📆 Outlook Calendar Tips & Tricks

Summary

Kevin shares 14 top tips and tricks for using Outlook calendar more efficiently. These include using natural language for setting meeting times, navigating different calendar views, replying to emails with meetings, setting appointments directly from emails, and adjusting time scales. He also explains how to manage multiple time zones, view and overlay other calendars, open a new calendar window, use color coding, adjust work hours, utilize add-ins like FindTime, set meetings to start late or end early, and switch to dark mode for a more comfortable viewing experience.

Takeaways

• 📅 Use natural language to set meeting times, like 'in seven weeks' or 'second Monday in July'.
• 🔍 Utilize the date navigator to view your calendar in various ways, such as by month, week, or custom date ranges.
• 📆 View multiple months at once by dragging the date navigator to extend the view.
• 🖥️ Select multiple days in the day view to compare schedules side-by-side for meeting availability.
• 📧 Reply to an email thread with a meeting directly from the email client, preserving all contacts and context.
• 📅 Drag and drop emails to the calendar to create appointments, automatically populating the subject and context.
• 🔄 Easily recreate meetings by duplicating existing ones and sending them to participants.
• ⏰ Adjust the time scale view in Outlook to show finer or broader increments, like 15 or 45-minute slots.
• 🌐 Show multiple time zones on your calendar to coordinate meetings across different locations.
• 📊 View and overlay other calendars alongside your own for a comprehensive scheduling view.
• 🖼️ Open a new window for your calendar to keep it visible alongside emails or other tasks.
• 🎨 Use color coding to visually prioritize and differentiate meetings and appointments on your calendar.

Q & A

What is the first tip for using Outlook effectively mentioned in the video?

The first tip is using natural language to set meeting start times in Outlook, which allows you to input phrases like 'in seven weeks' or 'the second Monday in July' and have Outlook calculate the exact date for you.

How does the date navigator in Outlook help with viewing the calendar?

The date navigator allows users to view the calendar in various ways, such as individual days, work weeks, full weeks, months, or even a scheduled view. It also enables users to see more time or specific dates by dragging the navigator to adjust the view.

What is the purpose of the 'reply with a meeting' feature in Outlook?

The 'reply with a meeting' feature allows users to convert an email thread into a meeting invitation, automatically including the email's subject and content, and preserving all contacts from the email thread as attendees.

How can you set up an appointment directly from an email in Outlook?

You can set up an appointment by dragging and dropping an email message onto the calendar icon. This will create a new appointment with the email's subject and context, allowing you to select a date and time for the appointment.

What is the benefit of using the 'recreate a meeting' tip in Outlook?

The 'recreate a meeting' tip allows users to quickly set up a subsequent meeting without having to manually invite the same participants and provide the same context. It saves time by duplicating an existing meeting and making necessary adjustments.

How can you adjust the time scale shown in Outlook's calendar view?

You can adjust the time scale by right-clicking on the time scale in the calendar view and selecting a different value, such as changing from 30-minute increments to 15-minute increments for more granularity.

What is the process for showing multiple time zones on an Outlook calendar?

To show multiple time zones, you right-click on the time section of the calendar, select 'Change Time Zone', and then add up to three time zones. Once added, you can view these time zones alongside your default time zone on the calendar.

How can you view other calendars alongside your own in Outlook?

You can view other calendars side-by-side or overlay them on top of your own calendar by clicking on the arrow icon next to the calendar's name in the left-hand side of the Outlook interface.

What is the advantage of opening a new window for your calendar in Outlook?

Opening a new window for your calendar allows you to keep the calendar visible at all times, even when you switch to other parts of Outlook like your email, providing a continuous view of your schedule without losing context.

How can you use color to enhance visualization of your Outlook calendar?

You can use color to categorize and highlight different types of meetings and appointments. By right-clicking on the calendar and selecting 'Change Default Color', or by setting up categories and assigning colors to them, you can visually prioritize and organize your calendar events.

What is the purpose of changing your work hours in Outlook?

