Scheduling Assistant in Outlook - desktop

The scheduling assistant is a useful tool for determining common availability for meeting times. It allows you to simultaneously view the calendars of all invited people (if they have a UWaterloo email account) and rooms, and it will suggest meetings times with the fewest conflicts.

Step-by-step

1. In the Meeting tab, click Scheduling Assistant.
   
   

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2. Click the Add Attendees... button.

3. In the Global Address List, search for the people you'd like to invite to the meeting. Select their names and then click the Required or Optional button to add them to those fields.

4. Click OK.
   
   

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5. Click the Add Rooms... button.

6. In the Global Address List, search for the rooms you'd like to hold the meeting in. Double-click on the rooms to add them to the Rooms... field.

7. Click OK.
   
   

8. Browse through the calendar to find a time with no or few conflicts.
   Note: Unless someone has shared their calendar with you, you will not see full event details. You will only be able to see what times they have appointments/meetings scheduled and whether those times are listed as Free, Working Elsewhere, Tentative, Busy, or Out of Office.

   1. Click on the time you'd like the event to begin. The Start time and End time fields will be updated accordingly.

   2. Change the end time to adjust the length of the meeting. The default is a half hour.

9. Or select a time from the Suggested times: section.

10. Click Send.

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