How to Schedule an Appointment in Outlook

In Outlook 97, 98, or 2000, an "appointment" is a time period you reserve on your calendar, but that you don't invite others to. An appointment might be a visit to the dentist, lunch with a friend, a client meeting off-site, or even time you've set aside to clear out the 136 messages in your In box. Depending on the appointment's importance, you can choose how the time is categorized (Busy, Tentative, Free, and so on) when others are checking your availability for meetings.

Things You'll Need

• Computers
• Microsoft Outlook

Instructions

1. Select New from the File menu, then click Appointment.

2. Type in the topic ("Weekly Report Writing" or "Six Month Appointment with Dr. McLain") in the Subject box.

3. Enter the location in the next box, if you want.

4. Select start and end dates and times, either by clicking the down arrows or by typing in a time. You can type fairly general words, like "next Thursday" or "noon."

5. Check the Reminder box if you want Outlook to remind you the appointment is coming up.

6. Enter related information in the large box ("Don't forget to bring insurance forms!" for example).

7. Click the Recurrence button (arrows chasing each other in a circle) on the toolbar and fill in the appropriate information if this appointment will be scheduled for regular intervals.

8. Make a selection from the "Show time as" menu to choose how the appointment time will appear to people scheduling meetings.

9. Click the Save and Close button at the top of the appointment window.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many other ways of opening a new appointment window: press Control+Shift+A from anywhere in the program; or, from within the Calendar section, click the New button in the upper-left or right-click any time and select New Appointment from the menu that appears.

• In Outlook terminology, a "meeting" is something you invite others to, and an "event" is something that lasts all day. But you actually use the same appointment window to schedule appointments, meetings and events. (See the Related eHows for more information.)