Launch Outlook as you normally do and then, if necessary, open the Calendar module (press Ctrl+2).

Click the Search Calendars Online link in the Links section of the Navigation Pane.

Outlook launches your default Web browser, which displays the Outlook Internet Calendars Home page (similar to the one shown in Figure 10-3).

Figure 10-3. Searching for iCalendars for Outlook 2007 on the Outlook Internet Calendars Home page.

Click the iCALShare.com hyperlink under the Find Free Internet Calendars heading in the middle of the Web page.

Your Web browser opens the iCalShare – Share Your Calendars! Web page (similar to the one shown in Figure 10-4).

Click the link for the category of the iCalendar you're interested in or enter keywords in the Search iCalShare text box and then click its Search button.

iCalShare displays a list (sometimes partial, if there's more than one page) of the iCalendars in the category you selected or that meet the search text you entered.

(Optional) Click the Preview Calendar hyperlink to display a sample month (corresponding to the current month) of the calendar you're potentially interested in using.

Your Web browser displays a sample of the events noted on the selected calendar for the current month and year.

When you've found the iCalendar you want to use in Outlook 2007, you can either download it or subscribe to it.

Figure 10-4. Selecting an iCalendar to preview and download to Outlook 2007 on the iCalShare Web page.

If you previewed the iCalendar, click your Web browser's Back button to return to the page with the description of the iCalendar you're interested in. Then, to download a static Calendar Snapshot for Outlook, click the iCalendar's Download Calendar hyperlink. To subscribe to the calendar so that its content is periodically updated in Outlook, click the Subscribe hyperlink instead.

If you click the Download Calendar hyperlink, Outlook opens the File Download dialog box asking whether you want to open or save the calendar file. After you click Open, if you're running Internet Explorer under Windows Vista, an Internet Explorer Security alert dialog box opens, where you click the Allow button.

If you click the Subscribe hyperlink and you're running Internet Explorer under Windows Vista, an Internet Explorer Security alert dialog box opens, where you click the Allow button. After you click Allow, a Microsoft Office Outlook dialog box appears on top of the Outlook window, asking whether you want to add this Internet calendar to Outlook and subscribe to updates. Click the dialog box's Yes button.

No matter which hyperlink route you follow, Outlook adds the name of the iCalendar you just downloaded or subscribed to under the Other Calendars in the Navigation Pane. The program also displays this iCalendar side by side with the Outlook calendar that's currently being displayed in the Calendar module.

Switch over to your Web browser showing the iCalShare Web page and then exit the browser (Alt+F4).

Windows returns you to the Calendar module in Outlook 2007.

(Optional) To display just one calendar in Outlook's Information Viewer, select the check box in front of the name of the calendar you want to hide in the Navigation Pane. To display a tab for each calendar you have open in Outlook that you can then click to have that calendar displayed on top of the others, click the View

Overlay mode makes switching between any of the calendars open in Outlook 2007 easy. Keep in mind, however, that whatever calendar display you select for the calendar on top (Day, Week, Month, and so on) is also used to display any other open calendar that you bring to the top in the Information Viewer.

Launch Outlook 2007 and then launch your Web browser and use it to log on to your Google calendar.

The fastest way to bring up Google is by clicking the Google button on your Google toolbar, if you have it displayed in your Web browser.

If necessary, select from the pane on the left side of the Web page the name of the Google calendar whose snapshot you want to import into Outlook.

Doing so ensures that the correct dates and appointments are displayed in the Web browser.

Next, you need to display details about the Google calendar you're viewing.

Back in left pane of your Google calendar Web page, choose Calendar Settings from the drop-down list to the immediate right of the name of your Google calendar.

Google replaces your calendar display with a list of details about your Google calendar.

Scroll down and then click the ICAL button in the Private Address section of your Google Calendar details.

Google displays a Calendar Address dialog box containing a hyperlink to the private URL address for your Google calendar.

Click the hyperlink address in the Calendar Address dialog box.

Your Web browser displays a File Download dialog box asking whether you want to open or save the calendar file.

Click the Open button in this dialog box.

If you're using Internet Explorer on Windows Vista, the Internet Explorer Security dialog box appears.

Click the Allow button.

Windows runs a program that adds a Calendar Snapshot of your online Google Calendar to your copy of Outlook 2007.

Click the OK button in the Calendar Address and then exit your Web browser before you switch to Outlook 2007.

When you return to the Outlook 2007 Calendar module, the Calendar Snapshot of your Google calendar appears in its Information Viewer side by side your current Outlook calendar, and the name of your Google calendar is now displayed under Other Calendars in the Calendar Navigation Pane.

Select the check boxes in front of the names of the earlier and more recent Google calendars — Gregory Harvey and Gregory Harvey (1) in my example — in the Outlook Calendar Navigation Pane.

