Top Tips for Outlook - Calendar Tips

Overview

Post Date: December 20, 2006

Ever wish you had an Outlook expert at your shoulder while you work - always ready with great tips for working with e-mail messages, meetings, appointments, or contacts? If so, this page is for you. See the following to learn new and faster ways to work in Outlook.

Automatically add holidays to your Calendar On the Tools menu, click Options, click Calendar Options, and then click Add Holidays.
Quickly display several days side by side in Calendar In the date picker, drag over the dates that you want to view.
Contact meeting attendees with a reminder or other message Open the original meeting request, click the Actions menu, and then click New Message to Attendees.
Show Saturday and Sunday in separate boxes in your monthly calendar To show weekend days in separate boxes in the Month view, right-click anywhere in Calendar view, and then click Other Settings. Clear the Compress weekend days check box.
Change your time zone To quickly change the time zone in your calendar, change your calendar view to Day or Work Week, right-click the time bar, and then click Change Time Zone.
Need to schedule a meeting with someone in another time zone? Just add the time zone to Outlook. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Preferences tab. Click Calendar Options, click Time Zone, and then select the Show an additional time zone check box. Click the time zone you want in the Time zone list.
Abbreviate when entering meeting times When you enter appointments in the Calendar, you can save time by typing abbreviations and allowing Outlook to fill in the rest. For example, if you want to enter a 6:00 P.M. meeting, open a new meeting request and then type 600p. You can also use phrases such as "tomorrow" or "next Monday," and Outlook automatically inserts the correct date.
Quickly create an appointment in Calendar Click the day, drag over the block of time when the appointment occurs, and then type a description.
Quickly switch to viewing by month in Calendar Click in Calendar, and then press ALT+EQUAL SIGN.
To set an appointment to repeat, designate it as recurring In the appointment, click the Actions menu, and then click Recurrence.
Use your e-mail signature for meeting requests On the Insert menu, click Signature and then click the signature that you want to use.
Let Outlook find a meeting time when all attendees are available On the Scheduling tab, type the names of the attendees in the All Attendees list, and then click AutoPick Next.
Quickly see when conference rooms in your building are available On the Scheduling tab of a new meeting request, add all rooms as resources to the All Attendees list. After you find a conference room that is available, delete the others.
Quickly create an all-day event in Calendar Click the day heading that you want, and then type the name of the event. If the event lasts several days, click the first day heading, drag across all days, and then type the event name.
Quickly switch between viewing a day, week, or month in Calendar Click the day, click to the left of the week row, or click the day of the week heading.
Quickly move an appointment Drag it to a new date or time in your Calendar or in the date picker.
Change the subject of a meeting or appointment In Calendar, click the meeting and then type the new subject.
Change the time periods in the Calendar grid You can change the default setting for 30-minute time slots to 5-, 6-, 10-, 15-, or 60-minute time slots. Right-click the Calendar, click Other Settings, and then click the number you want from the Time Scale list.
Need consensus on a meeting time? Let invitees propose new meeting times On the Tools menu, click Options. Click Preferences and then click Calendar options. In the Calendar options section, select the Allow attendees to propose new meeting times for meetings you organize check box.
Change the number of days shown in Calendar In Calendar view, press ALT+number, where number represents the number of days to show in the view between 1 and 9. Use 0 for a 10-day view.
Manage multiple Calendars? Create a group to store Calendar shortcuts At the bottom of the Navigation Pane, click the Shortcuts button to display the Shortcuts pane, and then click Add New Group.
Track all attendees even if you can't send them a meeting request On the Scheduling tab, in the All Attendees list, click the envelope next to the name, and then click Don't send meeting to this attendee.
Quickly change an appointment into an all-day event In the Calendar, in Day view, drag the appointment to the day heading.
Quickly turn an appointment into a meeting Open a new appointment, and on the toolbar, click Invite Attendees. Type attendees' names in the To box.
Attach an agenda or meeting minutes to a meeting request If the agenda or minutes are in a file, you can attach the file to a meeting request. In the meeting request, on the Insert menu, click File, and then locate the file you want to attach.
Quickly share meeting notes with attendees Open the meeting request in Calendar, add the notes, save it, and then drag the item to your Inbox. Drag the meeting attendees' names from the body of the message to the To box, and then send the message.
Quickly create a meeting request from a meeting agenda Drag the file that contains the agenda to the Calendar button in the Navigation Pane, and then complete the meeting request.
Remove a name fast from Other Calendars To remove a name from the Other Calendars list, right-click the name, and then click Remove from Other Calendars.
Change the time interval of a reminder to give you more time to prepare On the Tools menu, click Options. Click Preferences, and then, under Calendar, you can choose a reminder to alert you from minutes to weeks ahead of time.
Want to see your Calendar while you're looking at the Inbox? In the Navigation Pane, right-click the Calendar button, and then click Open in New Window on the shortcut menu.
Automatically open someone else's Inbox or Calendar If you have permission, you can have Outlook automatically open another person's Inbox or Calendar when you start Outlook. Just leave the other person's folder open when you exit Outlook.
Quickly copy an appointment in your Calendar Hold down CTRL and drag the appointment to a new time or date.
Avoid meeting request responses If you're sending a meeting request to a large group and don't need or want responses, in the open new meeting request, on the Actions menu, click Request Responses. Specify your meeting information, and then send the meeting request.

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Keywords: tips, outlook, calendar