Changing your work hours in Outlook helps to manage the scheduling of meetings more effectively. By adjusting your core working hours, you can influence when meetings are scheduled, potentially reducing the number of meetings or optimizing the timing to better fit your work schedule.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Mastering Outlook Calendar: Time-Saving Tips

This paragraph introduces a video tutorial by Kevin, focused on sharing his top 14 tips and tricks for using the Outlook calendar effectively. Kevin emphasizes the importance of these tips for saving time and provides a brief overview of what viewers can expect to learn, including setting meeting times using natural language, navigating the calendar, and more.

05:05

🗓️ Customizing Calendar Views and Time Scales

Kevin discusses various ways to customize the Outlook calendar view, such as using the date navigator to view different time periods and adjusting the time scale for more granular scheduling. He also explains how to display multiple time zones and overlay other calendars for better organization and planning.

10:06

📌 Quick Meeting Setup and Email Integration

In this section, Kevin demonstrates how to quickly set up meetings from email threads and how to turn email messages into appointments. He also shows how to recreate meetings and change the time scale for more precise scheduling, enhancing the user's ability to manage their calendar efficiently.

15:07

🎨 Calendar Personalization and Efficiency Tips

Kevin shares personalization tips such as using color to visualize the calendar and changing work hours to reflect a more efficient work schedule. He also introduces the use of add-ins like FindTime to find meeting times that work for everyone and discusses setting meetings to automatically start late or end early to provide buffer times between commitments.

🌙 Enhancing Calendar Usability with Dark Mode

The final tip from Kevin is about improving the usability of the Outlook calendar by switching to dark mode, which can be easier on the eyes. He guides viewers on how to change the Office theme to dark mode and encourages viewers to apply the learned tips to enhance their calendar management.

Keywords

💡Outlook

Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, often used for email management, calendar organization, and task scheduling. In the video, it is the primary tool discussed for managing calendar events and meetings, with various tips and tricks provided to enhance its use for time management and productivity.

💡Calendar

A calendar, in the context of the video, refers to the digital tool within Outlook used for scheduling meetings, setting reminders, and organizing events. It is a visual representation of dates and times that allows users to plan and manage their schedules efficiently.

💡Meeting

A meeting, as discussed in the video, is a scheduled event or gathering, typically for business or collaborative purposes, that is set up and managed within the Outlook calendar. It often involves multiple participants and can be configured with specific dates, times, and locations.

💡Natural Language

Natural language refers to the way people communicate spoken or written words in their everyday lives, as opposed to a formal or coded language. In the context of the video, it means using everyday speech patterns to interact with Outlook, such as saying 'in seven weeks' instead of selecting dates manually.

💡Date Navigator

The date navigator is a feature in Outlook that allows users to quickly move through and view different dates and time periods on the calendar. It provides a visual and interactive way to navigate the calendar and select specific dates or ranges of dates for scheduling or review.

💡Time Scale

The time scale in Outlook refers to the increments of time displayed on the calendar, which can be adjusted to show more or less granularity. This setting affects how appointments and meetings are visualized in terms of their duration and how they fit within the schedule.

💡Multiple Time Zones

Multiple time zones in the context of the video refer to the ability to display and manage different time zones simultaneously on the Outlook calendar. This feature is useful for coordinating meetings and events across different geographical locations and ensuring that all participants are aware of the correct local times.

💡Categories

Categories in Outlook are a way to color-code and categorize calendar items, such as meetings and appointments, to help users visually distinguish between different types of events and prioritize their schedule based on color.

💡Work Hours

Work hours in the video refer to the specific times of the day when an individual is available for work-related activities. In Outlook, users can set their work hours to indicate when they are typically available for meetings, which can influence when others schedule meetings with them.

💡Add-ins

Add-ins are additional software components that can be integrated into Outlook to extend its functionality and provide new features. These third-party tools can enhance the user experience by offering specialized tools for tasks such as scheduling, project management, or collaboration.

💡Dark Mode

Dark mode is a display setting that changes the color scheme of an application to a darker theme, which can reduce eye strain and is often preferred for nighttime use or in low-light conditions. In the video, it is presented as a way to make the Outlook calendar more visually appealing and easier on the eyes.

Highlights

Using natural language to set meeting start times in Outlook, such as 'in seven weeks' or 'the second Monday in July'.

