Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 95 Scheduling Meetings
CHAPTER 9 SCHEDULING MEETINGS
Microsoft Outlook's Calendar feature allows you to schedule
meetings. Meetings are more complex to schedule than
appointments or events as they normally require the participation of
other members of your network, plus resources such as meeting
rooms.
To help with meetings Calendar uses some of the Outlook Mail
features to assist you in the planning and organising of meetings.
The Outlook Calendar will automatically communicate with the
participants using Outlook Mail and advise them of the meeting
details. The participants themselves can reply to you through
Outlook Mail to advise you of their attendance.
In this session you will:
learn how to schedule meetings
gain an understanding of the response options in a
meeting request
learn how to respond to a meeting request
learn how to track responses to a meeting request
learn how to change the details of an existing meeting
learn how to add or remove meeting attendees
learn how to prevent responses to a meeting
learn how to cancel a meeting
gain an understanding of how the Scheduling Assistant
works
learn how to use the Outlook Scheduling feature to plan
and schedule a meeting
learn how to schedule a meeting for a calendar group.
INFOCUS
WPL_O816
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 96 Scheduling Meetings
SCHEDULING A MEETING
Try This Yourself:
Before starting the exercises in this
entire chapter, you MUST have an
Exchange account…






For Your Reference…
To schedule a meeting:
1. Click on a blank timeslot in the calendar,
then click on New Meeting
2. Click on [To], double-click on the desired
names, then click on [OK]
3. Type the details and click on Send
Handy to Know…
If you have access to the invitees’ calendars,
the Room Finder pane (which appears by
default on the right side of the Meeting
window) will show suggestions for the best
time for your meeting – this is the time when
most invitees are available. To select a time,
click on a time under Suggested times.
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Meetings are scheduled using the Meeting
window. While the concept is similar to that of
scheduling an appointment, the main difference
is that you can invite people to a meeting and
schedule resources, such as a meeting room. The
people you invite must be available in Outlook
somewhere, usually through the post office mail
box or through your contacts listing.
Subject
Location
End time
Text
Think Tank Lunch
The Mucky Duck
2:30 pm
Let’s share some ideas over lunch. Let me
know ASAP.
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Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 97 Scheduling Meetings
MEETING RESPONSE OPTIONS
When you receive a meeting request, there are a
number of options from which you can choose.
These options are included in the ribbon at the
top of the meeting request. Using the tools you
can accept the meeting request, decline it,
tentatively accept it or propose a different time.
Outlook includes a snapshot of your calendar in the
message to help you determine your availability.
Accept
Allows you to accept the meeting as proposed. The meeting will automatically be
added to your calendar. You will be given the opportunity to send an immediate
response to the meeting organiser, edit the message to send, or accept the
meeting without responding to the organiser.
Tentative
Allows you to tentatively accept the meeting as proposed. The meeting will
automatically be added to your calendar. You will be given the opportunity to send
an immediate response to the meeting organiser, edit the message to send, or
accept the meeting without responding to the organiser.
Decline
Allows you to decline the meeting invitation.
Propose New
Time
If the current time is not suitable you can either reply tentatively and propose a new
time for the meeting or decline the invitation and propose a new time. When you
choose either option a dialog box showing all meeting participants will appear. The
current calendar details for these people will display allowing you to see what free
time they have for the meeting. When you propose a new time, a message will be
sent informing the organiser that you want to propose a new time.
Respond
This option allows you to reply to the message, reply to all recipients of the
message, forward the message or forward the message as an attachment.
Respond options
Calendar
snapshot – the
meeting is
marked as
tentatively
accepted in your
calendar
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 98 Scheduling Meetings
RESPONDING TO MEETING REQUESTS
Try This Yourself:
To complete this exercise you will
need someone else in your workgroup
to send you a meeting request –
ideally they should have completed
the previous task inviting you to their
lunch...

