Outlook 2010: Managing Group Calendars

Managing Group Calendars
Outlook 2010 makes managing group calendars easier than ever. With just a
few clicks you can assemble a calendar group, find available times, and
schedule a meeting.
From the Calendar Ribbon, click the
Calendar Groups button, then Create
New Calendar Group.
Give the group a name, in this example,
My Team.
Next select the group members from the
Address Book.
The new calendar group is added to the Navigation Pane with individual group
members displayed below.
At this point the calendar group can be viewed the same way you view your
own, by using the buttons on the Calendar Ribbon.
New in Outlook 2010 is the Schedule View – which makes it easy to find the
best time for everyone to meet. Along the top of the screen, underneath the
date navigator, is a horizontal timeline, which defaults at 30 minute
increments. The small, vertical yellow line indicates the current time.
To adjust the timeline, for instance to show more or
fewer details, right click and choose from the options in
the menu.
The different colors and patterns represent the
availability of group members – blue for busy, diagonal
lines for tentative, and purple for out-of-the-office.
Keep in mind additional
calendars can be added to this
view, for instance, to check
the availability of a
conference room.
Near the bottom of the
window click the address book
Locate the room, add to the calendar,
and click OK.
Notice that rooms
display separately
on the Navigation
Pane and are not a
part of this saved
calendar group.
It looks like 9:00 – 10:00 would be a good time for the
meeting using the Excelsior (8501) First Floor Conference
Room.
Uncheck the other
conference then,
using the mouse,
Click and drag to
select the desired
time and duration
on the timeline.
Then right-click in
the selected area,
choose New
Meeting with All.
The Meeting Request is conveniently populated with attendees, location and
start and end times and is ready to send.
The Calendar Groups you open or create will remain on the
Navigation Pane and can be toggled on and off using the
check boxes.
For those Calendar
Groups no longer
needed, simply right
click over the name
and choose Delete
Group.