Setting different holidays in Outlook by typing them in, like 'let's meet on Christmas', which automatically sets the date to December 25th.

Utilizing the date navigator to view the calendar in various ways, including custom date ranges by dragging the mouse over weeks or months.

Viewing multiple dates simultaneously in the day view by holding CTRL and clicking on different days to compare schedules side-by-side.

Replying to an email thread with a meeting that preserves all contacts and content from the email thread.

Creating appointments directly from emails by dragging and dropping them onto the calendar, which pulls in the email subject and context.

Recreating meetings on the calendar easily by copying an existing meeting and adjusting the details as needed.

Changing the time scale shown within Outlook to accommodate different meeting lengths, such as switching from 30-minute increments to 15-minute increments.

Showing multiple time zones on the Outlook calendar, allowing for easy conversion and scheduling of meetings across different time zones.

Viewing other calendars side-by-side or overlaying them on top of your own calendar for better coordination and planning.

Opening a new window for the calendar to keep it visible alongside emails or other applications for constant reference.

Using color to visualize the calendar better by assigning different colors to meetings and appointments based on their importance or category.

Adjusting work hours in Outlook to influence when meetings are scheduled, potentially reducing the number of meetings or making them more efficient.

Enhancing the Outlook calendar with third-party add-ins, such as FindTime, which helps find mutually convenient meeting times through a voting system.

Setting meetings to automatically start late or end early to provide buffer time between back-to-back meetings.

Enabling dark mode in Outlook for a more comfortable viewing experience, especially during long hours of work.

Transcripts

Hey everyone, Kevin here. Today I want to show you  my favorite top 14 tips and tricks in the Outlook  

calendar. There are lots of good ones that are  going to help you save time. If you want to jump  

around this video, feel free to use the timestamps  down below. All right let's jump on the PC.

Tip #1. I can use natural language to set the  meeting start time in Outlook. Let's say that I  

have a co-worker who wants to meet, I don't  know, in seven weeks. To figure that out,  

I'd have to click on the calendar icon and here  I have to count forward seven weeks. Now was it  

the 25th or was it the first, I lost track,  so I'd have to go back and count it again.  

Instead, I could let Outlook do the heavy  lifting for me. Here I'll highlight this  

date and I'll simply type in in seven weeks.  Then I'll hit enter and Outlook determines  

what that date is for me. Now, along with that, I  could also type in something like, hey, let's meet  

the second Monday in July, then I'll hit enter,  and it looks like that's July 12. When I click  

on the calendar icon, here I can confirm that  July 12th is in fact the second Monday in July.  

I could also set different holidays. Let's  say I want to know, hey, what about Christmas?  

Let's meet on Christmas. When I hit enter,  here it figures out that it's December 25th,  

so it's pretty smart in figuring out what these  dates are. But before you think it's all knowing;  

it doesn't get every date right. I don't know why,  but here if I type in something like Thanksgiving  

and hit enter, I get this ugly error message. It  might be because Thanksgiving falls on different  

days every year, but I do know that it's the  last Thursday in November, so here I could type  

in last Thursday and let's type in November,  hit enter, and it looks like it's 11/25/2021.

Tip #2. You can use the date navigator to view  your calendar in whatever way you want to view it.  

Now right now, I'm in the week view  of my calendar, and if I go up above,  

there are a few different predefined views. I  can view just the individual day, the work week,  

the week, the month, and there's even a scheduled  view, but what if I want to see even more time,  

or what if I just want to see some specific dates?  Let's first look over at the date navigator over  

here on the left-hand side. So, right now, I'm  currently viewing the month view, and so I see  

a little bit of April and a little bit of May. If  I want to see more months coming up, here I could  

drag this and here now I see three months. Here  I could even drag this area and I could pull it  

out and here I could see half a year all in one  view. Now with all these different views here,  

especially the month view, I just see the  full month. What if I just want to see,  

let's say two weeks on my calendar? So maybe this  week and the upcoming week. I can go over here,  

and right over on the left-hand side of the weeks,  my cursor changes and here I could highlight this  

week and I could click and drag down to cover  two weeks. So now I could just limit my view to  

two weeks, or even here, I could highlight three  and then I could see three, so I could select what  

time period I want to see by dragging my mouse.  Now let's say let me jump into the day view here.  

