Sending a Meeting Request with Scheduling Assistant

When you are using Outlook 2007 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you have an enhanced tool for scheduling meetings called Scheduling Assistant. In many ways, scheduling a meeting with Scheduling Assistant is similar to how you schedule meetings using Microsoft Exchange Server 2003—to schedule a meeting, you begin by sending a meeting request. Choose File, New, Meeting Request, or click the arrow next to New on the toolbar and choose Meeting Request. The meeting form opens, as shown in Figure 21-5.

The meeting form with Scheduling Assistant includes an option to select rooms.

Figure 21-5. The meeting form with Scheduling Assistant includes an option to select rooms.

When you request a meeting using Scheduling Assistant, in addition to the standard meeting or appointment forms, you can select one or more rooms to reserve for the meeting by clicking the Rooms button to the right of the Location box (as shown in Figure 21-5). When you click the Rooms button, the Select Rooms dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 21-6. To select a room, click the room (or hold down the Ctrl key and click to select multiple rooms), click the Rooms button at the bottom of the dialog box to add the rooms to your meeting request, and then click OK.

The Select Rooms dialog box lets you add one or more rooms to the meeting request.

Figure 21-6. The Select Rooms dialog box lets you add one or more rooms to the meeting request.

Note

For details about creating and working with meetings using Microsoft Exchange Server 2000/2003, see "Scheduling a Meeting" earlier in this chapter.

Selecting Attendees

In the same way you invite people to your meeting using the Scheduling option, when using Scheduling Assistant, you start by selecting names on either the Appointment page or the Scheduling Assistant page on the Meeting tab. Using the Appointment option, you can type each name in the To box (separating the names with a semicolon); each name entered manually is a required attendee. Alternatively, you can click the To button to open the Select Attendees And Resources dialog box (shown in Figure 21-7 for Outlook 2007 with Exchange 2007 and in Figure 21-2 for earlier versions), select a name, click Required or Optional to designate that person’s attendance status, and then click OK.

The Select Attendees And Resources dialog box lets you request one or more people to attend the meeting.

Figure 21-7. The Select Attendees And Resources dialog box lets you request one or more people to attend the meeting.

To add names using Scheduling Assistant, shown in Figure 21-8, you can click in the designated box in the All Attendees column and then type a name or an e-mail address. Alternatively, you can click Add Attendees to open the Select Attendees And Resources dialog box. As before, select a name, click Required or Optional, and then click OK. Similarly, you can click the Add Rooms button to open the Select Rooms dialog box, select one or more rooms, click Add Rooms, and then click OK.

Scheduling Assistant.

Figure 21-8. Scheduling Assistant.

Scheduling a Meeting Using Scheduling Assistant

Scheduling Assistant not only displays free/busy information for all the people you selected but also shows suggested times when people and resources are available. Scheduling Assistant lets you modify the duration of the meeting (shown in Figure 21-8) and then shows the suggested times when people can meet and the rooms (or other resources) are available. Instead of having to find a time slot that fits everyone’s schedules, you can click one of the suggested times to schedule the meeting and then select the specific room that you want for the meeting, as shown in Figure 21-9.

You can use Scheduling Assistant to pick a meeting time and select a room for the meeting.

Figure 21-9. You can use Scheduling Assistant to pick a meeting time and select a room for the meeting.

You can specify whether the display of free/busy information on the Scheduling page should show only working hours (the default) or the entire day. To define working hours for the calendar, choose Tools, Options, and then click Calendar Options. To set the display of working hours for a particular meeting, click the Options button on the Scheduling page, and set or clear the Show Only My Working Hours option. Working hours are a way of displaying your time in the Calendar folder and controlling which hours are displayed on the Scheduling page. In most cases, including nonworking hours on the Scheduling page would become unmanageable.

After you have selected all the attendees, found an available time slot, and filled in all the necessary details on the message form, click Send on the form to send the meeting request to the attendees.

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