Riverbank It management

If you use an Outlook calendar here are some suggestions that might make life just a tiny bit better. Note that some of these ideas assume you are connected to a network with Microsoft Exchange.

1. Create a shared calendar.
If you work with others, create a shared calendar so you can see what everyone is doing, make appointments, set meetings etc.

To create the calendar just create a new public folder (scroll down to the bottom of your list of folders), and make sure you create one that is designed to hold calendar items. Your shared calendar works in exactly the same way as a standard Outlook calendar. Set permissions if you want, so you limit who can do what. Use colours to distinguish between the different people, and use the ‘Copy to My Calendar’ feature to make sure each appointment appears in your own calendar (and on your mobile phone).

We use a shared calendar. Once you know your colour, your own appointments stand out very effectively.

2. Colour coding

Use the ‘Categorize’ option to set the colour of your appointment. You can create your own named categories for each person.

3. Automate your colours.

Put your name or initials into each appointment, then Outlook can use that information to add your colour automatically. Look in Edit | Automatic formatting for details. This works really well for appointments that involve more than one person – each person sees the appointment with their own colour.

4. Need to make a copy of an appointment?

There’s no copy and paste feature but you can make a copy of an appointment by holding down the Ctrl key and dragging the appointment to its new date/time. You can also drag it over to the small monthly calendar on the left-hand side to move it to a different date.

5. Create recurring appointments

When you are creating your appointment just click the Recurrence button on the toolbar. Outlook has lots of options like ‘second Tuesday of every month’ and so on.

6. Invite people to meetings
When you are creating an appointment for several people, be courteous and invite them to the meeting. Use the Invite attendees button on the toolbar. Then can then accept or decline and suggest a more convenient time.