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Live Group Calendar Tools

Even though Microsoft Outlook makes it easy to coordinate meetings with other Microsoft Exchange Server users, there is no built-in mechanism for maintaining a central calendar. Of course, the concept of a central calendar means different things to different people. Some organizations are looking for a centralized view of every person's availability, while others want to keep a common calendar of important company events. 

Quick and dirty method for sending personal appointments to a public calendar when you first create the appointment: Invite the public folder. All public folders have e-mail addresses, even though they may be hidden from the GAL.

If you just need to see other people's calendars easily from within Outlook, try the technique described under To get quick access to team calendars.

The tools on this page support "live" calendaring -- changes to calendars are updated in real time.

Company Events Calendar using an Exchange server application.

  Group Calendar without Exchange | Live Calendar Tools | Static and Do-it-yourself Tools | More Information

Tools in the Spotlight

AgendaX Gives managers, group secretaries and co-workers an instant, web-based view of where people are, what they are doing, and when they are next available. AgendaX incorporates many features that allow you to take advantage of Outlook calendaring, Active Directory attributes and web views to give you the ultimate corporate resource portal. The 'availability' and other vital information relating to co-workers, conference rooms and other facilities can now be viewed at a glance, for the entire year if you wish. No client installation necessary and nothing is installed on Exchange Server. Supports all Exchange Server versions.
Calendar Browser for Outlook Calendar Browser for Outlook is a solution for booking resources of any kind within an organization – from meeting rooms, cars and projector equipment to personnel. Search for free resources, see descriptions and book, all in one tool. Graphical WYSIWYG html editor. Integrated statistics tool. Groupware, for both public folders and mailboxes. Works with Outlook 2000–2007.
OfficeCalendar Share Microsoft Outlook calendar, contact, and task information with this affordable Exchange alternative. Makes Outlook calendar sharing and Outlook group calendar scheduling easy. Works with Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007. OfficeCalendar creates Outlook calendar share folders under each users main calendar folder along with a Outlook group calendar. Free trial is available.

More Tools

CalView View and create appointments for a group of Exchange users in a separate calendar program displaying appointments color-coded by user. Allows you to create monthly printed team calendar reports.
Collaboration Services for Exchange Synchronize GALs and free/busy times securely between organizations. Administrators no longer need to duplicate contacts between several address books and it eliminates the need for users to maintain complex personal address lists. Because it uses the existing Outlook client, no user training is required.
Exchange Central Exchange Central is a client based group calendar offering a user friendly overview of multiple Outlook calendars as well as powerful scheduling and reporting tools. It allows team leaders, receptionists and switchboard operators an easy overview when planning and/or booking resources. Available in Danish, English, French and German.
Group Schedule Simple, unified view of the calendar for a group. For Microsoft Outlook connected to Microsoft Exchange Server, free client utility to display the schedules for a group of users in a color-coded grid. You can double-click any cell in the grid to get more detailed information on a user's appointments. Requires Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange Server and the main Visual Basic 5.0 runtime file, Msvbvm50.dll. Freeware.
GroupCalendar for Exchange Collates appointments from individuals into a group calendar either with or without Exchange Server. With Exchange, you can use a public folder as the group calendar and it will update automatically. Synchronizes automatically when connected to the network. Data is stored in Microsoft Access and can be accessed by other applications. For Exchange 2000/2003.2007 Version 1.4.19
In-Out Board Sample Exchange Server script that uses the Out of Office Assistant settings for each user to generate a list of who's in and out of the office in a public folder.
infoselect Office Calendar Easy free/busy lookup for any individual in the office. Designed for use by receptionists and others who need to know who's in or out.
LOOK Outlook group calendar add-on that integrates with Outlook to offer the user group calendar and scheduling overviews, providing instant access to overviews of the "whereabouts" of groups of colleagues and bookings of resources. Features include real-time views with optional real-time service, features to streamline Outlook group planning and scheduling, extended meeting booking, color code and filter appointments, search multiple calendars, resolve conflicts, export group calendars to HTML, Word, Excel, and more. Available in international languages. Evaluation version available for download
LOOK.WEB Web-based, real-time group calendar solution for Outlook and Exchange offering access to group calendar and scheduling overviews. Benefits are instant access to overviews of the "whereabouts" of groups of colleagues and bookings of resources, such as meeting rooms, web-based meeting booking, including resource booking, and a solution that works equally well whether users are in or out of office. LOOK.WEB can be integrated with Outlook and OWA. Available in international languages. Evaluation version available for download.
Merlinia Outback An advanced in/out board with Outlook calendar integration giving the receptionists a complete overview of "who's out and who's back", both now and in the near future.
Multi-Calendar Viewer for Outlook 2000 Open up to 6 Calendar folders from other Exchange Server users in one window. Requires Collaboration Data Objects, which can be installed through Office/Outlook 2000 setup. Free from Microsoft.
Outlook Team Calendar Free Outlook 2000 or 2002 folder home page application for viewing multiple user calendars from other Exchange Server mailboxes. Includes lots of useful sample code for building other folder home page applications. It's a web page, but it needs to run inside Outlook. Can be localized. Triggers Outlook security prompts.
OutlookInside Contact management tool for Outlook 2000 or later, storing information in an Access database. Tracks correspondence and other items, and shares that data with everyone in the organization. Can associate any contact with any company. Performs merges to Word and keeps a record of the documents created. Maintains a group calendar collating colleagues' appointments.
Outview View combined calendars and schedule appointments for groups of Exchange Server users using a special Outlook form (no server component necessary).
RB Schedule Outlook COM add-in for viewing multiple users' schedules in a single window. Free.
Schedules4Team Share schedule information with one or more groups, with or without Exchange Server, and without the need to enter data in more than one folder. Timeline view can show free/busy time for group. Group calendar can be sorted or filtered by location, name, or group. Works by exchanging information in special email messages.
scheduletime Wallchart addin for Outlook. Supports on-line and remote mail users. Integrates with Outlook to allow others to be invited to meetings. Pocket PC users can also take advantage of the system, as scheduletime also supports Pocket Outlook for Pocket PC's / PDA's.
Sensedesk Team Calendar View multiple Exchange Server mailbox calendars in a unified view, with access to calendar details. Also provides the ability to publish as a web page.
SSW Team Calendar for Exchange 2000 Web-based group calendar view running as .asp pages on Exchange 2000. Shows free/busy time and appointment details. Managers can create new appointments for users from the web view using Outlook Web Access.
TEAM Planning Group planning calendar for Outlook with Exchange Server. Produces reports in HTML format, so you can publish a calendar as a web page. Available in English or French.
WebTeam Central WebTeam Central is an outlook web-based group calendar offering an overview of multiple Outlook calendars along with intuitive scheduling tools. It gives managers, receptionists and co-workers an instant and easy web-based overview of their colleagues. New features include Front-desk view allowing easy access to colleagues business card and calendar information. Work week view providing the optimal overview of appointments during business hours. Improved user interface – user friendly and 'look and feel' of Outlook Web Access. Improved filter, better search and printing functionality.
XC Connect Server-based Outlook collaboration solution for sharing calendar, contacts, and tasks folders, plus free/busy information. Outlook 98 or later.
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More Information

  • Sharing with Exchange Server Public Folders
  • Managing Exchange Server Permissions -- Includes information on granting global Reviewer permission on users' Calendar folders
  • Synchronizing Microsoft Outlook on two machines -- Includes general information on synchronizing Exchange Server mailbox folders with public folders.
  • Sharing with Net Folders
  • This page is printer friendly
    Updated Oct 06 2009

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