Using the Calendar Groups Feature

Outlook's Calendar Groups feature makes it easy for us to see the combined schedules of a number of people or resources at a glance. We can assemble lists of people and resources in any way we choose, then name and save them as groups to use later.

Let's use Calendar Groups to organize a planning session with the Senior Showcase Event planners.

Step1. To begin creating a new Calendar Group, in the Manage Calendars group,

Click, Click Create New Calendar Group

The Create New Calendar Group dialog box appears:

We must name our group before we go on.

Step2. To name the new group, in the dialog box, type:

Showcase Event Committee Enter

The Select Name: Global Address List dialog box appears. We will use it to add names to the list. If we needed to search for the names first, we could use the Search field at the top of the dialog box, but since we already know the names of the committee members, we can type them directly into the Group Members field.

Step3. To add the names of our committee, at the bottom of the dialog box, in the Group Members field, type:

Cape, Carol; Dell, Diane; Catt, Cathy; Daily, Doris

NOTE: These are all demo accounts and can be freely used for this course.

Step4. To continue, in the bottom right corner of the dialog box,

Click

The committee members' calendars appear with our calendar in the Central Viewing area, and the name of our new Calendar Group, and individual members, are now listed in the Navigation Pane.

Next, let's use this calendar group to schedule a meeting, and then we will invite someone who does not have an Outlook Exchange account to the meeting.

Understanding Out-of-System Scheduling

As we communicate with others who are using different email systems, it is important to understand how the Outlook process works.

In an organization such as ours, a server that manages Outlook accounts is called an Exchange server. Those who work with Outlook in conjunction with an Exchange server are using Exchange accounts. The connection to the server make it possible to share calendars and other information.

People who are using Outloook with non-Exchangeaccounts don't have access to the Exchange server, so they don't have the option of sharing Outlook features like calendars.

Inviting Non-Exchange Users

We will first use our Calendar Group to create a meeting invitation, and then we will add a non-Exchange user to the meeting.

Step1. To open a new meeting form, in the New group,

Click, Click New Meeting with All

A new meeting form opens, and the members of the calendar group are listed in the To... field. Let's open the Scheduling Assistant now.

Step2. To open the Scheduling Assistant, in the Show group,

Click

The window changes. We see our schedule and the schedule for each member of our calendar group.

Step3. To begin to add a new user, in the All Attendees list, on the far left side of the window,

Click "Click here to add a name"

Step4. To add the non-Exchange user's name, type:

student@example.com Enter

NOTE: When the person is not an Exchange user, you must type in the entire email address.

The timeline of the non-Outlook user appears with a line of light stripes all the way across the timeline. When we point our cursor to the timeline, a tool tip appears telling us there is no information for that person:

Since the user doesn't have an Exchange account like ours, when we try to view his schedule, we aren't able to see his Free/Busy information.

When non-Exchange users receive a meeting invitation, instead of receiving a meeting form that they can accept, they will get an email message with a short, plain-text synopsis of the pertinent information. They can then reply to the invitation as an email. Therefore, when we send meeting invitations to non-Exchange users, we want to be as explicit as possible in the subject line.

Now we need to go ahead and schedule the meeting

Selecting Required Meeting Attendees

One way to choose a meeting time that is convenient for all attendees, is to use the Suggested times pane, located in the lower right corner of the meeting form.

The Suggested times pane locates the best time for our meeting, which is defined as the time when the most required attendees are available. The best meeting time appears at the top of the pane. To select any of the suggested times, we simply click one of the boxes.

When setting up meetings with a large number of individuals, it can be difficult to find a time when everyone is free. When this is the case, it sometimes helps to specify required attendees and optional attendees. Required attendees are people who absolutely must attend the meeting.Optional attendees are people who may attend, but the meeting will go on even if they can't be there.

If a person is given the status of Optional Attendee, the Suggested times pane will ignore that person's schedule when searching for available times.

Let's say that the individual who owns the gmail account is a student hourly, and it is not absolutely mandatory that he attend the meeting. We can use the small icon in front of the name to indicate this.

Step1. To change the required status of the student@example.com meeting attendee, in the Attendees list, on the far-left side of the screen,

Click, Click Optional Attendee, press: Enter

The icon changes, indicating that the member is an optional attendee.

Step2. To select one of the suggested times, in the Suggested times pane,

Click the first suggested time

The meeting time jumps to the new time slot.

We now have a meeting time, but we still need to add a subject to the request. A subject can be added from the Meeting window.

Step3. To activate the Meeting form, in the Show group,

Click

The Meeting form appears.

Let's type in a subject.

Step4. To enter a subject for this meeting, in the Subject field, type:

Meeting of Senior Showcase Committee Tab key

We are moved to the Location field.

Step5. To enter a location for the meeting, in the Location field, type:

IT 123

It is always important to include a message with our invitations. In this instance, we are inviting a non-Exchange user, so a message is especially important.

Step6. To add a message, in the body, type:

This is the first meeting for all members of the Showcase committee.

See you there,
Mary

Now that we have recorded all the information we need, we are ready to send this meeting request.

Step7. To send the request,

Click

The request has been sent.

Step8. To close all calendars except our own, in the Navigation pane,

Click