Guide to Using Outlook Calendar for Meeting Arrangements
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:
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View your Outlook 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 shared calendar
Show annual or flexi leave on a team calendar
Delete annual or flexi leave from a team calendar
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1
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 today’s date:
Click on a
particular date
from the monthly
calendar
The day will be
displayed on the
right 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:
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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 Enter a Start and
End time using the
date and time fields
You can set a
reminder to alert all
attendees before the
meeting starts
The default will show
this time as busy in
your 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 click
button which has appeared above the Subject line.
and then click the
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 the
‘Scheduling’ tab
Your proposed
meeting time will
be highlighted.
Your attendees will
be listed to the left
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.
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When you are happy that you have chosen the most appropriate time for everyone, go
back to your meeting request by clicking the
meeting then click the
tab. Check the details of your
button on the top left corner of your meeting request screen.
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 can’t see my colleague’s availability?
Sometimes you may find a colleague’s
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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1
Click Tools
-> Options
2 Under the Calendar section click Calendar Options
3 Under the Advance 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 because some people are included in more than one distribution list and this may
result in them receiving your meeting request a number of times. Check for duplicates as
follows:
1 Create your meeting
request and add the
distribution lists to the
field
2 Click the sign
next to each
distribution list to
expand them
Click
The distribution lists will be
expanded and you can check if
any names are duplicated.
Use the scroll bars to check
through the whole list as some
names may be out of your
immediate view
3 Delete all duplicates before
sending your meeting request
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How to Reply to a Meeting Request
You will received a meeting request in your inbox
1
Double click on the meeting
request to view the details
2 There are various buttons
at the top of the screen for
you to choose from:
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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 solid band
indicating that you are
busy at this time
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 sent 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. The details of the meeting will NOT appear in your
calendar
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How to invite a new attendee to a meeting that has already been 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
Click on Actions -> Add or
Remove Attendees
2 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 Send
Update
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
1
Change appropriate
details such as:
Location
Date
Time
2
Write a note explaining
that the meeting has been
rescheduled.
3 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’ tab for
a more detailed
list of attendees
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Details of
who will be
attending is
also listed
Within the
‘Tracking’
tab you will
see your list
of attendees
How to Cancel your Meeting
Within your calendar double click on the meeting to open up the details.
1
Click on Action -> Cancel Meeting
g
2
Click ‘Send cancellation and delete meeting’
Then Click
3
Type a message
telling the attendees that
the meeting has been
cancelled.
Then Click
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.
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Attendees will receive a cancellation which looks like this:
The ‘Remove from Calendar’ button
is in the top left corner of the screen
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.
2
Invite the attendees for the
meeting
3
Click the Recurrence button
at the top of the meeting
request
You will find that the details for your
recurring meeting have been
itemised
4
Check that the details are correct
and make any amendments
necessary
You can set the start and end time of
the series of meetings
Then Click OK and
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
1 In order to change the details for this
meeting Click Open this Occurrence
The click
2
Change the
Location, date and time
as appropriate
3
Type a message
explaining that the
meeting has been
rescheduled
4
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.
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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.
1
In order to change the details for this
meeting Click Open this Occurrence
Then click
2
Click on Action -> Cancel Meeting
g
3
Click Delete this occurrence
Then click
4
Click ‘Send cancellation and delete meeting’
Then Click
3
Type a message telling
the attendees that the
meeting has been
cancelled.
Then Click
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.
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Attendees will receive a cancellation which looks something like this:
The ‘Remove from Calendar’ button is in
the top left corner of the screen
Please note: If you wish to cancel a complete series of meetings then click ‘… the series’ at
points 1 and 3.
How to View a 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 Services Helpline on 4242.
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:
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2
Confirm the name of the calendar and where to find it in the Public Folders
Open the Public Folders list. To do this, go to the
view of Outlook. You will
find a group of icons to the bottom left of your Outlook screen
Click on the icon that looks like a folder
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
3 Right click on your shared
calendar and Add to Favorites
Check that your chosen folder
is highlighted and click
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You will find your shared
calendar listed in your
Favorites folder under
Public Folders
4
Right click on
the shared
calendar and select
‘Add to Other
Calendars’
Return to
view
5 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.
1
From the team calendar double click on
the date
4
Check that
All day event
is ticked
2
In the
Subject field
enter the name
and reason
5 Click on
Save and
Close for the
details to be
transferred to
the calendar
3
Check that
Reminder is
unticked
You will find your new entry has
been added to the list for that day
How to delete Annual or Flexi Leave from a Team Calendar
Double click on the item you want to delete
Click on the Delete button
The item will be removed from
the list
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