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Calendaring with Entourage Web Services

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Figure images/calstrip.png [Image showing star screen. Calendar is chosen and 'sharing' from its drop-down menu]

You can use Entourage Web Services not only to access email, but also to use an online calendar that you can access from any Exchange client and that you can give other people access to, and to share contacts, tasks, files and folders with your colleagues. This guide will explain how you transfer events from your existing Entourage calendar on your local computer into the online calendar, how to share your calendar with your colleagues, how to schedule a meeting using Entourage, and how to synchronise Entourage with the Nexus server to ensure your information is always up-to-date and correct.

The following sections assume you have already successfully configured Entourage Web Services to access Oxford Nexus (the Oxford University Exchange server).



1. Sharing Calendars

Using Entourage Web Services with an Exchange account such as Nexus enables you to share your online calendar with colleagues within the University.

To share your calendar with a colleague, control-click on the calendar (it is important you select the calendar listed under your OUCS Nexus account and not your local calendar listed under On My Computer). On the contextual menu that appears, click on Sharing.

Figure images/sharing1.jpg [Image showing how 'sharing' is selected from the Calendar section in Nexus]

The Folder Properties window opens. Make sure the Permissions tab is chosen and click on the Add User... button.

Figure images/sharing2.jpg [Folder Properties window with Permissions tab highlighted]

The Select User window opens. This will permit you to find the user you want to share your calendar with. Enter the user's name in the search box near the top left of the window and click the Find button and select the correct user from the list of suggestions.

Figure images/selectuser-single.png [Select User window with one name in list]

This will return you to the Permissions window. You must now assign specific permissions to this user. To do so, select their name and click on the Permission Level drop-down menu.

Figure images/sharing4.jpg ['Permissions' in Folder Properties where user's permission is 'none']

Select the appropriate level of permissions. For example, Nonediting Author will allow the other person to see the calendar itself as well as individual events and to create new events, but not to edit existing events.

Figure images/sharing5.jpg [Permissions window with permission level drop-down box. 'Nonediting author' selected]

In this example, Nonediting Author was selected and you can see in the screenshot below that Create Items, Read Items and Folder Visible are now ticked. Click OK to complete the process.

Figure images/sharing7.jpg [Permissions window with permission level changed to Nonediting Author]

Private calendar events: Some clients do not fully support private items and your private items may be revealed to those you share your calendar with. Please see the "How private are my private calendar entries?" entry in the Nexus FAQ for more details.

2. Opening Other User's Calendars

As well as being able to share your calendar with colleagues within the University it is also possible for you to open another user's calendar.

Figure images/openotherusersfolder.png [A screen where you specify that you want to open another user's calendar.]

To view the calendar belonging to a colleague, choose [File/Open Other User's Folder...] on the Entourage menu.

Figure images/finduser.png [A screen where you specify the name of the person whose calendar you want to view, and the type of folder (Calendar is selected).]

Click on the Find User icon next to the User input box to choose from the Global Address Book.

Figure images/selectuser2.png [A list of users who match the partial name entered.]

Type in all or part of the name of the person who has shared their contacts with you, and click Find to search. In the resulting list, click on the correct name and then click OK to continue.

Figure images/openotherusersfolder2.png [The user whose calendar you wish to opne.]

Choose the type of folder that you want to view, in this case calendar, and click OK to finish.

You may then see the following message:

Figure images/autodiscover.png []

On this screen tick Always use my response for this server and then click the Allow.

The user's calendar should now appear on the list of folders on the left, and will be opened ready for you to view.



3. Uploading events from your local calendar

If you have previously used Entourage to keep an electronic calendar on your computer, it is likely that it contains events you will need to transfer to the calendar on the Exchange server. In the example below, you can see that on the left, the Calendar that is highlighted is located in the On My Computer folder and therefore on your own machine rather than on the server. Under the highlighted calendar, there is an item Calendar Views. One of the options it offers is All Events. Click on this option.

Figure images/entouragecal1.png [Calendar view]

This should bring up the events that you saw above in week view in the following format. If you have already entered some events in your online calendar as well as in the local Entourage Calendar, ensure On My Computer is selected, as it is below.

Figure images/entouragecal4.png [List of events in the calendar]

Go to the [Edit] menu and click on Select all. This should highlight all events in blue. You can then click on them and, without releasing the click, drag them onto the calendar listed under the name you have given your Exchange account, in the example below OUCS Nexus. The image shows the local events being dragged to the Nexus calendar.

Figure images/entouragecal5.png [Dragging events to Nexus calendar]

If you now open the calendar on the Exchange server - in the image below, this calendar is now highlighted in blue - you will see it has added the events from your local calendar.

Figure images/entouragecal6.png [View of Nexus calendar with imported events]



4. Scheduling meetings

Entourage Web Services allows you to schedule meetings with colleagues. Because you can easily see when someone is free you can plan your meetings accordingly. To schedule a meeting follow the instructions below:

  1. Click on the Calendar icon in the top tool bar.

    Figure images/selectcalendar.png [Calendar icon]

  2. From the top tool bar, click the New button to open the New Event - Calendar screen. You can also get to this screen by clicking the small arrow on the New button and selecting [Calendar Event].

    Figure images/selectnew.png [New button]

  3. On the New Event - Calendar screen, filll in the details such as the subject, ie the title of the meeting, and the location and the time and date for the meeting. You can think of the time and date as being provisional at this stage, later on you will be able to check whether your attendees are available and as a result you may wish to change the meeting date and time according to availability.

    Figure images/newevent.png [New Event - Calendar screen]

  4. To invite colleagues to this meeting click the Invite button in the top menu bar (this is usually the left most button).

    Figure images/invitebutton.png [Invite button]

  5. You will now see a pop up window that allows you to add invitees to your event. As elsewhere in Entourage, when you type in a partial name Entourage shows a list of possible matches to choose from. You can use the Add button within this pop up window to add as many invitees as required.

    Figure images/addinvitees.png [Adding invitees to the event]

  6. Once you have added all the invitees, click the top left box icon or hit return to close this pop up window and return to the New Event - Calendar screen where you will see that the invitees have been added above the Subject. You can now check availability for these invitees by clicking the Scheduling tab to switch from the appointment view to the scheduling view.

    Figure images/scheduling.png [Viewing availability of meeting invitees]

  7. The time, date and duration that you specified originally will be indicated by a purple bounded box in the scheduling view. You can adjust the time, date and duration by using the Start and End fields or by dragging the purple box within the scheduling view. Once you are happy with the time and date, press the Send Now button located on the top menu bar.

    Figure images/sendnow.png [Sending invitation to attendees]

  8. The meeting request wil now be sent to your colleagues and the appointment will be added automatically to your calendar.

5. Where next?

Now that you have seen how to delegate Nexus access using Entourage you may like to have a look at some other Nexus features:

If you have any problems, in the first instance you should contact your local (College or Department) IT staff. If they cannot help then please contact the OUCS Helpcentre for further assistance.

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