Organize Time and Tasks

 

Schedule Appointments

Outlook’s Calendar feature enables you to schedule:

• Appointments: Single-occurrence items with an identifiable start and an end time. They can occur on one day or can span several days.

• Events: All-day calendar items that have no specific start and end time (such as holidays).

• Recurring appointments: Appointments that occur at regular intervals (every Monday at 9:00 am, the first Thursday of the month at 1:30 pm, etc.)

• Meetings: Calendar items to which other people are invited.

Create a New Appointment

		New Appointments Standard Toolbar		Actions ► New Appointment		Ctrl + Shift + A		Ctrl + N

To create an appointment, click the starting time slot in the Day view of the Calendar and type the appointment’s subject. Drag the blue border to set the end time.

• Alternatively, you can Click the New Appointment button, double-click the Calendar, or click Actions ► New Appointment and enter appointment information in the Untitled Appointment form that opens.

  

Create an Event

To create an event, click and type the subject of the event in the gray area at the top of the Day view of the Calendar.

• Alternatively, you can click Actions ► New All Day Event to open an Untitled Appointment form, or open an Appointment form and click the All Day Event checkbox.

Create a Recurring Appointment

Click Actions ► New Recurring Appointment or click the Recurrence button on the Standard toolbar of an open Appointment form.

• Set the start and end time of the recurring appointment, select Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly Recurrence Pattern, and identify the range of recurrence.

Schedule Meetings with Others

If your company runs Microsoft Exchange Server, you can access others’ free/busy information to schedule meetings at available times. Free/busy information shows whether other users on the Exchange Server are free, busy, tentatively scheduled, or out of the office. To schedule a meeting:

1. Click Plan a Meeting from the Actions menu.

2. Click the Click Here To Add a Name row, or click the Add Others button and then Add From Address Book to pick names from the Select Attendees and Resources dialog box.

   • You can mark attendees as Required or Optional, and you can invite meeting rooms and equipment set up through the Exchange Server as Resources.

   • Click the icon in front of the name of an attendee’s name to change that person’s status.

3. Enter the desired meeting start and ending date and time in the Meeting Start Time and Meeting End Time text boxes.

4. If meeting attendees are unavailable at the desired time, click the Auto Pick Next button to find the next time all attendees are available for the desired meeting duration.

5. When you have found an acceptable time, click Make Meeting to open a meeting invitation e-mail message. Enter the subject, location, and other meeting details, and click Send to invite the attendees.

Track Meeting Responses

To track status of attendee responses to a meeting request, open the meeting in the Calendar and click the Tracking tab.

• To change a meeting time or change attendees, open the meeting in the Calendar, make the desired changes, and click Send Update. Outlook may prompt you to send the update to all attendees or only to those affected by the change.

Respond to a Meeting Request

When you receive a meeting request, you have the option to accept it, tentatively accept it, decline it, or propose a new meeting time. Open the e-mail message (or view the message in the Reading pane) and click the appropriate button.

• If you propose a new meeting time, the organizer can accept the new time (and update the other attendees) or decline it.

 

Navigate and Customize the Calendar

Create a Group Schedule

If you find yourself inviting the same people to meetings over and over again, you can create a group schedule to access the individuals’ free/busy information more easily.

• Click the View Group Schedule button on the Standard toolbar. Click New. Enter a name for the group schedule, then select the group members. Click Save and Close to exit.

  

• You can access the group’s schedule at any time by clicking the View Group Schedules button, selecting the group, and clicking Open. If you’d like to schedule a meeting with the group, click the Make Meeting button in the group schedule.

Display Nonconsecutive Dates

To compare calendars on nonconsecutive dates, click the first date in the Date Navigator at the top left of the Calendar display, then hold Ctrl to select additional dates. Outlook displays the Day view of the two dates next to each other.

Drage and Drop Appointments

To move an appointment to a new date, drag and drop it from the calendar to the new date on the Date Navigator. Outlook moves the appointment to the same time on that date. To copy the appointment rather than move it, hold Ctrl while you drag.