Click on the Inbox, then ensure
the Reading pane is open
Meeting requests display in the
message list with a special
meeting icon …

Click on the meeting request to
display it in the Reading pane
Notice the various buttons at
the top of the request and the
snapshot showing how the
proposed meeting fits into your
calendar. These two features
make it very easy for you to
decide how you want to
respond.
If you didn’t have the Reading
pane open, you could have also
double-clicked on the request
to open it in a Meeting
window…

Click on Accept at the top
of the message, then select
Send the Response Now
Outlook will send your
response to the person who
sent you the invitation and will
then add the meeting to your
calendar
For Your Reference…
To respond to a meeting request:
1. Double-click on the meeting request
2. Click on Accept (or other tool in the
Respond group as desired)
3. Click on the appropriate response
Handy to Know…
You can see how the meeting fits into your
schedule from the calendar snapshot that is
included near the top of the message. You
can scroll up and down to see where you
have activities already scheduled on the day.
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An invitation to a meeting arrives in the form of a
mail message. Outlook Mail treats a meeting
invitation in a special way and allows you to
respond to the meeting request by accepting the
invitation, accepting it tentatively, changing the
meeting details or declining the invitation.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 99 Scheduling Meetings
TRACKING MEETING RESPONSES
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with
this exercise…

Click on the meeting
response in your Inbox
A meeting response
acceptance appears in
the message list with an
acceptance icon …

Double-click on the
Accepted message to
open it in a Meeting
Response window – this
window shows a
summary of the
responses received so
far

Press , then open the
calendar and click on the
Think Tank Lunch
meeting (first
Wednesday next month)
to select it
The Calendar Tools:
Meeting contextual tab
will open…

Click on Tracking in
the Attendees group to
see who has and has not
accepted

Press to return to the
calendar
For Your Reference…
To track meeting responses:
1. Double-click on the meeting response in your
Inbox
or
Click on the meeting, then click on Tracking
in the Attendees group
Handy to Know…
There are a number of places where you can
see who has accepted a meeting. The
easiest is to open the message response in
the Inbox, but the more comprehensive is to
open the meeting in the Calendar since
meetings are automatically updated from
responses.
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When you have organised a meeting with only
one person it is very simple to keep track of who
has accepted and who has declined your meeting
request. But, when several people are involved
things can get a little trickier. Outlook, therefore,
has some tools and facilities that allow you to keep
track of what is happening with responses and the
meeting overall.
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Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 100 Scheduling Meetings
CHANGING A MEETING
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with this
exercise…

Navigate to the Think Tank
Lunch meeting next month,
and then double-click on
the meeting to open it in the
Meeting window

Select the text The Mucky
Duck in Location and type
The Spotted Dog

Click on Send Update
Outlook will send a
message to the invitees
highlighting the information
that has changed – in this
case, the new Location will
appear in orange type and
the original Location will
appear with strikethrough
and in parentheses
For Your Reference…
To change a meeting:
1. Double-click on the meeting in the calendar
2. Make any necessary changes
3. Click on Send Update
Handy to Know…
If a meeting invitee uses the Reading pane
to view a message informing them of a
change to the meeting, a comment will
appear at the top left of the message
notifying them that they don’t have to
respond to the message.
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If you are the meeting organiser, you can change
the details of the meeting at any time. For
example, you may want to change the location of
a meeting, the date, the times, plus more. If you
make a minor change, such as a change of
location, invitees aren’t required to respond − they
will simply receive a message highlighting the
changed meeting details.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 101 Scheduling Meetings
ADDING OR REMOVING ATTENDEES
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with this
exercise…

Click on the Think Tank
Lunch meeting next month
to select it

Click on Add or Remove
Attendees in the
Attendees group to open
the Select Attendees and
Resources dialog box and
the Meeting window
The currently invited
attendees will appear in the
boxes. To remove an
attendee, simply delete
their name from the box...

Double-click on a different
name and then click on
[OK] to return to the
meeting request

Click on Send Update
Outlook will ask you who
you want to send the
updates to...