Leave all other check boxes deselected. That way, only the two versions of your Google calendars are displayed side by side in the Outlook Information Viewer.

Click the Month button above the calendar display in the Information Viewer.

Now the entire current month for both versions of your Google calendars are displayed side by side in the Outlook Information Viewer.

Drag any appointments you've added to the more recent Calendar Snapshot you just downloaded — Gregory Harvey (1) in my example — and then drop them on the same dates in the Google calendar you've been using in Outlook for some time — Gregory Harvey in my example.

Note that if you see that you've deleted some appointments from the more recent Google calendar snapshot that still show up on your original Google calendar in Outlook, you can delete them by clicking them and then pressing the Delete key.

If you've made any online changes to months ahead of the current one, click the Forward button with the right arrow in Outlook and then use the same procedure outlined in Step 3 to reconcile these changes.

After you've finished reconciling all the months where you made changes online that were not reflected in the original downloaded version in Outlook, you're ready to jettison the recent Google calendar snapshot.

Right-click the name of the more recent Google calendar you just downloaded in the Navigation Pane — Gregory Harvey (1) in my example — and then click the Delete option on its shortcut menu — Delete "Gregory Harvey (1)" in my example.

Outlook displays a Microsoft Office Outlook alert dialog box asking you to confirm the deletion.

Click the Yes button in the alert dialog box.

Outlook deletes the more recent Google calendar snapshot, leaving only the originally downloaded version of your Google calendar that now reflects all the changes you made to it online. In my example, the Gregory Harvey (1) version disappears, leaving only the reconciled and updated Gregory Harvey Google calendar displayed in Outlook 2007.

Launch Outlook as you normally do and then, if necessary, select the Calendar module (press Ctrl+2) before you press Ctrl+Shift+E.

Outlook opens the Create New Folder dialog box, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-5, with the Calendar folder already selected.

Type the name you want to give your new personal calendar (such as Personal) in the Name text box and then click OK or press Enter.

Outlook adds the name of your new personal calendar to the list of calendars in the My Calendars section at the top of the Calendar Navigation Pane.

Figure 10-5. Creating a Personal calendar in the Create New Folder dialog box.

In the Navigator Pane, select the check box in front of the name of the new personal calendar just added to the My Calendars section.

Outlook displays your new personal calendar side by side to the right of your default (business calendar) in the Information Viewer, as shown in Figure 10-6. Note that Outlook applies the same Day, Week, or Month date display to both calendars as was originally used to display the appointments and events on the sole business calendar in the Information Viewer.

If the Calendar module is current, click the date of the new appointment in the Date Navigator and the hour of the appointment's start time in the Information Viewer before you press Ctrl+N. If the Calendar module is not current, press Ctrl+Shift+A instead.

If you're using Outlook 2003, the program opens the Untitled Appointment dialog box, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-9. If you're using Outlook 2007, the program opens a slightly different version of the Appointment dialog box, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-10.

Type a short description of the appointment in the Subject text box.

Try to keep the appointment description as short as possible; otherwise, you won't have the foggiest idea of what appointment you have on a particular day when you switch your calendar display from Day to Week or Month.

(Optional) Add the location of the appointment by clicking the Location text and then typing in a description of the locale or its actual address.

If you routinely schedule appointments in a particular spot, you may be able to enter the locale or address by choosing it from the drop-down list rather than having to type it into the text box all over again.

Figure 10-9. Using the Outlook 2003 Appointment dialog box to add a new appointment to my calendar.

Figure 10-10. Using the Outlook 2007 Appointment dialog box to add a new appointment to my calendar.

If necessary, modify the date and time of the appointment using the Start Time and End Time date and time combo boxes. If you're scheduling an event rather than an appointment, select the All Day Event check box instead.

You can select the hour the appointment starts and ends in the Start combo boxes either by typing the 12-hour time (as in 3:30 p.m.) or 24-hour time (as in 15:30), or you can choose the hour (in half-hour increments) from the associated drop-down lists.

You can enter the start, or stop (or both) date for the appointment or event by typing the date number (6/6/09 or 6-6-09) in the appropriate date combo box or by clicking its drop-down button and then clicking the date on the drop-down Date Navigator.

Note that whenever you click the All Day Event check box, the combo boxes that record the starting and ending time are hidden, leaving only the date combo boxes visible in the Untitled Appointment dialog box.

(Optional) Click the list box in the bottom section of the Untitled Appointment dialog box and then type in a longer description of the appointment or note down any special information of which you need to be aware.

Outlook automatically reminds you fifteen minutes before the start time of an appointment by displaying an alert dialog box and playing a default reminder sound. You can modify the reminder or remove it entirely.

