Suggestions to make outlook better

[Cr0n_J0b]

I have two suggestions...and it might be that I just don't know all the ins
and outs of Outlook 2003, but...

1) There really should be a way to make an all day calendar event take up
the whole day. For some people it looks nice to have the event just show at
the top, but I like to block out days so that it's VERY OBVIOUS that no time
is available. A birthday is one thing, but a meeting or god forbid
VACATION...is another.

2) This is my big issue with outlook...PDA support for conference calls!
There should be some type of special handling for conference calls! EVERYONE
has them, they are often recurring...and there are some things about them
that are unique as calendar entries...they have a phone number and passcode
and sometimes some other funky entry points that should be handled in a
special way...Make a template for conference calls that takes into account
the information that we need and use. Include special handling for
webmeetings and web presentations. THIS IS HUGE! I can't believe with the
amount of time that is taken with these special events that there isn't more
in outlook to handle them...Also, as for the PDA, there should be a way to
link the phone number into the WM5 calendar so that i can just click the conf
call and have it dial the number. It's aggrevating to trial to flip between
calendar page and phone page in the phone to connect to a conf line.
3) Insert some simple map features in Outlook. People are forever sending
appointments with addresses, but there is no good way to attach a map...and
again, since there are so many mobile devices, make the maps work when they
land on my PDA...that would be great...and it would help further Microsoft's
mapping agenda.

thanks

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...dcafd&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring

 

[Diane Poremsky]

1. Create the appointment for 12.01 am until 1.59 pm and mark it busy... if
you use an all day event for things like vacations and set you time as busy,
anyone looking at your free/busy will see you are busy all day.

2. I put my passcodes in the notes field of the appointment... outlook
programmers do not write software for pda's - they can't control how the pda
handles meetings or dialing etc.

3. I guess you aren't aware of live search maps? I have no idea if it works
with pda's - there are pda utilities for mappoint, so there might be for
this and pdas.
http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2007/up071213.htm#4

 

[Bernadette]

Also, if you use the "all day" check box, you can still manualy set the
availability from "free" (which is the default) to "busy" or "out of the
office" as you need to....

Another hint for conference calls is to put the phone number and pass code
in the location field - since you don't really need to go anywhere for them
anyway.

 

[Cr0n_J0b]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm aware of the work arounds for most of these issues. My point was to
help Microsoft improve the application. The issue with appointments isn't
that I can't set them as free or busy, it's that they don't take up the whole
page. I know that I can fiddle with the time to make them take up most of
the day...but why? Why not have a simple check box that says "cover all
times with this appointment" or "use reduced format for appointment" or
something. Then I could choose which appointments I wanted to cover the
whole calendar day. I just know when people glance at calendars they
sometimes miss the all day events and sent invites anyway. Then I sometimes
miss the event as well, and have a conflict...

As for the Conf call issue...I do set the passcode in the subject
field...but don't we all agree that this should be added functionality? it's
one of the more important and often used events in my calendar and there is a
lot that can be done to improve it.

By the way if there is a better place to give microsoft direct feedback to
help them improve this application, please let me know.

thanks

 

[Diane Poremsky]

the best way to provide feedback is to open a support incident. If you have
outlook 2007, its free for 90 days. if you work for a corporation with a
support contract ,speak to your admin - they can open an incident.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2007/20070321.htm

keep in mind that unless it a very much requested feature, its unlikely to
be added to future versions. Because the fix is so easy - an appointment
running from 1 min after midnight to 1 min before - its highly unlikely they
will risk adding bugs to outlook for this. If you set the event to busy
(free is default) when users look at the free/busy info before making
appointments, they will see you are busy all day. On your own calendar, an
all day event marked as busy colors the day a darker shade than non-working
hours. It's more noticeable IMHO than marking off hours.