By Jim Boyce

In Outlook 2003, you can schedule meetings from the Calendar folder or from any Outlook 2003 folder. You can schedule meetings regardless of whether your organization uses Microsoft Exchange Server. However, if your organization doesn't use Exchange Server, you must configure the free/busy status settings in Outlook before you can view others' free/busy times.

Schedule a meeting

When you create a meeting in Outlook 2003, you actually create a meeting request. The request is sent out by e-mail to the prospective meeting participants, who respond by accepting or declining the meeting request or by proposing a new time.

Follow these steps to create a meeting request:

1. In Outlook 2003, open the Calendar folder and select a block of time for the meeting.
2. On the File menu, point to New, and click Meeting Request. The Meeting dialog box appears.

   

3. Click To. The Select Attendees and Resources dialog box appears.

   

4. Select the people who must attend the meeting, and click Required.
5. Select the people who can optionally attend the meeting, and click Optional.
6. If you need a resource for the meeting such as a meeting room or piece of equipment, select the resource and click Resources.

   Note  You must be set up before resources are scheduled. In Outlook, a resource is treated similarly to a person and has its own calendar. The resource's free/busy status information must be published to make it available to others for scheduling. Often, a person serves as the coordinator for each resource and responds to meeting requests on behalf of the resource.

7. Click OK.
8. Enter a subject in the Subject field.
9. Click the Scheduling tab.

   

10. If you've set up the free/busy status settings, you can view your meeting participants' free/busy information on the Scheduling tab. Select a free block of time for the meeting.
11. Click Send, and then click Yes. Outlook sends the meeting request to the specified recipients.

Process meeting requests

If someone has scheduled a meeting for you to attend, the meeting request message shows up in your Inbox.

Likewise, your meeting request invitations appear in the Inbox of each of the people you've invited.

To respond to a meeting request   A meeting request message includes response buttons at the top of the Reading Pane.

• Click Accept to accept the meeting.
• Click Tentative to accept the meeting subject to change.
• Click Decline to decline the meeting.
• Click Propose New Time to suggest a new time for the meeting.

In each case, Outlook 2003 prompts you to modify your response, send your response immediately, or send no response.

• Click Edit the response before sending, and then click OK if you want to add some notes or other information, such as to propose a different location.

  

• Click Send the response now and then click OK to send the response.
• Click Do not send a response and then click OK if you do not want to send a response.

Note  If the meeting scheduler has submitted an update to the meeting request, Outlook 2003 informs you that you have an updated request. Click No to respond to the request, and then look in your Inbox for a more recent meeting request.

To propose a new meeting time   When you receive a meeting request, you can also propose a new time for the meeting.

1. Click Propose New Time in the Message dialog box. The Propose New Time dialog box appears.

   

2. Select a block of time for the meeting.
3. Click Propose Time, add any other relevant information to your reply, and then click Send.

If someone has proposed a new meeting time, you'll receive a message in your Inbox that indicates that the recipient has tentatively accepted. The message includes information about the proposed meeting time.

If the time doesn't work for you, you can reply and suggest another time. If the suggested time does work for you, you can reschedule the meeting with the updated time.

Reschedule a meeting

If you have a complex schedule, you'll occasionally need to reschedule meetings. You might also need to reschedule a meeting if one or more team members can't attend during the scheduled time.

Rescheduling a meeting is easy in Outlook 2003:

1. In Outlook 2003, open the Calendar folder.
2. Locate the meeting on your calendar, and then double-click it.
3. Click the Scheduling tab.
4. Select a new block of time for the meeting, and click Save and Close. You are notified that you have changed the meeting and asked whether you want to send the updated meeting to the attendees now.
5. Click Yes to send the update. The meeting request arrives in the each of the attendees' Inbox with Update: prefixed to the message subject line. The attendees can accept, tentatively accept, decline, or propose a new time, just as they were able to in the original meeting request.

Track meeting status

It may be a part of your job to ensure that your team members or employees attend meetings, but you'll want to remain flexible with your meeting requirements so that they accommodate people's schedules and don't cause much disruption. Therefore, it's likely that you'll need to monitor the status of your meeting requests and perform scheduling changes and answer attendees' responses or questions.

To view the status of an upcoming meeting

1. Open your Calendar folder, and double-click the meeting on your schedule.
2. Click the Tracking tab. You'll see all of the attendees and their responses. You can make changes to the meeting on the Tracking tab.

   

3. To change an attendee's status, click the entry in the Attendance column next to the attendee's name and select Required Attendee, Optional Attendee, or Resource.
4. To determine whether an attendee is online, point to the attendee's name in the Name column. Outlook displays a presence icon that you can click to start a chat session and perform other tasks.
5. To specify whether you'd like to send further meeting requests to an attendee, click the envelope icon in the column to the left of the attendee's name and choose either Send meeting to this attendee or Don't send meeting to this attendee.
6. When you're finished working with the meeting form, click Save and Close.
7. If you have made changes to the meeting, you are asked whether you want to send the updated meeting request to the attendees. Click Yes to send the update or No if you want to make other changes and send the updated request later.

Meeting management made easy

If arranging and monitoring meetings is a big part of your job, you need to make your meeting management as efficient as possible. By using Outlook 2003, you can simplify your meeting scheduling, processing, rescheduling, and tracking. Outlook 2003 provides you with the tools that you need to manage meetings successfully.

About the author   Jim Boyce has authored over 50 books about computers and technology; many of these books are about Microsoft Office System. He regularly contributes to several online sites and publications. His latest book is Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out, which is available from Microsoft Learning.