Let's say someone wants to schedule a meeting with  me and they give me a few different options. Maybe  

they say hey, I can meet on the 14th, the 16th, or  the 29th. Does 3:00 PM on any of those days work?  

Now typically I'd probably click into the  14th, and the 16th, and I go through day-by-day  

trying to see which one works the best.  Instead, I can view all of these dates at  

the same time. Right now, I'm on the 14th and  I'll press the CTRL key and click on the 16th,  

and I'll click on the 29th, and so now you see  I have those three days all side-by-side, so I  

can look at my calendar and say oh, 3 PM, well,  that works for me on the 16th or on the 29th.

Tip #3. You can reply to an e-mail thread with a  meeting, and it’ll preserve all of the contacts  

from the e-mail thread. Here I have an e-mail  message from Patty, and this is probably not a  

topic that I want to just e-mail back and forth  on. Instead, I want to set up a meeting. Here  

I have this e-mail message selected. Right up on  top in the home tab within the respond category,  

I see the option to reply with a meeting. I  can also press the shortcut key, CTRL + ALT,  

and R. Let's click on this. This opens up a new  e-mail message and you'll see a few things here.  

For the title, it pulled in the title of the  e-mail thread, it also pulled in Patty. She was  

on the to line, so she's a required attendee. If  anyone was on the CC line, they'd be included as  

an optional attendee. When I look down below,  it automatically turns it into a Teams meeting,  

and if I scroll down, it preserves all of  the content of the message. This makes it a  

lot easier to set up a meeting, especially  if you want to discuss an e-mail thread.

Tip #4 and this is similar to the  previous tip where we set up a meeting,  

but instead with this one, we're going  to set up an appointment. Right here,  

I received an e-mail from Nestor and he  keeps bugging me about investing in Bitcoin.  

It looks like he's made a pretty substantial  amount of money. Now he keeps telling me that  

I'm going to miss the train on this, and so  maybe I should set aside some time where I can  

investigate if it makes sense for me. To set up an  appointment, I can click on this e-mail message,  

and I can drag and drop it down to the calendar  icon. Once I hover over, I'll release. This opens  

up a new appointment, and it pulls in the  subject of the e-mail. It also pulls in all  

of the context. All I need to do now is select a  date and a time and my appointment is ready to go.

Tip #5. You can very easily recreate a meeting  on your calendar. Tomorrow, we have a new cookie  

brainstorming session coming up and we just have  an hour set aside for this. It's probably not  

going to be enough time to come up with some new  amazing cookie recipes, so I want to make sure  

I set up a subsequent meeting. Now I could go in  and set up a whole new meeting and invite all the  

same people, provide all the same context,  or you could simply click on this meeting,  

press CTRL and then drag over and I now have  a new meeting. Now it's not formalized yet.  

I need to click in and send it to all of the  meeting participants. Here I've clicked into  

the meeting and then I'll click on send and that  meeting is now formalized. That was pretty easy.

Tip #6. I can change the time scale that's shown  within Outlook. By default, when you look at the  

calendar here, it shows the 30-minute increments.  But what if I want more granularity or maybe less  

granularity? I can come over to the left-hand side  where I see the time scale. I can right click,  

and I can change it to any one of these values  here. So, let's say I want to set up some  

45-minute meetings. Here I'll change the scale to  15 minutes. Here now you see a lot more details  

and I could highlight a 45-minute slot right here.  If I want to change back, I simply right click,  

and here I could switch it back to the default  of 30 minutes. Tip #7. You can very easily show  

multiple time zones on your Outlook calendar.  One of my designers at the Kevin Cookie Company,  

Grady, works and lives in Hawaii, and he's  requested that we meet at 10:00 AM on Friday.  

Now he's thinking about his local time zone, so  I have to do the math to convert it. Luckily,  

Outlook can help me with that. Here, once again,  I'll go over to the left-hand side where I see the  

time. I can right click and there's an option  to change the time zone. Let's click on this.  

