How to schedule and send Outlook 2019 / 365 recurrent meeting, event and appointment requests?

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Here’s a question we received from Donna:

Hello! just got appointed as a project manager here in my company, so i now live in Outlook :-)… One of the first things i will need to do is to setup ongoing meeting series with many of the stakeholders of the project. Those could be either one on one, of group meetings. Would be happy to get some shortcuts on how to get going with the scheduling of those recurrences. Help is appreciated upfront. Thanks!

Thanks for your question and good luck in your new job.

Managing recurrent appointments in Outlook could be a daunting task, let’s try to break it down with some best practices to get things going.

Setup your project calendar

My first recommendation would be to setup a dedicated calendar for your project, so that you can have all meetings related to the project organized in a single place. Here’s a tutorial on adding new calendars to Outlook for both Windows and MAC.

Schedule recurrent meeting series

After setting up your calendar, you are able to start scheduling your meeting series.

Windows users

  • Login to Outlook and open your calendar.
  • In the home tab, hit your Work Week view, this will provide a more granular and easier to use view of your calendar.
  • Now select the day and time of your meeting.
  • Right click and hit New recurring Meeting (or appointment).
  • If needed, adjust your meeting/appointment date and time.
  • Define your meeting recurrence (Daily/Weekly and so forth).
  • Define your recurrence range.

 

appointment_Outlook

  • When done hit OK.
  • Next, hit the To button to select the recipients email addresses from your contact list or alternatively input their addresses manually.
  • Define a descriptive subject for your meeting.
  • Use meeting Tags section, at the right side of your ribbon, to define the meeting importance and sensitivity

 

meeting_tags_windows

 

  • Next, define the meeting location and your contact details. This could be a meeting room or you might be using Skype, Zoom for Outlook or other online communication means.
  • Last, in your meeting invitation body, expand on the meeting series targets, KPIs and so forth. Remember to define a clear agneda for your meeting as well as clear and measurable goals.
  • When done, hit the Send button.

Mac Users

The process for MAC users is a bit different and resembles the one used in older Office versions:

  • Open Outlook 365 / 2019 for MAC.
  • In the calendar view, hover to the required meeting/appointment date and time.
  • The Organizer Meeting dialog will open up.
  • Hit the To button to define your meeting participants.
  • Then define the subject, location and meeting duration.

 

recurring_appointment_details

 

  • On the upper menu, hit the Recurrence button.
  • The following dialog will come up:

 

recurring_invite

 

  • Define the meeting / appointment settings as needed.
  • Once done hit OK.
  • In the meeting invitation body, provide more information as needed.
  • When done hit the Send button.

Setup  requests for meeting / appointment /event series by duplicating

You could potentially create a meeting or events series, by duplicating a previous series and adjusting the meeting subjects, participants and location. Here’s a tutorial that will help you achieve that.

Questions? Feel free to use the comments below to let us know.

Good Luck!

 

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