Outlook 2002 comes with predefined holidays. But what if you want everyone on your team to display company holidays and events such as corporate paydays and quarterly expense due dates in their calendars? Simply create your own custom holiday set and distribute it to other people in your company.

Create a custom set of holidays

Warning  Modifying the Outlook.hol file is at your own risk. Microsoft provides this procedure "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Note  If you add the same custom set of holidays again, you will get a duplicate set of the holidays in your calendar. Therefore, you should create a custom holiday set rather than customizing an existing set.

1. Quit Outlook if it is running.
2. In Microsoft Windows Explorer, locate the following file:
   drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 10\1033\outlook.hol file
   Make a backup copy of the file.
3. Using a text editor, such as Notepad, open the Outlook.hol file.
4. Press CTRL+END to position the insertion point at the end of the file.
5. Type a new header and custom events using the format described below.

   [Country or Description] ###
   Holiday or event description, yyyy/mm/dd
   Holiday or event description, yyyy/mm/dd

   In the above format, ### is the total number of items listed for a particular country or description. There is a space between the closing bracket and the number as well as a carriage return at the end of the line. On each holiday line, there is a comma and space between the holiday description and the date, as well as a carriage return at the end of the line. For example:

   [Expense Reports] 4
   Q1 Expense Reports Due, 2003/04/15
   Q2 Expense Reports Due, 2003/11/15
   Q3 Expense Reports Due, 2003/12/15
   Q4 Expense Reports Due, 2004/01/15
   

6. Save and close Outlook.hol.

The next time you run Outlook, the new Expense Reports dates will be available for adding to your calendar.

Add holidays and events to your calendar

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Preferences tab, click Calendar Options.
3. In the Calendar Options section, click Add Holidays.
4. Select the appropriate check box, and then click OK.

If you have already added a country's holidays or events, the country's check box is selected in the Add Holidays to Calendar dialog box. If you try to add the same country again, you receive the following message:

Holidays for country are already installed. Do you want to install them again?

If you click Yes, the holidays and events will install a second time, and you will see duplicate holiday or event entries in your calendar.

Distribute custom holidays and events to other people

You can distribute a customized holiday and event file to others. Ways you can distribute the custom file:

• Send an e-mail message with the Outlook.hol file attached.
• Place the file in a commonly accessible location or shared drive on your network where other people can copy the file.

Once other people have access to the file, they should do the following steps:

1. Quit Outlook if it is running.
2. Start Windows Explorer, locate the following file:
   drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 10\1033\outlook.hol file
   Make a backup copy of the file.
3. Replace the Outlook.hol file with the customized one.
4. Start Outlook.
5. On the Tools menu, click Options.
6. On the Preferences tab, click Calendar Options.
7. In the Calendar Options section, click Add Holidays.
8. Select the appropriate check box, and then click OK.

If they have already added a country's holidays, the country's check box is selected in the Add Holidays to Calendar dialog box. If they try to add the same item again, they receive the following message:

Holidays for country are already installed. Do you want to install them again?

If they click Yes, the holidays and events will install a second time, and they will see duplicate holiday and event entries.