How to use offline booking of resources in Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2002, and Microsoft Outlook 2000 allow you to schedule a resource, such as a conference room or piece of equipment, without the Microsoft Exchange Server account that is assigned to this resource being online to accept the booking. This article outlines the procedures that are associated with this feature.

How to enable offline booking

Use the following steps to enable offline booking of resources:

1. Start Outlook with a profile configured for the Resource account.
2. In the Folder List, right-click the Calendar folder, click Properties, and then click the Permissions tab.
3. Click Add to build a list of individuals who will be booking appointments for the resource. Permissions should be granted to View and Edit items on the Resource Calendar. The Author Role provides these permissions.
4. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Calendar Options on the Preferences tab.
5. Click Resource Scheduling.
6. In Processing Meeting Requests, click to select Automatically accept meeting requests and cancellations. The remaining selections, Automatically Decline Conflicting Meeting Requests and Automatically Decline Recurring Meeting Requests are optional.

Use the following steps to include attendees and resource reservation in a meeting request:

1. On the Actions menu, click Plan a Meeting.
2. Click Invite Others.
3. In Select Attendees and Resources, click to select Required and Optional attendees buttons.
4. Select the resource account, click the Resource, and then click OK to complete the Attendees and Resources selection.
   
   Note Automatic offline booking of a resource does not occur if you add the resource by using the Required or Optional buttons.