Creating a Meeting

You can use Email and Calendar to create a meeting, to invite others to the meeting, and book the necessary resources for the meeting.

To Create a Meeting

Perform the following steps:

1. Choose File -> New -> Meeting. An Appointment window is displayed similar to that when you choose File -> New -> Appointment, except that the window contains two additional tabs: Scheduling and Meeting.

2. Enter the appropriate details in the Appointment, Reminder, and Recurrence tabs in the Appointment window, as described in To Create a Standalone Appointment and To Create a Recurring Appointment.

3. To enter more details about the meeting, click on the Meeting tab to display the Meeting tabbed section.

4. Select the organizer of the meeting from the Organizer drop-down list.

   Email and Calendar automatically enters the name of the current user in the Organizer text box. If you maintain several Email and Calendar accounts, select the appropriate account from the drop-down list.

5. The meeting attendees are listed in table format. From left to right, the meeting attendees table contains the following columns by default:

   Column	Description
   Attendee	Email and Calendar automatically enters the current user as the first entry in the attendee list. To add another attendee to the list, click on the Click here to add an attendee text below the attendee list. Type the name or email address of the person or group that you want to invite to the meeting, or the name of the resource or room that you want to book for the meeting. If you want to send the meeting information to the attendee, you must type the email address of the attendee in this field.
   Type	Click on the field under the Type column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following types from the drop-down list: Individual Group Resource Room Unknown
   Role	Click on the field under the Role column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following roles from the drop-down list: Chair Required Participant Optional Participant Non-Participant Unknown
   RSVP	Click on the field under the RSVP column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following options from the drop-down list, to specify whether a reply should be sent to the meeting organizer: Yes No
   Status	Click on the field under the Status column header, to activate a drop-down list. Select one of the following status options from the drop-down list: Needs Action Accepted Declined Tentative Delegated

   Press Return to add the new entry to the attendee list.

   To delete an attendee from the list, right-click on the entry in the attendee list, then choose Delete from the popup menu.

   For information about how to change the current view, save the current view, or create custom views, see Using Views.

6. Click on the Invite Others button to create a new entry in the table. Email and Calendar also displays the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog, which you can use to select attendees.

7. Click on the Scheduling tab to display the Scheduling tabbed section. You can use the Scheduling tabbed section to identify a time period when all attendees are free to attend the meeting, and when the necessary resources are available for the meeting. The following table describes the elements in the Scheduling tabbed section:

   Element	Description
   Attendee list	Displays the list of meeting attendees. This attendee list is the same as that in the Meeting tabbed section, except that the Role and RSVP columns are not displayed. You can customize the contents of this table, as described in Using Views.
   Legend	Describes the color codes that are used in the schedule to indicate the following: Tentative: The attendee has another appointment but has marked the time as free, so the attendee might be able to attend this meeting at the indicated time. Busy: The attendee has another appointment and cannot attend this meeting at the indicated time. Out of Office: The attendee is out of the office and cannot attend this meeting at the indicated time. No Information: The attendee has not published their free or busy information, so Email and Calendar cannot determine whether the attendee can attend this meeting at the indicated time.
   Schedule	Displays the schedule for each of the meeting attendees. The time segments for the currently selected time period have a light background, all other time segments have a dark background. The free or busy time for each attendee is indicated by colored squares.
   Invite Others	Click on the Invite Others button to create a new entry in the attendee list. Email and Calendar also displays the Select Contacts from Addressbook dialog, which you can use to select attendees.
   Options	Click on the Options button to display a popup menu that contains the following menu items: Show Only Working Hours: Select this option to change the schedule to show only the work hours in each day. Deselect this option to show all hours in each day. Work hours are defined as the hours between Day begins and Day ends. Show Zoomed Out: Select this option to change the schedule to show a summarized schedule for several days. Deselect this option to show a detailed schedule for each day. Update Free/Busy: Choose this menu item to update the free or busy information in the schedule, for each attendee in the attendee list.
   << button	Click on the << button to highlight in the schedule the previous time period that meets the selected Autopick criteria. Email and Calendar automatically updates the Meeting start time and Meeting end time values.
   Autopick	Click on the Autopick button to display a popup menu that contains the following menu items: All People and Resources: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the specified people and all of the specified resources are free. All People and One Resource: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the specified people and any of the specified resources are free. Required People: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the required people are free. Required People and One Resource: Choose this menu item to highlight a time period when all of the required people and any of the specified resources are free.
   >> button	Click on the >> button to highlight in the schedule the next time period that meets the selected Autopick criteria. Email and Calendar automatically updates the Meeting start time and Meeting end time values.
   Meeting start time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the meeting start date and time.
   Meeting end time	Use these drop-down combination boxes to specify the meeting end date and time.

8. Choose File -> Save and Close. Email and Calendar creates the meeting and then asks if you would like to send the meeting information.

9. Click Yes to send the meeting information to the specified mail addresses.

   Click No to save the meeting information without sending the information to the specified mail addresses. You can send the meeting information at a later time, as described in Sending Meeting Information.