Use and share Calendar in Outlook 2007

If you've never tried to learn about the features of Calendar in Outlook 2007, you'll think it's a superfluous and rather boring feature. However, once you try it, you will be surprised about some of its sharing features .

This article will help you discover many useful features of the Calendar and be sure to use it at some point.

Import and create more Calendar

Unlimited Outlook allows you to use only 1 schedule that can be created as much as you need. This is sometimes necessary because sometimes you want to schedule a separate work between work and personal work. You can even use multiple schedules to view and manage different employees' work plans.

To create a new schedule, go to the Calendar tab in Outlook and click File > New > Calendar . In the dialog box, enter a name and click OK .

If you already have a schedule available from another computer or program, you can import it into Outlook. However, make sure you export that calendar to the format of iCalendar or vCalendar .

To export data from Outlook, do not use the existing Import and Export program, but go to the Calendar tab in Outlook, go to File > Save As .

On the Save As window, click the More Options button to determine the exact type of information you want to export. Finally, save it to iCalendar ( .ics ) format.

After you have a file in iCalendar or vCalendar format, you can put that information into Outlook using one of two different methods. Opening it as a new schedule will see it displayed as an independent schedule. To open as a new schedule, click File > Open > Calendar .

Another method you can use is Import and Export. Click File > Import and Export , select the schedule option and click Next , find and select the file you exported, then select the method to use.

There are 3 different schedule views you can use. By default, Outlook displays each calendar individually on different tabs. Site-by-site mode will split the screen for each schedule, so you can view all calendars simultaneously. The overlay mode (Figure 1) will display all the information in a common schedule with different font colors to distinguish between the original calendar. You can set each schedule in the appropriate modes by clicking the arrow keys on the schedule tab.

Figure 1: View the schedule in overlay mode 

You can also select each schedule displayed by ticking / unchecking the check box next to the schedule name in the All Calendar Items section on the left side of the program. This task is essential because sometimes you have too many appointments and notes on schedules and it is best to view them separately.

Figure 2: Select the schedule to display

Add holidays to the schedule

The schedule will not work well when vacations are not marked. Although Microsoft does not automatically include holidays, you can. An easy way to do that is to search the web and add that pre-marked Internet schedule to Outlook.

The most popular Internet schedule folder is iCalShare . However, this schedule only marks US holidays, so you will have to look for a more suitable schedule or create your own schedule with full holidays.

Share schedules with other Windows accounts

To share the same Outlook data file for another account, you must first export the existing file to a public folder so that other Windows accounts can access it (for example, Vista's Public folder). The default location for placing data files to Outlook in Vista is at: C: UsersusernameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOutlook . Simply copy this file to a common location for the entire account. Then for each Windows account, add this copied data file to the same Outlook path as above and delete the default file.

Share schedules via the Internet

There are several ways you can share schedules via the Internet:

- Send by email attachment : To do this, simply click on the Send a Calendar via E-mail link on the left side of the program or right-click on the required schedule tab and select Send via E -mail . You will see a new email opens with a dialog box that allows you to select the schedule information you want to send. Note that with this submission you only sent a snapshot of the schedule and the recipient will not be able to make any changes.

Figure 3: Option to send schedule via email

- Save as a web page : To save the schedule image as you are currently viewing it, click File > Save As Web Page . In the dialog box that appears, select the date range and location as well as the name of the .htm file you want to save. This will create a lot of web pages and images (Figure 4) and you can upload it as a web page.

Figure 4: Save the schedule as an .htm file

- Share to Office Online : To do this, right-click on the shared schedule tab and select Publish to Internet > Publish to Office Online . You will first be prompted to sign in or create a Windows Live account. Once you have an account or have logged in, you can share your schedule on the Office Online page. You can view and edit the online schedule, then send it to others, then the schedule will automatically change on their computer when you make the change. To access the online schedule, you can go to the Calendar Management page.

Figure 5: Share the schedule to Office Online

To allow people to access, right-click the schedule tab and click Publish to Internet > Share Published Calendar . This will send an email with existing schedule information; Just enter the recipient address, email content and press the Send button. As shown in Figure 6, the recipient can click the Subscribe to this Calendar button at the top of the email to load the schedule. If you click on the Preview this Calendar button, the recipient will be taken to the Microsoft site and they will have to create a Windows Live account and login to view it.

Figure 6: Subscribe to this Calendar on the recipient email window

- Sharing via WebDAV page : This way is similar to Office Online but is through a third party service. To share this way, right-click the shared schedule tab, select Publish to Internet > Publish to WebDAV Server

Also, if you are Google's "fan", you may also like the Google Calendar Sync service . This service allows you to synchronize Google Calendar with Outlook schedule and you can then use your favorite features.