3

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?

Mxx
  • 2,791
  • 2
  • 19
  • 35
SeriousSalesSally
  • 33
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
  • Can't this be done by creating tasks with a due date? – Mxx Mar 08 '13 at 04:50
  • 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. – SeriousSalesSally Mar 08 '13 at 04:54
  • 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. – Ramhound Mar 08 '13 at 12:24
  • 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. – CharlieRB Mar 08 '13 at 12:59
  • 1
    @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`? – Julian Knight Mar 08 '13 at 14:40
  • @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". – CharlieRB Mar 08 '13 at 15:41
  • 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. – TFM Mar 08 '13 at 18:17
  • @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. – SeriousSalesSally Mar 08 '13 at 19:48
  • It's not my concern. Either you agree to follow the guidelines of SU or you don't. It's up to you. – CharlieRB Mar 08 '13 at 20:16

4 Answers4

3

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.

Julian Knight
  • 14,313
  • 3
  • 27
  • 41
  • 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! – SeriousSalesSally Mar 08 '13 at 20:05
  • That's often the way with IT ;) There's usually many ways to achieve things. – Julian Knight Mar 08 '13 at 20:49
  • 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. " – Julian Knight Feb 27 '15 at 09:06
1

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.

Elaine Terry
  • 11
  • 1
0

I too regularly set up appointments for other individuals in the company, and end up always having my own calendar show I'm busy when I'm not...drives me crazy.

I did discover that if you set up the appointments then mark yourself as free - and don't send an update, it will SOMETIMES keep the appointment on the other individual's calendars as busy...and SOMETIMES it doesn't. Honestly haven't figured out the trigger behind why - but do think it has something to do with making an update to the appointment while it is still marked as free on my own calendar. Next time I'm going to try to change mine to busy - then make an update and resend - then change mine back to free and not send the update.

This seems like it should be a fairly easy programming change for Microsoft to initiate in the next update. I swear I once saw an option in Teams to mark myself as a non-attendee; but can't find that any longer. (Would use Teams to set up the meetings except haven't been able to attach a document to the meeting request).

Caryn
  • 1
  • 1
    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Mar 02 '22 at 17:39
-1

It's not possible to change the appointment on your own schedule to show as "free". I've tried it multiple times. I'm still hoping that someone, somewhere, has figured out how to set up a meeting but either A: keep it off the originator's calendar, or B: remove it from originator's calendar without affecting the meeting on anyone else's calendar. This shouldn't be this difficult.

Admin Assistant
  • 1
  • 1
    "Keep it off the originator's calender" - Isn't this exactly what OP is asking for, but stating it doesn't work? – confetti Aug 22 '18 at 23:46