Best Practices for Office 365 Calendar Users

Overview
  1. Use the same version of Outlook - Mailbox owners and any delegates should be using the same version of Outlook with the latest service pack and updates on all computers that are used for calendaring.
  2. One person and one Outlook version should be chosen to process meeting requests. All other machines and people should ignore (i.e. not process, not delete) meeting requests for the mailbox if they receive them.
  3. Use the Outlook Mobile app to process or schedule RMC meeting requests if on your phone.
  4. Always Respond to Meeting Requests in the Inbox - We recommend that you always accept or decline a meeting request from the Inbox. If you accept or decline a meeting by using the meeting item in the Calendar in Outlook, the meeting request remains in the Inbox. It is important that you do not delete a meeting request from the Inbox until you are sure that the meeting has been processed.
  5. Don't move meeting requests - Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar. Soon after a meeting request arrives in your Inbox, a piece of Outlook code — nicknamed the "sniffer" — automatically adds the meeting to your calendar and marks it as tentative. This is a fail-safe to keep you from missing the meeting in case you don't see the request in your Inbox. However, the sniffer doesn't reply to the meeting organizer. You still need to do that by accepting, accepting as tentative, or declining the request. If you or a rule that you create moves an incoming meeting request from your Inbox before the sniffer can process the request, the meeting never appears in your calendar, and you might miss the meeting.
  6. If you change a meeting that you organize, ALWAYS Send Update to EVERYONE - When you change a meeting that you organize, you must click Send Update to make sure that the changes are sent to everyone that you invited to the meeting. For example, you modify the date or the time of a meeting. If you do not send an update, invitees will not be informed of the new meeting time. Even if you add a new person to the meeting, always send the update to EVERYONE. If you only send the update to the person you just added, the other invitees will not be informed.
  7. If you cancel or delete a meeting , ALWAYS Send Update to EVERYONE - If you cancel or delete a meeting, but you do not send the update, the meeting is only removed from your calendar. If you are the organizer, no one is notified that you are canceling the meeting. If you are an attendee, no one is notified that you are not attending.
  8. Only ONE person should process meeting invites - Make sure that only one user for each mailbox receives and processes meeting requests. This means that you assign a maximum of one delegate with Editor permissions. The mailbox owner and delegate must decide who will be processing all the meeting requests.
  9. Schedule end dates on recurring meetings - Microsoft recommends that you add a definite end date when you schedule a recurring meeting. When you add a definite end date, you may prevent issues that may occur if you have to update the meeting several times. If you schedule an end date on meetings, you can create a new meeting if you realize that the meeting has to be frequently modified.
  10. Limit the number of delegates who have access to your Calendar - If more than one user must have access to your mailbox, carefully consider whether these users have to be delegates. You may want to give the user Review permissions to your folder instead. To give another user Reviewer permissions, follow these steps: 1) Right-click the Calendar folder, and then click Properties. 2) Click the Permissions tab. 3) Click Add. 4) Click the name of the user who you want to give Reviewer permissions to, click Add, and then Click OK. 5) In the Name box, click the user name, and then click Reviewer in the Permissions Level box. 6) Click Apply, and then click OK.
  11. If you are not the organizer, don't modify your calendar item - We recommend that you do not put personal notes in the body of a meeting item in the calendar. If you are an attendee of this meeting, your notes will be lost if a meeting update is received. If you are the organizer, your personal notes will be sent to everyone on the attendee list.
  12. Don't delete a meeting request on one computer after you accept the same meeting request on another computer - If you are using two computers that connect to the same mailbox (e.g., a desktop computer that is using Online mode and a laptop computer that is using Cached Exchange Mode). The meeting request that you accepted on the Desktop computer is immediately processed. The meeting request that you deleted on the laptop computer is synchronized later. After synchronization, the meeting on the desktop computer is also deleted.
  13. ITS recommends that you keep current with the Microsoft Office Updates - There are known issues that are fixed with each service pack or update. In the Outlook client choose File Tab | Help | Check for Updates.
  14. If you receive a meeting cancellation, click Remove from Calendar to remove the meeting from your calendar - Deleting the cancelation from your Inbox won't remove the meeting from your calendar when using the Outlook Web Access and Entourage clients.
  15. Don't auto-accept meeting requests - If you have granted one or more persons delegate access to your calendar or if you have delegate access to someone else's calendar, turn off automatic acceptance of meeting requests. By turning off automatic acceptance you avoid problems with delegate workflow by allowing you and/or your delegate the opportunity to review all meeting requests, respond appropriately, keep track of meetings and any changes, as well as minimize schedule conflicts.
  16. Archive or delete older meetings and appointments. For best performance Microsoft recommends having less than 5000 items on a Calendar.  This is especially helpful for others viewing your calendar.
  17. Don't send attachments with meeting invites. Store and share attachments via OneDrive or some other network or cloud space that attendees can access. This helps keep the size of peoples calendars smaller and allows for attachment updates without resending meeting requests.  If you receive an invite with an attachment, save it to your network space then delete the attachments from the meeting.
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