Outlook 2003 (FAQ)
From ctowiki
Microsoft Outlook 2003 is a personal information manager which gives you easy access to your email, calendar, and task lists. If you have a WSU Connect! account, you will be able to access extra functionality from Outlook. This FAQ will help you find the answers to common Outlook issues. If you have other problems, you can contact the IT Helpdesk
Obtaining/Installing Outlook 2003
Who is eligible for Outlook 2003?
Anyone who has signed up for a WSU Connect! account is eligible to download Outlook 2003 or Entourage 2004 for free from myWSU's Tech Tools.
How do I obtain a free copy of Outlook 2003?
If you are eligible for a free copy, you can download it from myWSU's Tech Tools. For more help, please read the tutorial Obtaining free software through WSU.
Calendar
What is the difference between an appointment and a meeting?
Appointments are activities that you schedule in your calendar that do not involve inviting other people or reserving resources. A meeting is an appointment you invite people to or reserve resources for.
Can I set my calendar to auto-accept meetings?
Yes, choose Tools/Options/Calendar Options/Resource Scheduling Select 'Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations' You may also want to select ' Automatically decline conflicting meeting requests' Click OK three times.
Note: Incoming meeting notifications will appear temporarily in your Mail Inbox and then Outlook will take over, auto-accept the meeting for you, send an acceptance notification back to the meeting organizer, and move the meeting notification from your Mail Inbox to your Sent Items folder. Meetings are only auto-accepted while Outlook is running.
The meeting will appear on your calendar as it was scheduled by the meeting organizer (Busy, Tentative, Free, or Out of Office).
How can I prevent the publishing/searching of my free/busy information?
To set your calendar so it won't publish your free/busy information, click on Calendar and choose Tools/Options/Calendar Options/Free/Busy Options... and set 'Publish = 0 month(s) of Calendar free/busy information on the server'. Click OK. Note: This is not the recommended option if others need to schedule meetings with you.
To set a resource calendar (e.g., conference room), the resource owner must first sign onto the resource and then follow the steps above.
Note: People given rights to your calendar can still see it, but they cannot do a Free/Busy search against it. If there are already appointments on your calendar before these settings are changed, those appointments will still be searchable (e.g. entries added after the change will not be).
Note: These steps do not prevent someone from tentatively inviting you to a meeting.
Do I have to 'accept' a meeting for it to appear on my calendar?
If your Outlook Mail client is configured to display the Reading Pane, and you preview the meeting notification OR if the Reading Pane is turned off, but you open the meeting notification, then the meeting will appear on your calendar as Tentative, even though you have not accepted the meeting.
In the Outlook 2003 client, you can also set the auto-accept option under Resource Scheduling for your individual account. To set this option, select Tools/Options/Preferences/Calendar Options/Resource Scheduling. Check Automatically accept meetings and process cancellations. Note: Meetings are only auto-accepted while Outlook is running.
Can I open multiple calendars at one time?
Yes. Calendars can display side by side - 10 is the maximum that Microsoft recommends for optimal viewing. You need to have delegate permissions in order to view details of other calendars.
Can I create a "post-it" note at a specific time on my calendar?
No, you can't associate a note with a specific time. Notes in Outlook appear at the top of your calendar.
When creating a recurring appointment, is there an option to add an additional date?
No, that option is not available in Outlook. However, you can copy the information to a new appointment.
What is the difference between appointments and events?
Appointments have a "start and end time" associated with them. Events are "all day".
Can I set my calendar to display in other than 30 minute increments?
Right-click on the Time Bar in the Outlook client and select the increment you want.
How do I open someone's calendar to view free/busy times?
Unless you have delegate rights, Outlook does not have an option where you can open and view an individual's calendar (even though you only see the "busy" time blocks).
To see someone's free/busy times in Outlook you have two options:
- Start a New Appointment and then add the individual as an attendee.
- Create a Group View, add the person(s) and then click the View Group Schedules button any time you want to view the group calendar(s).
To create a group view, select Actions/View Group Schedules and click on the New button. Enter a "Group name" (e.g. IT Staff), enter the name(s) of the group member(s), and click OK.
To view the group schedules, click the View Group Schedules button, select the Group you want to view, and click the Open button. Note: A group can contain one or more persons.
Can I set delegate permissions for someone to view my meeting details?
To set delegate permissions, select Tools/Options and click on the Delegates tab to include combinations of read, create, and modify.
What happens if I have a "tentative" appointment on my calendar and then I delete the email notification without accepting the appointment?
If you delete the email notification before you accept the "tentative" appointment, it will also delete the appointment from your calendar.
How do I create an activity to block the entire day?
When you create a New Appointment, you can click the All Day Event box, enter a "Subject" (text of your "note"), and then save it. It appears in the grey area at the TOP of the Calendar window. By default, an All Day Event does not show your calendar as busy. However, you can change the Show Time As option to Busy and then your entire day will display as busy.
As a Delegate, I scheduled a meeting but I am not an attendee. How can I find the meeting?
By opening the calendar of the person you are a delegate for (e.g., choose File/Open/Other User's Folder and type Name = "the name of your delegate" and Folder Type = Calendar. Then you can do a search by clicking Options/Advanced Find and filling in the appropriate fields. Note: Organized By = your Delegates' name; not yours, because you were scheduling the meeting on the delegate's behalf.
What do you recommend users set as defaults for publishing free/busy and how often to update from the server?
We recommend that you set publishing free busy for the maximum of 36 months and updating server free busy every 15 minutes. Note: if you run a detect and repair, the defaults are reset to 2 months and 15 minutes, so you should remember to change these.