This opens up calendar settings, and here in the  time zone section, I can see that my default time  

zone is currently set to Seattle, and here  I can add up to three time zones total. So,  

let me click on this one right here with Hawaii  and it's currently set to the Hawaii time zone,  

but I could choose whatever time zone I want.  Next, I'll click on OK. Now on my calendar,  

I can see the Hawaii time zones alongside Seattle,  and it looks like 10:00 AM is 1:00 PM in Seattle,  

so I could click here and then I could set up  the meeting. As an alternative, you can also  

go into a meeting invitation and remember, Grady,  who's in Hawaii, he said he wants to meet at 10:00  

AM. Right over here, I can check this box for  time zones and here I can set it to the Hawaiian  

time zone, so there's 10:00 AM, and then on my  calendar, it’ll show up as 1:00 PM Pacific tike.

Tip #8. You can view other calendars side-by-side  with your own calendar, and along with that,  

you could even overlay these other calendars on  top of your calendar. Right here, we can see my  

upcoming week at the Kevin Cookie Company, and  we've also created a company-wide calendar that  

includes all of the different cookie holidays  throughout the world. Over on the left-hand side,  

I see that other calendar, so I'll click on this  one and now I can see my calendar right next to  

all of the cookie holidays. Right up here, you'll  see that we're celebrating Philippines National  

Cookie Day tomorrow. Right now, I see them  side-by-side. If I want to see it overlaid on top  

of my calendar, I could simply come up here, click  on this arrow icon, and right now, I can see the  

company calendar on top of my calendar. If I want  to create an event on the cookie holiday calendar,  

I can simply select this one as the active  calendar, and now I can create an event,  

but if I want to create an event on  my own calendar, I can come up here,  

click on calendar. This is now the active  calendar, and I can create an event here.  

To remove the overlay, I can click on this arrow,  and this will push it so it's side-by-side again,  

and once I'm done looking at this calendar, I  can click on the X up here. Now you might be  

wondering, well, how do I get other calendars  in here, so I can see them side-by-side or so  

I could overlay them? Well right up here  on top, you can add additional calendars.  

You can add other people's calendars from your  organization. You could even find calendars on  

the Internet. Maybe your favorite sports team has  a calendar, or you could even create a new blank  

calendar and then you can share it with others,  so you can work together on a shared calendar.

Tip #9. You can open up a new window for your  calendar, so you can look at your calendar  

alongside your e-mail. Right now, I have my  calendar open, but if I want to jump to my e-mail,  

then I lose context of my calendar.  Instead, I can leave my calendar open  

all the time as well. Right down here in the  bottom left-hand corner, I can right click  

on the calendar and there's the option to  open in new window. Let's click on this.  

This now opens up another instance of my  calendar. I could put this on a different monitor,  

or I could put it over to one side of my  screen, and over here, I can jump into my  

mail and if I open up this again, now I have my  mail and my calendar both open at the same time.

Tip #10. You can use color to better  visualize your calendar. Now right now,  

all of my upcoming meetings and appointments  are just in the default or the standard blue.  

Here if I right click on the calendar, I can  change the default color. Maybe I want to go  

with just a calming green, but maybe I have some  meetings coming up that really need my attention.  

Here for example, Patty scheduled a meeting with  me to talk about the New York flagship store  

issues, and before this meeting, I need to make  sure I think of some excuses or sorry rather  

rationale for why we're having these different  issues. I could use categories to do this. To set  

up categories, click on the meeting item and this  opens up the meeting ribbon up on top. Over here,  

I see different categories. I can go with one of  these predefined categories, or I could even set  

up my own. I'll click on all categories. Right  here, once again, I see all of the different  

categories. I could create my own or I could even  rename some of these. I'll just use one of these  

existing categories, the yellow category. One  thing that's really neat is over on the right-hand  

side, I can also set a shortcut key to toggle this  category on. I'll go with CTRL + F2 and then click  

on OK. Back within the calendar now with this item  selected, I can press CTRL + F2 and that’ll toggle  

it yellow. So, this way I definitely won't miss  that this meeting is coming up, so this way I'll  

have some time to prepare. If I press CTRL  + F2 again, that will toggle off the color.

