Using Microsoft Outlook to Schedule and Attend Sametime Meetings

If your system administrator allows it, you can use Outlook^® 2000 to schedule, edit, delete, and attend Sametime meetings. When you schedule Sametime meetings with Outlook, Outlook automatically sends e-mail invitations to all meeting participants. Participants attend Sametime meetings by clicking the meeting address provided in the invitation.

Note You must create and modify Sametime meetings via Outlook 2000. Changes made through the Sametime Meeting Center are not reflected in your Outlook calendar.

Caution Before you can schedule or attend a Sametime meeting from Outlook, your system administrator must enable Outlook for Microsoft Conferencing. See your system administrator for information.

Scheduling a Sametime Meeting

To schedule a Sametime meeting using Outlook, follow the steps for creating any new meeting in Outlook. While creating the meeting, follow these guidelines:

• You must use Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002 to schedule a Sametime meeting through Outlook.



• You might see more than one Sametime resource for the meeting. For example, there might be one resource for Collaboration meetings and another resource for Broadcast meetings. Contact your system administrator for information about the properties of each resource. For more information about the Sametime meeting types and meeting tools, see "Essentials: What You Must Do" and "Tools: How to Get Your Work Done."



• The person who schedules the meeting automatically becomes the Meeting Moderator when the meeting begins.



• The meeting name that you enter in Outlook appears as the meeting name in the Sametime Meeting Center.



• If you do not allow external attendees, the meeting will be unlisted, and will not appear in the Sametime Meeting Center. Only the people who are invited to the meeting can attend the meeting.



• If you enter a password for the meeting, participants must enter the password before they can attend the meeting.




Note If you choose not to allow external attendees, you cannot set a password for the meeting.

• Participants will receive reminder e-mails about the meeting. They can click the URL provided in the reminder to attend the meeting.



• To attach a file to the meeting, open your file management system (such as Windows Explorer) and select the file you want to attach. Drag the file and drop it into the meeting invitation. The file is attached to the Sametime meeting and e-mailed to each meeting participant when you send the meeting invitation.



• Outlook automatically sends an e-mail invitation to each person who is invited to the meeting. When participants accept the invitation, the meeting appears in their Outlook calendars. If a meeting request cannot be accommodated (for example, if too many meetings are scheduled at once on the same server), meeting participants are notified via e-mail and the meeting must be rescheduled.



• If an error occurs when Outlook tries to schedule the meeting, the meeting creator receives an e-mail stating that the meeting was not scheduled.



• If you schedule a Sametime meeting through Outlook, you cannot use NetMeeting as a tool in the meeting. For more information about using NetMeeting in Sametime meetings, see "Using NetMeeting."

Modifying Meeting Details

To modify the details of a Sametime meeting that was scheduled through Outlook, click the meeting name in the Outlook calendar and change any details. When you are finished, Outlook e-mails the new meeting information to all meeting participants.

Note Only the person who created the meeting (the Moderator) can modify the meeting details.

The meeting details include:

• The start and end time of the meeting



• The meeting name



• The meeting type (The CTP resource determines the meeting type)



• The available tools (The CTP resource determines the available tools)



• Invited meeting participants



• Password



• Whether the meeting is listed or unlisted in the Sametime Meeting Center

Tip    To extend a meeting that is in progress, click the "Extend Time" link on the left side of the Sametime Meeting Room. If you extend the meeting by using the menus in the Sametime Meeting Room, the change does not appear in Outlook.

Deleting a Sametime Meeting

To delete (or cancel) a Sametime meeting from Outlook, select the meeting name in the Outlook calendar and follow the usual procedure for deleting a meeting. When you are finished, Outlook automatically e-mails a cancellation notice to all meeting participants.

Note When deleting the meeting, you must choose to notify all participants of the deletion. Otherwise, the Sametime meeting will not be deleted from the Sametime server.

Note Only the person who created the meeting (the Moderator) can delete it.

Attending a Sametime Meeting

To attend a Sametime meeting from Outlook:

1. Click the meeting URL provided in the meeting invitation or the meeting reminder. The Sametime Meeting Details page appears in a new browser window. If the meeting has already started, the Sametime Meeting Room automatically launches in another browser window.



2. If prompted to log on to Sametime, enter your Sametime user name and password and click OK.



3. If prompted for a meeting password, enter the meeting password and click OK. (The meeting invitation includes the password.)



4. If prompted for the meeting name, enter the meeting name and click OK. (The meeting invitation includes the meeting name.)