(Optional) To reset the amount of time before the appointment that you're to be reminded, choose a different time from the Reminder drop-down list. To remove the reminder, select the Reminder check box in Outlook 2003 or choose None from the Reminder drop-down list in Outlook 2007. To reset the sound in Outlook 2003, click the Sound button or (in Outlook 2007) choose Sound from the Reminder drop-down list to open the Reminder Sound dialog box. There, you can select a new sound to play by entering its filename in the text box or mute any reminder sound by deselecting the Play the Sound check box before you click OK.

Be default, Outlook automatically indicates the status of the time assigned to all new appointments as Busy and new events as Free on all copies of your calendar that you share with others (see the "Sharing Your Outlook 2007 Calendars" section that follows). Sometimes, you may need to change this default appointment or event status to something more appropriate, such as Out of the Office or Tentative.

(Optional) To change the status displayed for the new appointment or event on copies of the calendar you e-mail or share with others, click the Show Time As drop-down button (Outlook 2003) or the Show As drop-down button (Outlook 2007) and select the new status (Free, Tentative, Busy, or Out of Office) from its drop-down list.

If the appointment or event falls into a category that you may later need to use to filter the engagements listed on your calendar, you may want to assign it to various categories.

(Optional) To assign an existing category to the new appointment or event in Outlook 2003, click the Categories button at the bottom of the Untitled Appointment dialog box and then select the check boxes in the Categories dialog box that appears for all the categories you want to assign before you click OK. In Outlook 2007, click the Categorize button in the Ribbon and, in the new dialog box that appears, click the name and color of each appropriate category from its drop-down list.

Be default, Outlook shows any appointment, event, or meeting that you add to your calendar whenever you share that calendar with others. If you need to protect privacy by omitting a particular engagement from shared calendars, be sure to perform the following step.

(Optional) To mark a new appointment or event as private to hide it on shared calendars in Outlook 2003, select the Private check box. In Outlook 2007, click the Private button in the Ribbon.

For some of the new appointments and events you put on your calendar, you may want to have instant access to the person's or company's contact information, just in case you need to look up the physical address or telephone number.

(Optional) To insert the contact information for a person or company into the new appointment or event in Outlook 2003, click the Contacts button at the bottom of the Untitled Appointment dialog box and then click the name of the contact to add in the Select Contacts dialog box before you click OK. In Outlook 2007, click the Insert tab and then click the Attach Item button to open the Insert Item dialog box. There, click the Contacts folder in the Look In list box and click the name of the contact in the Items list box before you click OK.

Note that after inserting contact information in an appointment or event, you can display this information by opening the engagement in the Calendar Information Viewer and then clicking its contact link in Outlook 2003 in the Appointment dialog box or double-clicking the business card icon in the Event dialog box in Outlook 2007.

Now you're ready to save your new appointment or event and add it to your calendar.

Click the Save and Close button.

Outlook closes the Appointment or Event dialog box, and the engagement now appears on the calendar in the Calendar Information Viewer.

Launch Outlook as you normally do and then press Ctrl+Shift+Q.

Outlook 2003 opens an Untitled – Meeting dialog box with the Appointment tab selected, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-12. If you're using Outlook 2007, the program opens this dialog box with the Appointment button in the Show group selected on the Ribbon's Meeting tab.

Figure 10-12. Setting up a new meeting in a Meeting dialog box.

Use the various fields to enter a descriptive meeting title along with the meeting's location, date, starting and ending times, and notes. If desired, specify what kind of meeting reminder to have Outlook display, just as you would do if you were specifying a new appointment for your calendar.

Now you're ready to send out meeting requests to all your potential meeting participants.

Click the To button in the Untitled – Meeting dialog box.

Outlook opens a Select Attendees and Resources dialog box, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-13, where you specify the people you want to attend the meeting.

Note that you can differentiate between those whose attendance is critical (by inserting their e-mail addresses in the Required text box) and those whose attendance is not mandatory (by inserting their e-mail addresses into the Optional text box). Step 4 shows you how.

Ctrl+click each of the names of the mandatory attendees in the Name list box and then click the Required button to insert them into the Required text box. If you have any people you want to invite whose attendance is not mandatory, Ctrl+click their names in the list box and then click the Optional button to add them to the Optional text box before you click OK.

Outlook closes the Select Attendees and Resources dialog box, returning you to the Meeting dialog box, where the e-mail addresses of all the potential attendees you just selected appear in the To text box.

Figure 10-13. Indicating the required and optional attendees and resources for the new meeting in the Select Attendees and Resources dialog box.

If you use Outlook with Microsoft Exchange server and your attendees share their calendars on a free/busy server (see "Sharing Your Outlook 2007 Calendars," later in this chapter, for details), you can use the Untitled – Meeting dialog box's Scheduling tab (in Outlook 2003) or the Scheduling button (in Outlook 2007) to look for any conflicts and make any necessary last-minute changes to the meeting date and time. Step 5 shows you how.

(Optional) Click the Scheduling tab in Outlook 2003 or the Scheduling button in Outlook 2007.

