Keeping a declined appointment

[JimH (FM)]

Currently one can choose to accept or decline an appointment, or list it as
"tentative." Unfortunately, if one declines an appointment, it is removed
from the calendar. The suggestion is that one be able to optionally decline
an appointment without it being removed from the calendar.

Why would one want to decline without removing the appointment? To keep a
record of the invitation, or to remind one that one should follow up. Perhaps
the calendar is in flux and one may have to accept a meeting previously
declined, etc.

I find that many people (including me) seldom decline an appointment,
because of the side-effect of removing it. Instead, they reply with
"tentative", mentioning in the text that they will not be attending. I then
change the "show time as" value from "tentative" to "free" to help me
remember that I did that.

The problem with doing this is that the meeting organizer can't tell easily
determine the true number of people who have declined. Thus one should be
able to decline an appointment while still having control over whether it is
deleted from the calendar or not.

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[Brian Tillman]

Why would one want to decline without removing the appointment? To
keep a record of the invitation, or to remind one that one should
follow up. Perhaps the calendar is in flux and one may have to accept
a meeting previously declined, etc.

I find that many people (including me) seldom decline an appointment,
because of the side-effect of removing it. Instead, they reply with
"tentative", mentioning in the text that they will not be attending.
I then change the "show time as" value from "tentative" to "free" to
help me remember that I did that.

Why not save it to a separate calendar folder, then? You can display it
side-by-side with your normal calendar, but it won't impact your free/busy
info and it won't notify you, but you'll be able to see it.

 

[JimH (FM)]

Why not save it to a separate calendar folder, then? You can display it
side-by-side with your normal calendar, but it won't impact your free/busy
info and it won't notify you, but you'll be able to see it.

Several reasons... for example: Administrative assistants have many
calendars to look at already; this would double the number. Meetings would
not easily show up on PDA... important if the conflict clears, or your boss
sends you an urgent message that you need to go, or the conflicting meeting
ends early. Some devices have a small amount of screen real estate that would
make it hard to display two calendars. Thanks for your reply.