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Collaboration Services: Schedule Northwestern Resources

Resources in Outlook

Resources represent shared conference/meeting rooms and shared equipment (laptops, projectors, etc.) that you can reserve or checkout. Please note that a public group is required to control a resource.

Using Resources

Resources can be reserved when scheduling a new meeting. Once reserved, a resource will become unavailable during the duration of your meeting and will not be schedulable by other users.

You can access the new meeting screen from either Outlook Mail or Outlook Calendar.

From Mail:

  1. Click New Items on the Home tab.
  2. Click on Meeting in the drop down list.

    New Items menu of the Home tab in Outlook. The Meeting option is selected.

From Calendar:

  1. Click New Meeting in the Home tab.


    The Home tab for Outlook Calendar. The New Meeting option should be selected.

Once in the Meeting Screen, fill in the subject and description fields for your meeting. To schedule a room:

  1. Click Rooms…

    New Meeting window of Outlook. The Rooms... button should be selected.
  2. The Select Room: All Rooms screen will open. Browse available rooms, and click on the room you wish to reserve. Resource e-mail address "codes" are available to help quickly sort the following types:
    • RM- = Rooms
    • RS- = Equipment
    • DL_ = Public Groups/Distribution Lists
    • ORG- = Org/Shared Mailboxes
  3. Click Rooms -> at the bottom of the screen to add the selected room to your meeting.
  4. Click OK.

    List of available rooms. The desired room should be selected, and the Rooms -> button should be selected to add the selected room to your meeting.

The selected room will appear in the To… field. You may also add attendees to the To… field. The Scheduling Assistant will help you find a time for your meeting.

  1. Click Scheduling Assistant.

    The Meeting tab of Outlook. The Scheduling Assistant option should be selected.

    The room will appear under the Attendees list. Add additional attendees one of two ways:
    1. Click Add Attendees at the bottom of the window. This will open your address book where you may click an attendees name to add them to the list.

      Select Attendees and Resources window. The desired attendee's name is selected.
    2. Click in the text box labeled Click here to add a name and type a name, then click Check Names in the ribbon. This will give you a list of possible matches from the Global Address Book.

      The calendar of the Schedule Meeting window. After clicking the desired time, a green and red bar should show up in the timeslot indicating the meeting start time and finish time.
  2. Click on the calendar area to select a meeting time. The scheduled meeting period will show with a green bar indicating the start of the meeting and a red bar indicating the end.

    Schedule Resources in Outlook 2010 08

Reading and Using the Scheduling Assistant Window

The colored bars in the Scheduling Assistant Window refer to the following:

Scheduling Assistant window. A number of colored bars appear in the window. Purple Bars indicate busy, Purple Bars with slash marks indicate Tentative, Dark Purple Bar indicates out of office, White Bar with slash marks is No Info, and Grey Bar indicates Outside of working hours.

  1. Looking at the All Attendees bar will show you where there are open time slots for all Attendees and Resources.

    The All Attendees row showing the open time slots for all Attendees and Resources.
  2. Click and drag the green and red bars to an open window to schedule the meeting at a time when everyone can attend.

    The green and red bars being clicked and dragged so that the meeting fits in a timeslot everyone can attend.
  3. Click Send to send the meeting request to yourself, the room/resource and all attendees.

    The Send button of the Schedule Meeting window.
  4. The meeting will appear in your Outlook calendar.

    The newly-created meeting in the Outlook calendar.

How to add a Resource or Room to Outlook Calendar

You may want to add a resource or room to your Outlook Calendar List for easy reference to that resource.

  1. Click Calendar in the Navigation Pane.

    Outlook Navigation Pane. The Calendar option is selected.
  2. Click Open Calendar in the ribbon.
  3. Click From Room List… in the drop down list.

    The Open Calendar submenu. The From Room List... option is selected.
  4. Click the room(s) you would like to add and click Rooms-> at the bottom of the window. 
  5. Click OK.

    Listing of rooms in Outlook. The desired room should be selected and should be added to the Rooms field at the bottom.
  6. The added rooms will appear in your Calendar List in Outlook Calendar.
  7. To view a Room alongside your calendar, click the checkbox next to its name.

    The newly-added room displayed alongside the user Calendar. On the left pane, under Rooms, the box for the desired room should be selected.

Cancelling a Meeting Request with a Resource

  1. Open the meeting from your Outlook Calendar.
  2. Click Cancel Meeting in the left corner of the meeting window.

    Meeting tab of Outlook. The Cancel Meeting option is selected.
  3. A cancelation e-mail will be send to you and all Attendees. The meeting will be deleted from your calendar and the Room’s calendar.

Last Updated: 20 December 2018

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