The Scheduling tab (similar to the one shown in Figure 10-14) appears, indicating the busy times and times out of the office for each of the meeting attendees. Use this information to locate meeting conflicts and to make any necessary changes to the meeting date and starting and end times in the appropriate drop-down lists before you click the Appointment tab (2003) or button.

Note that the Scheduling tab indicates the status of each of the attendees with the following icons:

The last thing you may need to do before e-mailing invitations to the attendees of your new meeting is to set up a Meeting Workspace, which is an online Web site (usually a Microsoft SharePoint site) where your participants find background information and materials they need for the meeting. Step 6 covers setting up a Meeting Workspace.

Figure 10-14. Checking the free and busy times of potential meeting attendees.

(Optional) To designate a Meeting Workspace that you've set up on your SharePoint Web site for the meeting, click the Meeting Workspace button to open the Meeting Workspace pane and then click its Create button.

(Optional) In the new pane that appears, choose an existing meeting location from the Select a Location drop-down menu.

To select a new location, click the Other option on this drop-down menu and then enter the URL of the SharePoint Meeting Workspace in the Other Workspace Server dialog box before you click OK. You can then create a new workspace or select an existing one using the Select a Workspace drop-down menu before you click the OK button to close the Meeting Workspace pane.

Now you're ready to invite your potential attendees to the meeting.

Click the Send button.

Outlook closes the Untitled – Meeting dialog box and e-mails meeting requests to each of your required and optional attendees.

Launch Outlook as you normally do and then make the Calendar module current, — if it's not already current — by pressing Ctrl+2.

Click the Send a Calendar via E-mail link in the Calendar Navigation Pane.

Outlook 2007 then opens a new message and displays the Send a Calendar via E-mail dialog box, similar to the one shown in Figure 10-16.

By default, Outlook e-mails the default calendar named, appropriately enough, Calendar. You can, however, e-mail a copy of any other calendar you maintain in Outlook.

(Optional) If you want to send a calendar other than the default Calendar, choose its name from the Calendar drop-down list.

By default, Outlook includes only the appointments and events that are scheduled for the current date on your calendar. You can, however, send any range of dates you wish, as Step 4 makes clear.

(Optional) If you want more than just the current day's calendar information included in the e-mail, specify the dates you want included by choosing the appropriate option from the Date Range drop-down list: Tomorrow, Next 7 Days, Next 30 Days, or Whole Calendar. If you want to select another range of dates, click the Specify Dates option and then enter the beginning date in the Start combo box and the last date in the End combo box.

By default, Outlook e-mails only the availability information (Free, Busy, Tentative, and Out of the Office) for the hours on the dates specified by selecting the Availability Only option in the Detail section. You can, however, include the subjects of your calendar engagements with the availability information by selecting the Limited Details option or include full descriptions by selecting the Full Details option.

(Optional) Choose the Limited Details option from the Details drop-down menu to display the subjects of your calendar engagements along with the availability information, or choose the Full Details option to display all the information about your calendar engagements, including availability.

Figure 10-16. Specifying the calendar and date range to send in a new e-mail message.

By default, Outlook shows engagements for all hours of the day on your calendar for the dates included. To limit the engagements to working hours only, perform Step 6.

(Optional) To limit the engagements to working hours in the e-mailed calendar, select the Show Time Within My Working Hours Only check box. (If you need to check or reset your working hours, click the Set Working Hours link to open the Calendar Options dialog box, where you can modify the hours by editing the Start Time and/or End Time before you click OK.)

By default, Outlook e-mails your calendar using the Daily Schedule layout that includes the hours you're free as well as those when you're busy or out of the office. If you prefer to switch to the List of Events layout that displays a list without the free hours, follow Step 7.

(Optional) Click the Show button in the Advanced section and then choose List of Events from the E-mail Layout drop-down list. If you've selected Limited Details rather than Availability Only as the Detail option (see Step 5), you can also click the Include Details of Items Marked Private to include all private engagements in the daily schedule or the list of events. If you have selected Full Details as the Detail option, you can also click the Include Attachments with Calendar Items to include any files that you may have attached to the appointment, event, or meeting to the new e-mail message.

Now you're ready to close the Send a Calendar via E-mail dialog box so that you can address and send the new message containing a copy of your calendar.

Click the OK button.

Outlook closes the Select a Calendar via E-mail dialog box and adds the calendar information using the layout and level of detail you specified for the selected date range (see Figure 10-17) to the otherwise blank e-mail message.

Fill out the e-mail header by selecting the e-mail address of the primary recipient(s) in the To text box and that of any secondary recipient(s) in the Cc text box. Make any modifications you deem necessary to the Subject text box and additions to the body of the message before you click the Send button.

Outlook e-mails the message to all your designated recipients containing the copy of your Outlook 2007 calendar.