Tip #11. I can change my work hours in Outlook. If  we look over on my calendar on the left-hand side,  

you'll see that right here it's a grayish color,  but as soon as we hit 8:00 AM all the way through  

5:00 PM, it's a little bit lighter. This indicates  that these are my core working hours, and once  

again, past 5:00 PM, it's a little bit darker.  When someone goes to schedule a meeting with me,  

they'll see that these are my core working hours.  Now, if you know me at the Kevin Cookie Company  

8 to 5 is a really long day. I want to cut  down on when people schedule meetings with me.  

Over here, I'll right click on my calendar  and then I'll go down to calendar options.  

Within calendar options, I can adjust  my work hours and 8 to 5, once again,  

that's a really long day. Let me instead shift  that. Maybe, let's say I start at 10:00 AM  

and I should probably be out  by about, let's say, 2:00 PM.  

You know, I'll work really efficiently in between  those four hours. I'll leave the days as is, but I  

could adjust those as well. Once I'm all done,  I'll click on OK. Back within my calendar now,  

you'll see that my core hours now show up between  10:00 and 2:00, so hopefully this influences when  

people schedule meetings with me. Hopefully this  lightens my meeting load. We'll see what happens.

Tip #12. You can bring even more power into  your Outlook calendar by using add-ins.  

Back in the mail view on the home tab all the way  over on the right-hand side, you have the option  

to get third party add-ins. Let's click on this.  This opens up a prompt where you can add hundreds  

of different add-ins into Microsoft Outlook. You  might be wondering, well, are there any good ones  

for calendaring? One of my favorites is called  FindTime. Here I'll click on this. With FindTime,  

if you're having difficulty meeting with  others, maybe they have a really busy calendar,  

maybe they work in a different company and you  can't see their free busy data. With FindTime,  

you can propose a few times, and then others can  vote on it, so it makes it really easy to find  

the time that works for everyone. Another reason I  also love this add-in, when I worked at Microsoft,  

I worked on the incubation team that launched  FindTime. So, you should definitely give it a try.

Tip #13. You can set meetings to automatically  start late or end early. When you look at my  

calendar here, I have a lot of meetings that  just run up into the next meeting and there's  

no buffer in between. There's no time to go  to the bathroom or grab a drink of water.  

Luckily, we can change this using the settings.  Here I'll click on the calendar, right click,  

and let's go down to calendar options. Within  calendar options right near the top, here I  

can toggle this on. I can set a meeting to either  start late or end early. I'll go with end early.  

Right down here for shorter meetings if  it's less than an hour, I can set it to  

5 minutes. Here I'll go with that and maybe if  the meeting's longer than let's say an hour,  

I can have it end 10 minutes early. I'll  select 10 minutes and then click on OK.  

Here I'll try to schedule an hour meeting  now. Let me click on new meeting request.  

Here within the new meeting request, you'll see  that the end time is automatically truncated by 10  

minutes, so we're going to go from 2:00 to 2:50.  So finally, people have some time for a bio break.

Tip #14, and unfortunately, this is the very last  tip of today, but this is a good one. I'm going  

to show you how you can make it easier to look  at your calendar, and no, I'm not going to show  

you how you can just magically make meetings  disappear. Instead, I'm going to show you how  

you can use dark mode. Here within the calendar,  simply right click on your calendar and go down  

to calendar options. Within calendar options, over  on the left-hand side, click on general and right  

down here, you have the option to change the  Office theme. This will change the Office theme  

across all of your different Office apps. Right  here, I'll click black and then I'll click on OK.  

And look at this. The calendar already looks  better. It's a little bit easier on my eyes,  

and maybe in the future, I'll come up with a  tip where maybe I could cut down on your meeting  

load. All right, if you learned some new tips that  you're going to put to use, please give this video  

a thumbs up. To see more videos like this, be sure  to hit that subscribe button. Also, if you want to  

see me cover any other topics on this channel,  leave a note down below. All right, well, that's  

all I had for you today. I hope you enjoyed,  and as always, I hope to see you next time, bye.