6 tricks I use to schedule meetings in Outlook like a pro
By mastering the art of scheduling meetings in Outlook, you can avoid the back-and-forth of meeting request emails and resolve conflicting schedules. Here are some helpful tips to help streamline the planning process.
1 Schedule recurring meetings
Recurring meetings in Outlook can stop recurring meetings that occur regularly. You can set up recurring meetings for events like a weekly team sync or a monthly client check-in.
Start by creating a new meeting, adding participants, location and time as usual. Then click on Make it repetitive define how often the meeting should take place, whether it is weekly, monthly or on specific days such as the first Monday of each month. Click when you are satisfied with the settings Imposeand then press Send. Participants receive a single invitation reflecting a repeating pattern.
As needs change, be sure to revisit your recurring meetings. You can easily adjust the frequency and time or even cancel the series from the original meeting invitation.
2 Use polls for group availability
Coordinating with large groups can feel like a logistical nightmare, especially when you’re trying to accommodate everyone’s schedule. Instead of relying on email back and forth, Outlook has a built-in query scheduling feature that simplifies the whole process.
This useful feature allows you to suggest multiple meeting times to participants. They simply vote on the options and Outlook automatically schedules the meeting based on the results.
To use this feature, start by creating a new meeting request and adding attendees, but instead of selecting a specific time, click Survey planning button on the ribbon. You can then suggest multiple meeting date and time options, and Outlook will automatically suggest the most appropriate options based on the availability of your attendees.
Once you’ve selected the time slots that work for you, click Other review and adjust voting settings if necessary, then press Create a survey. Outlook will generate a new email that will include a poll for attendees to vote on their preferred times. Once everyone has voted, Outlook schedules the meeting at the most popular time and sends a confirmation.
Not only does this feature save you time, but it also increases the likelihood of better participation because everyone has a say when the meeting takes place.
3 Share calendars for transparency
Sharing calendars in Outlook is an excellent way to improve team communication and eliminate the constant “Are you free for…?” pings. By sharing your calendar, your colleagues can see your availability and schedule meetings more efficiently.
To do this, open your calendar and click on Share on the top ribbon and select the calendar you want to share from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can right-click the calendar in the navigation pane and select Sharing and permissions.
From there, enter the email address of the person you want to share the calendar with and choose the level of access you want to grant. This can range from simply allowing them to see if you are busy or available, to full permission to edit your calendar.
Once shared, team members will receive an email invitation to view your calendar and can immediately begin coordinating more effectively. Sharing your calendar in Outlook helps cultivate a culture of openness and improves collaboration within your team or organization.
Outlook also offers an organization-wide option where you can set default calendar sharing settings for everyone in your company, giving all employees a basic level of access to your availability.
4 Convert emails to meetings
Often, after an extended email discussion, it becomes clear that a meeting is needed to move things forward. Instead of manually creating a meeting invitation from scratch, Outlook lets you convert email threads directly to calendar events.
You can simply drag an email from your inbox to the calendar icon in the navigation pane. Outlook will automatically generate a new meeting invitation with the subject of the email as the subject and the body of the email. You can then edit the time, add participants and send the invitation.
Another approach is to use Reply with an appointment choice. This is especially useful when you are replying to an email that contains a meeting request. Open the email and click Reply with an appointment on the ribbon. This creates a meeting request with the email sender pre-populated as an attendee and the email content included – like this customer support email I converted to a service meeting.
Converting emails to meetings improves overall workflow and helps you easily track correspondence related to specific meetings, keeping all relevant information in one place.
If you have a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license in your organization, you can use Copilot to schedule a meeting from an email thread. By choosing
Plan with Copilot
Copilot checks the email, automatically adds the meeting title and agenda, attaches the email thread, and creates the meeting invitation.
5 Set working hours to avoid conflicts
It’s annoying when you find yourself double-booked in Outlook and have to send a “I have another meeting” email. Or being scheduled for a meeting by a remote colleague at a time that is late at night for you.
Setting work hours in Outlook can prevent these scheduling efforts and help you maintain a healthy work-life balance.
In Outlook settings, go to Working hours and place and define your typical working days and hours. This will help others schedule meetings that better fit your schedule. Also in Time zones specify your time zone and let Outlook know if you want to be notified of a time zone update when you travel across time zones.
Although Outlook offers many features to improve scheduling workflows, you can use third-party tools for improved scheduling, especially with people outside of your organization. Tools like Calendly, Cal.com, Lemcal, and Doodle integrate with Outlook and can be incredibly useful for scheduling with external clients or contacts.
Calendly and Doodle, for example, sync with all your calendars to avoid double bookings and offer a simple interface for others to schedule appointments based on your availability. You can customize event types, set buffer times, and even create schedules for teams.
The best way to streamline scheduling in your organization is to use the Outlook Scheduling Assistant. It provides a clear visual representation of attendee availability, allowing you to quickly identify suitable meeting times. It will also help you find and book available meeting rooms.
By incorporating these Outlook features and third-party tools into your scheduling workflow, you can significantly reduce the time and effort spent organizing meetings, allowing you to focus on more important tasks. Take the time to explore these features and find the settings that best suit your needs.