Create Outlook Appointments for a group without being included?

Question

I have seen a similar request, but it doesn't specifically address my needs so I'm hoping I can glean a different answer by restating the question.

Here's the situation:
I am the manager of a sales team. Since I am not part of the front line sales force there are meetings or tasks that I want my team to be reminded of, but I do not need (or want) to be reminded of them myself. I have dozens of other appointments daily that I need to keep and I don't need the clutter of their reminders in my Outlook.

The solution for others has been to be a delegate for someone else's calendar. But again, this isn't what I want because I need this to reach a large group of people, not just one or two.

I simply want to send a calendar invite to my team, have them accept it so it's placed in their calendar, but it's not included in mine. Can this be done?

Solution 1

There are several possible approaches:

• Get someone else to create the meeting request ;) The easiest approach!
• Create a special mailbox in Exchange just for meeting requests - seems a bit overkill
• Create a meeting with a specific category and change your Calendar view to exclude that category

The later is the closest to your question.

Adjust your Outlook categories to suit and add a category called Hide Me or whatever you like.

Create a new meeting at assign the chosen category. Don't forget to change the "Show As" from Busy to Free so that your free/busy time isn't taken up.

In your calendar view, select the View tab and click on View Settings.

Click on "Filter...", Advanced, Field, "Categories". Change the condition to "doesn't contain" and type the category to exclude in the Value box.

Now you should be able to create new meetings that you don't see but everyone else does.

Solution 2

You may also be able to create the appointment, send it, then go back in to the appointment and change to show as"Free". Close the appointment but don't send update. Test it first with a coworker, but it should keep your calendar free and they will still view as busy with a reminder.

Comments

[Mxx]

Can't this be done by creating tasks with a due date?

[SeriousSalesSally]

It doesn't appear in my calendar, but then it appears in my Tasks list. And truly I want to have it as an Appointment, not as a Task, if at all possible.

[Ramhound]

Can't you create the appointment then simply delete it from your calendar and/or set it to not to remind you? What version of Outlook are you using.

[CharlieRB]

SU is for "personal and home computer networking". This sounds like a corporate/business application. If that's the case, I would suggest you talk to your IT department to see if they can help you with this.

[Julian Knight]

@CharlieRB, where does it say what you've suggested? According to the About and FAQ: Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users?

[CharlieRB]

@JulianKnight If you continue reading the faq it states "If you have a question about...personal and home computer networking", then continue reading below that it states "and it is not about...issues specific to corporate IT support and networks".

[TFM]

Even if I agree that the question may be about a work place issue, I believe that it's a common problem, and the answers may help others.

[SeriousSalesSally]

@CharlieRB, for the sake of your concern, please reread my question, but replace "manager" with "parent" and "sales team" with "children." This is a question that could apply to a multitude of other similar situations, and is not related to a specific IT need, as Outlook is commonly used for personal communication and planning.

[CharlieRB]

It's not my concern. Either you agree to follow the guidelines of SU or you don't. It's up to you.

[SeriousSalesSally]

I love the idea of filtering out the categories. I was too focused on trying to get them not to be there at all, but not seeing them, for my purpose, is just as good!

[Julian Knight]

That's often the way with IT ;) There's usually many ways to achieve things.

[Julian Knight]

Someone changed the answer with a comment which I've undone. Here is the comment: "Added Step: When someone ‘accepts’ my hidden meeting I categorize it as ‘Hide Me’ in my inbox, so that if I ever need to edit a meeting, I can locate it there, as I won’t be able to find it on my calendar. "

[confetti]

"Keep it off the originator's calender" - Isn't this exactly what OP is asking for, but stating it doesn't work?

[Community]

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