Send Calendar Information via E-mail (Outlook 2007)

Sometimes you just need to send Calendar information by email. When you're trying to make plans with someone who isn't using Outlook for email, you sometimes get into one of those conversations. You know the kind I mean.

"So what does your schedule look like for Thursday?"

"I'm booked. How is Friday morning?"

"No can do. How about Saturday at 3:48?"

And on it goes. What you need is a way to send Calendar information directly to the other person.

Outlook 2007 can include a copy of your Calendar information in a message with only a few clicks. The result looks nice, eliminates the chance of mistakes while retyping, and saves you time. Follow these steps to try it for yourself:

NOTE: You'll need to have a Message window open to do this.

1. In the editing area of the Message you want to contain Calendar information, click at the position you want the Calendar to appear. The cursor needs to be in this part of the message window or the rest of the steps will fail.


2. Use the ALT, N, O, C keyboard shortcut to open the Send a Calendar via E-mail dialog box.





Specify the information you want to send here.


3. Using the options available in this dialog box, tell Outlook which Calendar you want it to send, the Date Range (Today, Next 7 Days, Whole Calendar, and other options), along with the level of Detail of information you want to share. If you wish to show only your activities during your working hours, set the Show time… check box as well.


4. Click OK when done setting options. The dialog box closes, and after a moment, Outlook inserts the Calendar information into the Message.

Note: If you have to frequently coordinate your schedule with certain people, you might want to actually share your entire calendar with them. An automated approach to this that doesn't require you to be on the same network is a product called ShareCalendar from the company 4Team. This cool little tool uses regular email messages to share calendars between two or more computers. Click here to learn more and download a free trial copy.