replies from the attendees you can check who will be attending. Within your calendar double click on the proposed meeting to open up the details

Your meeting request displays a summary of how many people will be attending, how many have declined and how many are unsure.

Click on the Tracking button for a more detailed list of attendees

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Here you will see your list of attendees

Details of their responses are also listed

How to Cancel your Meeting

Within your calendar double click on the meeting to open up the details.

1 2

From the Actions menu, click

Type a message telling the attendees that the meeting has been cancelled.

Outlook does not automatically remove items from individual calendars so it is a good idea to remind people to click the Remove from Calendar button.

Click Send Cancellation

Attendees will receive a cancellation which looks like this:

The Remove from Calendar button is in the Respond menu in the top left hand corner.

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How to set up a Series of Recurring Meetings

Sometimes it is necessary to schedule a meeting every month or every week such as for regular committees or team meetings. Outlook allows you do this in one meeting request. Follow these steps to set up a recurring meeting: From your Calendar view, click on

1 Enter the
Subject, Location, Start Time and End Time details for your meeting.

Invite the attendees for the meeting

From the Options menu, click the

button.

You will find that the details for your recurring meeting have been itemised

Check that the details are correct and make any necessary amendments

You can set the start and end time of the series of meetings

Then click

and

Note: Please be aware that attendees must accept the recurring meeting request in order for them to be displayed in their own calendar.

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How to Reschedule a Meeting that is Part of a Series of Meetings

If one meeting in a series has to be rescheduled you can change the date, time or location of your meeting and send an update to the people that are involved. Within your calendar double click on the proposed meeting to open up the details

In order to change the details for this meeting select Open this Occurrence Then click

Change the location, date and time as appropriate

Type a message explaining that the meeting has been rescheduled

Click the

button at the top of the screen.

A new meeting request will be sent to all attendees and will update in their calendars with the new details. They can then accept or decline the new appointment.

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How to Cancel a Meeting that is Part of a Series of Meetings

Within your calendar double click on the meeting to open up the details.

In order to change the details for this meeting click Open this Occurrence Then click

2 3

From the Actions menu, click

Select Delete this occurrence

Then click

Type a message telling the attendees that the meeting has been cancelled.

Outlook does not automatically remove items from individual calendars so it is a good idea to remind people to click the Remove from Calendar button.

Click Send Cancellation

Note: If you wish to cancel a complete series of meetings then click the series at points 1 and 3.

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How to View a Team/Shared Calendar

Many teams have shared calendars for keeping track of annual leave and meetings attended by that team. In order to view a shared calendar you will need to have your permissions set by the owner of the calendar. Some calendars are owned by IT Services and some are owned by School or Service Administrators. To find out the owner of a calendar and further advice on how to proceed please contact the IT Helpline. Once you have had your permissions set to access the shared calendar you can add it to your Outlook Calendar view by following these steps:

1 2

Confirm the name of the calendar and where to find it in the Public Folders Open the Public Folders list. To do this, click on Go from the top menu bar and select

Scroll down the Folder List and click on the sign next to Public Folders Click on the sign next to All Public Folders and navigate to your shared calendar

Right click on your shared calendar and then click Add to Favorites

Check that your chosen folder is highlighted and click Add

You will find your shared calendar listed in your Favorites folder under Public Folders

Return to

view

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Your shared calendar will be listed under Other Calendars. Check the tick box for your shared calendar to be displayed Your chosen calendars will be displayed side by side. You can see who is on leave and the meetings that are booked

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How to Show Annual or Flexi Leave on a Team Calendar

It is helpful to know when members of your team are on leave or away on a training course. This can easily be indicated on the team calendar so that all members can check on a daily basis who is in and who is out.

From the team calendar double click in the coloured space below the day/another persons entry

In the Subject field enter the name and reason

In the options menu, check that Reminder is set as None and that the entry reflects being Out of the Office.

Check that All day event is ticked

Click on to the calendar

for the details to be transferred

You will find your new entry has been added to the list for that day

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How to delete Annual or Flexi Leave from a Team Calendar

Double click on the item you want to delete

Click on the

button in the Actions menu and the item will be removed from the list.

How to copy a team calendar entry into your personal calendar

Rather than setting up two identical calendar entries (one for team calendar and one for your personal calendar) you can set the entry up in the main team calendar and copy it into your personal calendar.

1 2

Open the calendar item from the Team calendar

Click Copy to My Calendar

3 4

Click on Save and Close to close the team calendar entry Switch to your own calendar and you will see the entry in place for the event.

Note: Make sure the Free/Busy settings are correct so people will know youre unavailable.

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