Ensure that Send updates
only to added or deleted
attendees is selected, then
click on [OK]
For Your Reference…
To add or remove attendees from a meeting:
1. Double-click on the meeting in the calendar
2. Click on Add or Remove Attendees in
the Attendees group
3. Click on Send Update
4. Select the desired option, then click on [OK]
Handy to Know…
If you make other changes to a meeting
while adding or removing attendees, you
should send the updates to all attendees.
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Once a meeting request has been sent, you may
decide to change the attendees. For example,
you may want to include some additional names
and remove others. Once you’ve changed the list
of attendees in an existing meeting, Outlook lets
you decide whether or not to send the updated
information to everyone who has been invited or
just to the new and/or deleted attendees.
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Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 102 Scheduling Meetings
PREVENTING RESPONSES
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with this
exercise…

Go to the first Thursday
next month and create a
new meeting at 6:00 pm

Click on [To] and select a
name, then enter the
following details
Subject Farewell drinks
for Alex Parker
Location HQ Boardroom
End time 7:30 pm

Click on Response
Options in the
Attendees group to
display the available
options

Select Request
Responses – this will
remove the tick from both
Request Responses
options

Click on Send to send
the meeting request and
record the meeting in your
calendar
The recipients will receive
a message informing them
that they do not need to
respond to your request. If
they respond, it will affect
only their calendar and not
yours
For Your Reference…
To prevent meeting responses:
1. Create a meeting request
2. Click on Response Options in the
Attendees group
3. Remove the tick from Request Responses
4. Click on Send
Handy to Know…
You can prevent responses after you have
sent the initial meeting request. To do this,
double-click on the meeting to open it, click
on Response Options in the Attendees
group, select Request Responses, and click
on Send Update .
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Normally, when you send a meeting request the
Request Response option is turned on so that
you can track attendees’ responses. But, if you
are sending a meeting request to a large number
of people and it is not critical that you know who
can and cannot attend, you can turn off the
Request Response option when you send the
meeting request.
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Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 103 Scheduling Meetings
CANCELLING A MEETING
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with
this exercise…

Click on the Think Tank
Lunch meeting (first
Wednesday next month)
to select it

Click on Cancel
Meeting in the
Actions group to open
the Meeting window
A cancellation note will
appear at the top of the
header…

Click on Send
Cancellation
Outlook will send a
message to the
attendees notifying them
of the cancellation. It will
then remove the
meeting from your
calendar
For Your Reference…
To cancel a meeting:
1. Click on the meeting in the calendar
2. Click on Cancel Meeting in the Actions
group
3. Click on Send Cancellation
Handy to Know…
When you cancel a meeting, invitees will
receive a Cancelled: Meeting Name
message in their Inbox. To delete the
meeting from their calendar, they can click
on Remove from Calendar in either the
Reading pane or the Respond group in the
open Meeting window.
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Meetings don't always proceed as planned and
sometimes they need to be cancelled. Meetings
in Outlook can be cancelled at any time. When a
meeting is cancelled Outlook will send
cancellation messages to prospective attendees,
remove the meeting from your calendar and update
the meeting in the attendees’ calendars marking
them as ‘Cancelled: Meeting Name’.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 104 Scheduling Meetings
THE SCHEDULING ASSISTANT
1
Rather than send a meeting request in the hope
that attendees will be able to attend, you can plan
a meeting using the Scheduling Assistant. This
entails checking the schedules of the attendees
to see their unallocated times so you can see when
the best time will be to hold the meeting. Once you
have determined the most appropriate time, you
can send the meeting requests in the normal way.

Attendees list
Displays the names of the people or resources that you want to invite to the meeting.
The tick in the first column indicates that the person or resource will be sent a
meeting request. Removing the tick will still allow you to see their availability but they
will not be sent a meeting request.
The icons in the second column indicate the attendee’s status – Meeting Organiser
, Required Attendee , Optional Attendee , Resource . If desired, you can
change the status of the attendees in the attendees list by right-clicking on the status
icon and selecting the desired icon.

Free/Busy grid
Shows the availability of attendees plus yourself as the organiser. Appointments and
meetings are shown as coloured blocks in the grid – blue when the attendees are
unavailable, hashed when they are tentatively busy and purple when they are out of
the office.