Label Appointments by Color

You can categorize your appointments by assigning colors based on labels of your choosing. Outlook provides default labels, but you can customize them to meet your own needs.

• Click the Calendar Coloring button on the Standard toolbar and click Edit Labels. Enter the labels for any or all of the colors listed and click OK.

  

• To assign a label to an appointment, open the appointment form and select a label from the Label drop-down list.

Change Appointment Time Increments

By default, Outlook displays times and schedules appointments in 30-minute increments. To use a different default time increment, right-click the time schedule in the Day or Work Week view of the Calendar and choose from 5- to 60-minute increments.

Display Multiple Time Zones

In case you cross time zones when you travel or your job requires you to work with people in a different time zone, you can switch to a different time zone or display two times side-by-side.

• To switch to a different time zone, right-click the time schedule in Day or Work Week view of the Calendar and click Change Time Zone. Enter a label for the different time zone and select from the Time Zone drop-down list.

• To display more than one time zone, select the Show An Additional Time Zone checkbox and enter the label and time zone information. Outlook displays the top time zone on the right, closest to the appointments—click Swap Time Zones if you’d prefer the opposite display.

 

Share Your Calendar

You can let other people on your company’s Microsoft Exchange Server open your calendar by assigning them a permission level, ranging from Reviewer (in which they can only see calendar items) to Owner (in which they have total control of your calendar).

• To grant permissions to others, click Share My Calendar on the Navigation pane of the Calendar, or right-click any Calendar folder and choose Properties.

• On the Permissions tab of the Properties dialog box, click Add to add users, then pick a permission level from the list.

• You can also select individual permissions to create a custom level. After adding users and permissions, click OK.

Open a Shared Calendar

To open someone else’s calendar for which you have permission, click Open a Shared Calendar on the Navigation pane. Enter the name of the user you and click OK. The calendar opens side-by-side with your calendar.

• To close a shared calendar, clear the check box in the Other Calendars group on the Navigation pane. You can reopen it at any time by clicking the checkbox again.

 

Print Your Calendar

Outlook includes many useful options for printing calendars in a variety of formats. You can print any calendar in Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Tri-fold, Calendar Details (including attachments), and Memo styles. With each of these styles, you can set options for format, paper type and size, and headers and footers.

• To print a calendar, click File ► Page Setup and select a calendar style. The Page Setup dialog box has different settings based on the style you select. Print Preview shows you the results of the settings you’ve chosen.

• Experiment with different settings to create a calendar that meets your needs. If you use a name-brand planner, scroll through the Page Size options on the Paper tab to find it.

 

Create Tasks

		New Task Standard Toolbar		Actions ► New Task		Ctrl + Shift + K		Ctrl + N

Tasks enable you to create and manage your to-do list. With this feature, you can put tasks on your schedule, set reminders to help you stay on target, delegate tasks to others, and track the status of their work on a task. A task is similar to an appointment except that tasks do not have assigned start and end times.

• To create a task, click Tasks on the Navigation pane, then the New Task button on the Standard toolbar. Enter the subject, due date, and other comments on the Task form.

  

• A reminder is set by default—you can change the reminder date and time or clear the checkbox to turn off the reminder.

Tip: If a task requires work on a document, insert a hyperlink to the document in the Notes area of the task. Click Insert ► File, select the file you want, and click the down arrow on the Insert button to choose Insert as Hyperlink.

Create Recurring Tasks

To create a recurring task, click the Recurrence button on an open Task form. In the dialog box that opens, enter the Recurrence Pattern and Range of Recurrence. As soon as you mark a task complete, the next occurrence of the task appears in the task list.

Delegate Tasks

To delegate tasks to others, click the Assign Task button on the open Task form. Enter the name of the person to whom you want to assign the task, or click the To button to select the person’s name. This person has the option to accept or decline the task. When the person accepts, that person becomes the task owner.

• By default, Outlook keeps an updated copy of the task on your task list. When the task owner updates the status and the task’s percent-completion, you receive an e-mail, and the task automatically updates in your task list. Clear this check box if you don’t want to receive updates.

• When a task is marked as complete, you receive a final status report. Clear this checkbox if you don’t want to receive a final status report.