Outlook vs. Ontime

[Guest]

We are moving from an old version of Ontime to Outlook Calendar using
Microsoft Exchange Server. We are a small office and we can all view each
other's calendars. In Ontime, we can do a "group add" and have an
appointment appear on everyone's calendar, however, I cannot figure out how
to do this on Outlook.

Can anyone tell me how I can add an appointment to multiple calendars
without having to type it more than once and without having to "invite" them.
Thanks.

 

[Brian Tillman]

We are moving from an old version of Ontime to Outlook Calendar using
Microsoft Exchange Server. We are a small office and we can all view
each other's calendars. In Ontime, we can do a "group add" and have
an appointment appear on everyone's calendar, however, I cannot
figure out how to do this on Outlook.

Because you can't. They're no mechanism in Outlook or Exchange to place an
appointment on multiple calendars without an invitation or via drag-and-drop
to each calendar (provided they're shared).

Can anyone tell me how I can add an appointment to multiple calendars
without having to type it more than once and without having to
"invite" them. Thanks.

Since you're using Exchange, public calendars are a good tool for this.

 

[Guest]

I tried to drag and drop a test appt to the other persons in our office.
Rather than it copying over, it simply moved it. How do I drag and drop?
Also, now that I have done this, I can't get the appointments off of the
other's calendars. How do I do this? We are supposed to be set up to modify
and change each other's calendars, I guess as an "editor" of each other's
calendars. Is this the problem? Should I check co-workers properties and
make sure assign all of us as editors?

Also, we each have two calendars under "My Calendar". One just says
"Calendar" and the other says "Calendar in Mailbox - Person's Name". What is
the purpose of having two calendars? Can one be deleted, or do we need it?

 

[Taylor]

Because you can't. They're no mechanism in Outlook or Exchange to place
an appointment on multiple calendars without an invitation or via
drag-and-drop to each calendar (provided they're shared).


Since you're using Exchange, public calendars are a good tool for this.

Can't you add a distribution list as an attendee?
You could create a distribution list called "everyone" and invite them.
This would invite everyone to the meeting I believe.
Alternatively, you could create a public folder as a shared calendar. One
person is appointed to manage calendar, which everyone can view.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I tried to drag and drop a test appt to the other persons in our
office. Rather than it copying over, it simply moved it. How do I
drag and drop?

Right-click drag-and-drop. When you release the mouse button you'll be a
context menu offering the choice to copy. Alternatively, you can select the
option and click Edit>Copy

Also, now that I have done this, I can't get the
appointments off of the other's calendars. How do I do this? We are
supposed to be set up to modify and change each other's calendars, I
guess as an "editor" of each other's calendars.

Sounds like the other person hasn't granted you proper permission to delete
items.

Also, we each have two calendars under "My Calendar". One just says
"Calendar" and the other says "Calendar in Mailbox - Person's Name".
What is the purpose of having two calendars? Can one be deleted, or
do we need it?

Is "Person's Name" your name of the name of someone else?

 

[Guest]

Hi Brian,

The person's name is mine. We have a local folder containing calendar
items, and then a "mailbox calendar" containing calendar items. When I try
to "invite someone to a meeting, it seems to me that when I accept, the appt
would apply to the "mailbox" calendar as opposed to my personal calendar,
however, it goes to the personal calendar. Why would that be? Is there a
reason why we need both calendars? We do have a POP e-mail system, which is
our main system, and then a Microsoft exchange e-mail system, which was set
up for the use of this calendar.

 

[Brian Tillman]

The person's name is mine. We have a local folder containing calendar
items, and then a "mailbox calendar" containing calendar items.

Then you're using Exchange and the "mailbox" is your Exchange mailbox. You
should be using your mailbox as the delivery location. That's the only way
to share calendars.

When
I try to "invite someone to a meeting, it seems to me that when I
accept, the appt would apply to the "mailbox" calendar as opposed to
my personal calendar, however, it goes to the personal calendar.

Because you have your delivery location set to a PST instead of the Exchange
mailbox.

Is there a reason why we need both calendars? We do
have a POP e-mail system, which is our main system, and then a
Microsoft exchange e-mail system, which was set up for the use of
this calendar.

Why not have Exchange be the maiin mail system? It can easily be configured
to send external messages through your ISP. A log of your problems would go
away, in my opinion, if you were to do this.

 

[Guest]

Can you tell me what needs to be done to configure Exchange to send external
messages through our ISP? I believe the issue is that we do not want to have
to change our e-mail addresses. Alternatively, is there a way to configure
this to put the items on our "exchange" calendar and leave it as is?

It is definitely a problem because when we receive an "invitation" to a
meeting, and then we "accept", the address is not recognized and the "accept"
is sent back to the sender. Then, the mail system is defaulted over to the
"Exchange" server, so that the next time you send out an e-mail, it tries to
send it there, and it is again sent back.

I am trying to get our IT person out here in a couple of days and I would
like to know all of the options. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Can you tell me what needs to be done to configure Exchange to send
external messages through our ISP?

No, sorry. That's a question for
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.exchange.admin

 

[Guest]

Assuming you have registered a domain name already (like mycompany.com), have
it currently hosted with an ISP, are using associated email addresses (like
(e-mail address removed)), and have a static IP address for your Internet
connection (ie, cable or DSL)... You can easily move from POP3 email
addresses to pure Exchange email addresses without changing your address.

With this scenario, it is a matter of changing the MX records to point to
your static IP address at your office, open port 25 on the firewall and
direct to the Exchange server - be sure the server is secured with all its
patches, AV (like Trend Micro ScanMail), and (optionally) set IMF for
Exchange 2003 SP2 BEFORE setting Exchange to receive mail directly. One more
note, be sure to have your static IP address resolve to your external mail
server name (ie, mail.mycompany.com resolves to x.x.x.x and x.x.x.x resolves
to mail.mycompany.com). I would make the changes for all this on a Friday
afternoon to allow for DNS replication over the weekend. That's the basics of
it anyway.

If you are still using your ISP's domain name in your email addresses, then
you need to decide if switching to mycompany.com email addresses is what you
want to do. Personally, I believe it is well worth it - having used and
administered many Exchange servers at several organizations. Exchange
provides a LOT more control and flexibility for your email and scheduling
needs than POP3 alone. POP3 and Exchange mailboxes as a combo (like you are
doing now) just complicates matters for you.

Alternatively for the calendaring issue, you could create a separate account
in Exchange called "Master Calendar", set the permissions on the account to
allow everyone (or select people) to create/modify/delete/see only the
calendar item in the mailbox, then add it as a second account to view from
within Outlook. The Public Folder Calendar option works great too and will
have less adminitrative needs. Likewise, you can create a Public Contacts and
Tasks lists in the Public Folders too - and set specific permissions (either
group or individual) on every list or folder too!

Another suggestion: Use Outlook 2003, configure it for cache mode (after
switching purely to Exchange mailboxes), and set the Junk E-mail options
appropriately (most like the "High" setting lately) to work with IMF for
controlling SPAM.

Good luck!

TimothyS - [MCP]
Systems Administrator