Suggested Times bar
Shows the time that you have allocated in your meeting request (these times also
appear towards the bottom of the screen in Start time and End time). The green
vertical line represents the start of the meeting and the red vertical line represents the
end of the meeting. If you want to change the meeting duration, you can drag the
green line to alter the start time and the red line to alter the end time.

[Add Attendees]
[Options]
[Add Rooms]
Use [Add Attendees] to add people to the attendees list.
Use [Options] to control how the calendar details are displayed.
Use [Add Rooms] to add resources to the attendees list.

Room Finder pane
Shows the rooms that are available at the suggested meeting time under Choose an
available room. It also shows a list of other times when the majority of the required
attendees are available under Suggested times. You can click on a time in this list
to change the meeting to that time. (The Suggested times list is at the bottom of the
Room Finder pane which you can’t see in the above example.)
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Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 105 Scheduling Meetings
USING THE SCHEDULING ASSISTANT
Try This Yourself:
Same
File
Continue using the
previous data file with this
exercise…

Create a new meeting
request at 12:30 on the first
Friday next month

Click on Scheduling
Assistant in the Show
group to display the
Scheduling Assistant
Let’s add some people...

Click on [Add Attendees]
to open the Select
Attendees and Resources
dialog box, double-click on
two people and click on
[OK]
Harry isn’t free at 12:30 in
our example. Let’s change
the meeting time…

Ensure Room Finder is
selected in the Options
group, then click on a time
range under Suggested
times in the Room Finder
pane

Click on Appointment
to return to the meeting
request, type a Subject
and Location, then click on
Send to send the
meeting invitation and
record the meeting in the
calendar
For Your Reference…
To use the Scheduling Assistant:
1. Create a meeting request, then click on
Scheduling Assistant in the Show
group
2. Click on [Add Attendees], determine the
best time for the meeting and click on Send
Handy to Know…
You can move the meeting to a different
timeslot by clicking on a blank area of the
free/busy grid in the Scheduling Assistant.
You can change the start and end times for
the meeting in the Scheduling Assistant by
dragging the green (start) and red (end) lines
as desired.
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Using the Scheduling Assistant, you can add
attendees to a meeting request and then Outlook
will display a summary of when attendees are
busy, tentatively busy or out of the office.
Visually, this makes it very easy to schedule a
meeting when attendees are free. And to make it
even easier, Outlook displays a list of suggested
meeting times in the Room Finder pane.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Level 2
© Watsonia Publishing Page 106 Scheduling Meetings
SCHEDULING MEETINGS USING CALENDAR GROUPS
Try This Yourself:
Continue using the previous
data file with this exercise…

Click on Calendar Groups
in the Manage
Calendars group, then
select Create New
Calendar Group to open
the Create New Group
Schedule dialog box

Type BSS Project and then
click on [OK] to open the
Select Name dialog box

Double-click on two names,
and then click on [OK] to
create the calendar group
and display it in the
Navigation pane
The calendars will open in
side-by-side view. If your
calendar group had five
members or more, the
calendars would display in
the horizontal Schedule
view…

Click on Schedule View
, then double-click in a
white area between the
timeline and the top of the
calendar to open a Meeting
window

Type a Subject and
Location, then click on
Send to schedule the
meeting
For Your Reference…
To create a calendar group:
1. Click on Calendar Groups
2. Select Create New Calendar Group
3. Type a Name and click on [OK]
4. Select the people and click on [OK]
Handy to Know…
You can create a new calendar group by
displaying the desired calendars, clicking on
Calendar Groups and selecting Save
As New Calendar Group.
You can add a shared calendar to a calendar
group by dragging it onto the calendar
group’s name in the Navigation pane.
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Outlook’s calendar groups make it easy for you
to see at a glance the combined schedules of a
number of people or resources. For example, you
may often schedule meetings with the same
people in a particular project or within your team.
By creating a calendar group for each of these
sets of people, you can quickly check their
availability and then schedule a meeting.
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