Introduction

Computers are designed to help you manage your time in a productive, efficient manner. While day planners can be a great aid in organizing activities, they don't offer the power or flexibility of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. Outlook allows you to track appointments and events during a single day or over larger blocks of time, including business weeks, full weeks, and months.

Using the Calendar feature, you can manage your time by doing much more than circling dates. Among its many features, the Outlook Calendar lets you schedule Appointments (dates that are noted with data referring to that day's activity and do not require attendance by other individuals) and Events (an appointment that lasts 24 hours or more). (Chapter 8 explains how to use the Calendar to schedule Outlook Meetings, which are appointments to which others are invited). Outlook also allows you to share your calendar with others. In Outlook, you view the schedules of your coworkers before you schedule meetings or appointments so that you can determine when all the people in your group are free at the same time.