We all know it can be quite a challenge some time to schedule meeting with people.
Microsoft has released a new add-on called Find Time which works with Outlook 2013/2016 and Office 365 (you must have an Office 365 subscriptions) to help you find the right time to schedule a meeting with someone – ok, like that it seems redundant with the well know free/busy feature available on Exchange, but wait… even if attendee looks like available, he may not be and so will either decline or proposed a new time which then may not match your time.
With this add-on you DO NOT create a request meeting with only one scheduled time but you create an email which then will contains different proposed scheduled time with the ability to respond directly with the most appropriate proposition.
So let’s get it started, and connect to https://findtime.microsoft.com/ to first download the Outlook add-on and sign in
First download the add-on
You will be asked to sign in to your Office 365 account
And the installation process will automatically starts – there is nothing to download, I mean you don’t have to run any installer, everything is done by itsefl
Then you just create a new email (not a request meeting) and fill the recipients field
Once done, you can hit the New Meeting Pool button
As you are starting to use it for the first time, you will be asked to link the add-on with your account with a new pop up window asking to enter your credentials
Then you need to define the duration of the meeting (and optionally you can also change the time zone); then the tool is automatically trying to find availability for the recipient(s)
Then you select one or more proposed time and hit Next
You define additional meeting settings like the location (default is set to Skype for Business) and you can hit Insert to mail and send the mail – off course you can add additional details in the body of your email
Then you can track the pool from https://findtime.microsoft.com/; just sign in with your account and you will get a dashboard
When you hit the Meeting title you can get the full details of the proposed meeting where you are also able to add/remove attendees, add a new option…
Your attendees will receive you email with the option to accept one ore more proposition and your attendees will be able to see what others have selected as best time to meet
Then once everyone has answered the pool is automatically completed and invitation are sent for the most appropriate time
