How to Schedule Someone for a Meeting in Outlook

Why can't I just share my calendar?

Sharing your calendar through Outlook presents a number of problems for our environment:

Time consuming - It's time consuming to grant permissions to someone to view your calendar the first time they want to schedule you. It also requires more e-mails back and forth.
Your privacy - It exposes everything in your Outlook profile, including notes, tasks, etc., which may expose your personal information to your colleagues.
Student privacy - Since we often deal with student data in our e-mail and calendars, sharing calendars is a potential FERPA compliance issue.
Overkill - It's far more than is necessary. Using Outlook's meeting planner provides the same functionality with less overhead

Do not request that the invitee share their calendar with you (see the sidebar for information on why this is inappropriate). Instead, follow the instructions below for the appropriate version of Outlook.

In Outlook 2003

Click the Calendar button.
Your calendar and appointment data appears.
From the "New" menu, choose "Meeting Request"
- OR -
Double-click the desired start time directly on your calendar.
The "Untitled - Appointment window" appears.
Fill in the appropriate fields (subject, location, duration, agenda, etc.), then click the "Scheduling" tab.
Click "Click here to add name" and (no surprise) type the person's name who you'd like to schedule for the meeting.
Assuming Outlook can find the person's calendar (their name will appear with an underline if so), their busy/free time will appear next to their name, under your own. Repeat with as many invitees as necessary.
Scroll to find a time when you and the invitee(s) are free, then click to set the meeting time. Adjust the start and end times using the green and red bars as necessary.
- OR -
Click "AutoPick Next >> to let Outlook find the next open time for all invitees.
Click "Send" to add the meeting to your calendar and send an invitation to the invitee(s). (If necessary, you can click the "Appointment" tab and adjust the meeting information before sending it.