Is there a limit to the number of day events I can have on one day?
Yes, in Outlook there is a limit of 15 per day.
Can I send Outlook reminders via email instead of the pop-up window?
Only pop-up reminders are available in Outlook. Reminders don't display in OWA Basic.
However, you can purchase a program to work with Outlook that will send email reminders. The links to the web sites are listed below:
http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook/Email-Reminders.asp
http://pwp.netcabo.pt/rsoutlook/us/ormdemail.htm
http://www.slovaktech.com/remindermanager.htm
Can I print more than one calendar at a time?
There isn't a way to print multiple calendars.
Can I share a group schedule that I have created?
No. You can create a distribution list and then email it to others - they can then use it to create their own group schedule.
I am displaying a 7-day work week view, but when I click a date in another week, it takes me to the day view. Why?
In order to see that week, you need to click outside the dates (left side of the week), as if selecting the whole row.
In the meeting planner, can I add a calendar from a public folder?
No, the "Add Public Folder" option is not selectable - it was only available pre-Outlook 2003.
Is there a way to print meeting attendees with any of the calendar print styles?
There is not a way to print attendees for all meetings in a day or week. But you can highlight an individual meeting, select File/Print and choose the Memo Style to print a list of attendees.
Can I change my default to "Don't send a response" for handling invitations to all day events?
The person being sent a calendar invitation cannot change the response default in Outlook 2003 but the meeting originator can change an option that will eliminate the response request. This can be useful when you send a meeting request or post your vacation time to a large number of attendees and tracking attendance is not necessary. Follow these steps:
1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Meeting Request. 2. On the Actions menu, click Request Responses. 3. This turns off the Request Responses option. To turn back on requesting responses, on the Actions menu, click Request Responses
When I try to view someone's Free/Busy times, I get an "Unable to load Free/Busy information" error. Why?
You may get this error if there is a problem with the other person's published Free/Busy information. Contact the other person and ask them to do the following:
1. Exit Outlook and select Start/Run. 2. In the Open box, type: outlook.exe /cleanfreebusy and then click OK. 3. Have the other person contact you when they have completed steps 1 and 2, so that you can try to view their published Free/Busy information from your computer to verify that you can see it.
My resource is set to Automatically accept meeting requests... yet I find some meeting requests in the resource Inbox - Why?
When scheduling a meeting, if you invite a Resource as a person, not as a 'resource', the meeting request will go to the Resource Inbox. Note: when scheduling a resource, you must make sure that you schedule a resource as a 'resource'.
I am not receiving email notifications when someone schedules me in a meeting - Why?
Anyone of the following will prevent email notifications from being sent:
- You have added a Delegate and selected 'Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me'. (e.g., Tools/Options/Delegate).
- You have your calendar set to auto-accept meeting requests.
- You set Author permissions on your calendar. This allows a person to open your calendar by choosing 'Open a Shared Calendar' and schedule a meeting directly on your calendar. Therefore, no email notification is sent.
Do new meeting requests display on my calendar when Outlook is not open?
No, Outlook must be running for the meeting requests to display on your calendar. By default, if a meeting request is sent to you, it will sit in your Exchange Inbox until you open Outlook. After you open Outlook, the meeting will appear on your calendar as Tentative. Note: there may be a few minutes delay once you open Outlook before the tentative meeting appears on your calendar. You must then go to your Inbox and Accept or Decline the appointment.
Why do I get a permission error when I try to cancel a meeting that I originally scheduled?
You will get the following error when the original meeting was created including a resource where the Delegate controlled the resource, and the resource has since been changed to auto-accept appointments.
You will need to contact the resource owner to cancel the meeting on the resource.
Why am I seeing 'No Information' available when I look at someone's free/busy information?
Check to see if you have the person listed in your Contacts or your Auto complete drop down list. If so, delete them. Then start a new meeting and select the person from the Global Address List (GAL).
Is there a way to remove duplicate holidays from my calendar?
- Select the Calendar tab and then choose View/Arrange By/Current View/Events.
- Select View/Arrange By/Current View/Customize Current View and click the Fields button.
- In the "Available Fields" list, select Created and click the Add button.
- Click OK twice.
- Click the Created column to sort the events.
- Look for Holiday events in the Categories field.
- Select the Duplicate Group(s) of holidays created on the same day and delete them.
Note: If you have many duplicates, it may be easier to delete all Holiday events and then go back and re-add them.
When I add an All Day Event, is there an option to ask for no email response?
Yes, when you schedule an All Day Event and invite other people, you can specify that "No reply is necessary". To set this, after listing the people on your all day event, go to the Actions menu and uncheck Request Response. Note: people might still click on Accept, but no notice will be sent.
I have delegate rights to someone's calendar but when I try to print the calendar I get an error message "The messaging interface has returned an unknown error. If the problem persists, restart Outlook." Why?
This error will occur if you have been given delegate rights to someone's Calendar but not given rights to their Tasks and are trying to print their calendar using the Daily Style which includes printing task items. The delegate can resolve this problem by modifying the Print style to exclude task items. This can be done by selecting File/Print and clicking on the Define Styles button. Highlight Daily Style and click on the Edit button. Then uncheck the Include TaskPad option and click OK. You will now be able to print the calendar.
Alternatively, the calendar owner can modify delegate rights to include permissions for Tasks.
Tasks
Other Exchange-Specific Questions
Portions of this document courtesy of the University of Iowa