Outlook 2010 - Responding to a meeting request

When invited to a meeting, you will receive an email request in your Inbox. 

In the body of the message will be a snapshot of your calendar with the meeting request.

At the top of the message will be a small toolbar where you can do one of the following:

• Accept
• Decline
• Tentative
• Propose a New Time

See: response options explained for further information.

Clicking on the down arrow next to the various responses, gives you further options. For example, you can choose to Accept the request and send a standard email or perhaps to Accept but not to send an email at all.

It is not recommended to Accept or Decline a meeting without sending a response to the organiser. Failing to do this means that the organiser will not be able to tack who is able to attend the meeting.

Please note: A. When you respond to a meeting request in an email, the original request is automatically deleted from your Inbox and the details are added to your Calendar. If you respond to a meeting request from your Calendar (explained below), the email message is not deleted from your Inbox. To have Outlook keep meeting requests in your Inbox even after you have responded, go to: 1. File > Options and then click Mail. 2. Scroll down and locate the Send Messages settings. 3. Take the tick out of the box which reads: Delete Meeting Request and Notifications from Inbox After Responding. B. Don't move meeting requests. Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar. More information...

View the meeting request in Calendar view

You can also choose to view the meeting in your Calendar by clicking on the Calendar icon in the small toolbar at the top of the email message.Your Calendar will open in a new window.

From here you can choose to accept/decline the meeting using one of the following methods:

1. Right-mouse-click on the meeting and select one of the options available to you. 

2. Double-click on the meeting to open it. In the toolbar, on the Meeting tab in the Respond group you will see the options to:

• Accept
• Tentative
• Decline
• Propose New Time
• Respond

See: response options explained for further information.

Keep meetings from vanishing. If you run Outlook on two computers and accept a meeting while using one of them, don't delete the meeting request from the Inbox on the other computer. If the request is still there, accept it again. Deleting a request on one computer after accepting it on another computer can cause the meeting to disappear from your calendar.

Page last modified on 11 may 11 14:19