Attaching a File or Document to a Calendar item
Let’s imagine you’ve made an appointment, such as to take your pet to the vet, or to get your oil changed, and in either case, you have a document or image you want to attach to it so you don’t forget.
In the following example, we’re getting our oil, and we’ve got a coupon for it. You could print out the coupon and try to remember it beforehand, or you could simply attach it to the appointment so when Outlook reminds you, the coupon is right there so you can print it.
In order to do this, you want to click the “Attach File” and then browse to the location where it is saved. You can either insert the file as is, paste it inline as text, or insert the location of the file as a hyperlink. In this instance, we’re just going to attach the PDF as is.
This is going to be a highly useful feature if you need to share documents for a business meeting, send out study materials to students, or whenever the situation might call for supplementary information.
Managing and Sharing Calendars
Managing calendars will let you accomplish two things. You can open calendars from various sources, and you can create and save calendar groups.
If you click the “Open Calendar” button, you can create a calendar from several sources including from the Internet, or you can create a blank calendar.
In the following screenshot, you see several calendars have been created, and we’ve also created a special group for work. You can drag events from one calendar to another; you see how we have an entry for a weekly meeting in the two calendar we’ve selected to show.
Being able to drag events across calendars means that if you’ve spent time adding an appointment or meeting, if you later decide it needs to be on a different calendar, you don’t need to recreate the events.
Finally, you can share calendars, of note though is the ability to e-mail a calendar. Here in the following screenshot, you see what happens when you use this option.
You can specify which calendar you share, the date range (from a single day to the whole calendar), level of details to share (simple availability, limited, and full details), and then there’s a few Advanced options you can use.
Sharing in this way means that you can quickly, easily, and seamlessly disseminate your calendar information with other Outlook users, as well as integrate calendars sent to you.
Calendar Options
There’s quite a few calendar options to sort through. Most of these options are intended to configure the calendar to work more effectively with your professional and personal needs.
For example, you can change your work hours and work week, add holidays, change the time zone, set the default color, and even choose between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Work your way through them at your leisure and try out what works best for you.
The calendar features in Outlook are really good and if you work in an organization with a central Exchange server, then you’re likely familiar with how you can collaborate on shared calendars, see events, and more. All of this seamlessly works within your own local Outlook installation for added power and convenience.
At home, it’s nice to have a calendar with so many features in the same program. There’s no need to switch from an e-mail app to your calendar app, you can schedule events and quickly invite participants with just a few clicks of the mouse button, and much more.