Outlook 2007 E-mail / Calendar Sharing Folders
Important
We do not recommend that people share calendars which are synchronised from a desktop to a mobile phone or PDA, as the synchronisation software can get terribly confused if more than one person accesses a calendar in this way.
If the PDA is connected directly to the Exchange server over the air (in real time) problems should not occur as changes occur in (almost) real time. If however, they sync the PDA via a desktop it would not be advisable as the two could be significantly different.
The best PDA for this scenario is one based on Windows Mobile [6 or above] e.g. HTC. I-phones and other PDA's may not correctly handle this scenario.
Introduction
You will use Sharing Folders to allow others to see your calendar, or indeed any of the folders named Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, or Journal. You will use Delegating for Manager / Secretary Working, or perhaps in the case of a long-term absence, or for other folders.
Sharing Folders
To share a folder with another user or a group of users:
-
Click the Folder List button at the bottom of the left hand pane.
-
Select a folder (usually Calendar), right-click, choose Change Sharing Permissions.
The screen image shows the sharing permissions for a Calendar. There will be slightly different options for a Mail folder etc.
-
-
Under Search you can enter a "friendly" name such as "Rob Kirkwood" rather than "R.S.M.Kirkwood" and the display will show what is nearest as you start to type - so "Rob" will show all the Robs, and "Rob K" may be sufficient to find Rob Kirkwood.
If you wish to share your folder with your department, enter dept. and all departments will be listed, select your department, e.g. Dept.IT Services.All. If your department has set up agreed groups of people (e.g. Student Services has Chaplaincy and Careers) they should be listed too. More information on setting up Groups of People is available.
Select the person or group you wish to share with, and click Add->.
When finished, click OK.
-
The following Permission Levels are available. However, we recommend Reviewer for most purposes.
Permission Level Permissions Owner Create, read, modify, and delete all items and files, and create sub folders. As the folder owner, you can change the permission levels that other people have for the folder. Publishing Editor Create, read, modify, and delete all items and files, and create sub folders. Editor Create, read, modify, and delete all items and files. Publishing Author Create and read items and files, create sub folders, and modify and delete items and files that you create. Author Create and read items and files, and modify and delete items and files that you create. Contributor Create items and files only. The contents of the folder do not appear. Reviewer Read items and files only. Custom Perform activities defined by the folder owner (see the other options on the screen). None You have no permissions. You cannot open the folder. We recommend Reviewer for most purposes.
-
Click OK.
Request Sharing a Calendar Folder
To send a request to someone else asking them to share a folder, and optionally share your own folder too:
-
In Calendar view in the Navigation pane click the Share My Calendar link.
-
A special e-mail will appear for a Sharing invitation:
There is a check box (default selected) to Allow the recipient to view your folder, Leave it selected to share your calendar with just the recipients) you will specify in the To entry of the e-mail, or de-select to not share your calendar.
There is a check box (default unselected) to Request permission to view the recipient's folder. Select it to request permission to view the recipient's folder.
Complete the To entry of the e-mail in the usual way.
Complete the e-mail text and click Send to send it in the usual manner.
The recipient will receive a Sharing Request e-mail:
They can click Allow to allow access or Deny to deny access.
Opening a Shared Folder
To open a folder which has previously been shared:
In Calendar view in the Navigation pane click the link Open a Shared Calendar.
Alternatively, select any folder and from the File menu select Open and then select Other User's Folder.
In this second case you must specify Folder type.
Either type the Name, or click on Name to open the Add Users dialogue (as described for Sharing a Folder above). Once the name is selected, click OK.
 |
If you have permission to open that folder, it will open. In the case of a calendar folder, it will also appear with a selected check box in the Calendar navigation Pane under People's Calendars. De-select the check box to hide the folder, re-select it to display it again. Note that you can right-click the folder and select Delete "[folder name]" to delete the fact that the folder appears under People's Calendars (it does not, of course, delete the folder itself). |
If you do not have permission to see that person's Inbox or other non-calendar folder, you will be told:
However, if you do not have permission to see that person's calendar folder, you will be told that and given the opportunity to ask them to share their folder with you:
If you click Yes you will see a special e-mail message to request access to the folder as described above.
Opening the University Shared Calendars
The University Shared Calendar will give you access to University shutdown dates (which will appear as "Busy"), and other important University events such as Exams and Graduation Ceremonies which will appear as "Free". Academic Week numbers will also appear as All Day Events which are "Free". If you have particular exams or ceremonies you are attending, you should mark those parts of the day as relevant as "Busy" (or perhaps "Tentative") by adding them as Appointments in your individual calendar.
A second calendar will show you Committee dates to help you plan preparation of papers.
Ensure that you are in Calendar view in the Navigation pane. Click the link Open a Shared Calendar. Either type in the Name as Resource.Calendar.University Wide.Dates and click OK, or click Name and search for Resource.Calendar.University Wide.Dates then click OK twice. For Committee dates open Resource.Calendar.University Wide.Committees.
The calendar will appear alongside your calendar.
For the Dates calendar, click the left pointing arrow in the tab for this calendar to display this calendar overlaying i.e. "on top of" your calendar.
Important
Currently the University-wide calendar is overlaying your calendar: if you try to create an appointment or a meeting, Outlook will try and create the appointment in the University-wide calendar, and you will not be successful. Click the Calendar tab and any appointment or meeting you create will be in your calendar.
You can now see Academic Week numbers plus some useful University dates like Exams and Graduation Ceremonies (all these are marked "Free"), plus University Closed Dates are marked as "Busy", all in addition to your calendar. You can also close and subsequently re-open this calendar by clicking its check box in the navigation pane.
Opening a Shared Sub-folder
The method described above will work for the folders named Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Tasks, Notes, or Journal only. The Manager needs to authorise Manager / P.A. working if you are to open other folders.