If you regularly schedule meetings with multiple participants, you know how time-consuming it can be to find a slot that works for everyone. The back-and-forth emails trying to coordinate schedules can eat up valuable time. That's where the Outlook Scheduling Assistant (or Office 365 scheduling assistant, as you wish) comes in - it's designed to make meeting coordination simpler and more efficient.
In this article, I’ll show you how you can use it in order to make things faster. But it won’t be just that: I also want to give you a word about Zeeg. If you’re into scheduling automation, then you should know that you can go way beyond a simple assistant.
First of all, what is Outlook Scheduling Assistant?
We all know Outlook, part of Microsoft Office 365, for many different reasons. Within its range of tools, there's the Calendar, one of the most popular . And if we go deeper, within the Calendar, we'll find the Outlook Scheduling Assistant - a feature that takes the guesswork out of scheduling meetings. If you’re trying to find a meeting that works for everyone, then think of this as your meeting time finder that shows people’s availability in a single view. When you're planning team meetings, you can instantly see who's free and who's busy without having to manually check individual calendars or send multiple messages.
What makes the Scheduling Assistant in Outlook particularly useful is its integration with your organization's calendar system. The tool analyzes calendar data to:
- Display real-time availability for all participants
- Suggest optimal meeting times that work for everyone
- Check conference room availability
- Handle scheduling across different time zones
- Account for working hours and out-of-office time
It’s also worth noting that the Outlook Scheduling Assistant works hand-in-hand with another helpful feature from Outlook, called Room Finder. While the first focuses on finding available times for people, Room Finder helps locate suitable meeting spaces based on room capacity, location preferences, available equipment and floor or building specifications
How to use the Outlook Scheduling Assistant in the Calendar App
The Office 365 Scheduling Assistant is straightforward to use once you understand its features. Here's a detailed guide to help you use this meeting scheduling software:
1. Create a new meeting
- Open your Outlook Calendar
- Look for the "New Event" button in the top left corner
- Click to open a new meeting window
2. Add meeting details
- A clear meeting title
- Required attendees (these are people who should attend)
- Optional attendees (people who can attend if available)
- Proposed meeting duration
- Location (you can use the “Room Finder” option or select a suggested room from the dropdown menu)
3. Use the Scheduling Assistant
Now it's time to use the team availability checker. Click the "Scheduling Assistant" button in the top menu to access the detailed scheduling view.
The interface will show a grid with everyone's calendar laid out clearly.
And, just to make things clear, your Outlook meeting time coordinator uses a color-coding system to help you understand availability:
Colours may vary, but this is what you should read when trying to understand everyone’s availability:
- Pink sections with crosses indicate out-of-office time
- Light gray sections with dots show when someone is working elsewhere
- Hashed areas represent tentative commitments
- Solid colour blocks mean the person is busy
- Empty white spaces indicate free time
This visual group calendar scheduling system makes it easy to spot when everyone is available.
4. Find available meeting times
The automatic meeting scheduler will help you identify suitable times. You can:
- Scroll through different days to see availability
- Use the AutoPick feature to get suggestions
- Manually select a time that works for most people
- Check room availability simultaneously
The smart meeting scheduler will alert you to any conflicts, helping you optimize meeting time selection.
5. Review meeting details and send
Once you've found a time that works for everyone, take a final look at your meeting details. Double-check that you've included all the right people, confirm the meeting name makes sense, verify the timing, and make sure you've secured an appropriate room if you need one.
When everything looks good, hit the "Send" button to distribute the invitation to all participants. Since you used the Scheduling Assistant to check availability, you can be confident that the time works well with everyone's existing commitments.
How to use the Scheduling Assistant in Outlook Web Version
The Outlook calendar scheduling features are also available in the web version. The steps aren’t much different, but let’s go through them:
1. Access Outlook Calendar online
- Go to Outlook.com and sign in
- Navigate to the Calendar section
- Click "New Event" to start scheduling
- The calendar scheduling interface will appear
2. Set up your meeting
- Enter the meeting title
- Add required and optional attendees
- Set a tentative duration
- Click the "Scheduling Assistant" button at the top
The meeting time optimization features work the same way as in the desktop version.
Can't find the Scheduling Assistant in Outlook? Try these solutions
If you can't find the Scheduling Assistant, there are two common fixes.
First, you might need to update Outlook to the latest version. Head over to the Microsoft Store and look for the Downloads and Updates section. Once there, check for any available updates and install them if you find any. After the installation finishes, restart Outlook and the Scheduling Assistant should appear.
Another possibility is that the Scheduling Assistant might be turned off in your settings. To switch it on, open Outlook and click on File, then choose Options from the menu. Look for the Customize Ribbon section - this is where you can control which buttons and features appear in your Outlook interface. Scan through the list until you spot "Scheduling Assistant," then make sure its checkbox is selected. Click OK to save your changes, and the Scheduling Assistant should now show up in your toolbar.
Best tips to use the Outlook Scheduling Assistant
To make the most of your meeting scheduling software, you should do some things beforehand. Defining your working hours is one; manage your calendar perissions
Define your working hours
Setting up your schedule properly helps the calendar scheduling assistant work more effectively:
- Go to File > Options > Calendar
- Set your typical working hours
- Mark regular unavailable times
- Include time zone information if needed
Manage calendar permissions
Use scheduling policies
Create scheduling rules that help the meeting time finder work better:
- Set minimum meeting durations
- Define buffer times between meetings
- Specify preferred meeting days or times
- Mark focus time when you don't want meetings
Extra tip: Use Zeeg and get your calendar fully automated
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While the Outlook Scheduling Assistant is useful, combining it with Zeeg takes your scheduling efficiency to new heights. Zeeg works as a natural extension of your calendar tools, offering features that complement the Outlook meeting planner.
With Zeeg, not only you have this:
- Automated booking rules that respect your preferences
- Smart buffer time management between meetings
- Multi-calendar synchronization across platforms
- Team availability management with round-robin scheduling
- Custom booking pages for external meetings
You also go way beyond a simple scheduling assistant:
- Combine more than one calendar tool. Your organization can keep using Google Calendar, Apple, Outlook, or all of them - Zeeg simply merges calendars and ensures perfect synchronization with the best calendar apps, preventing scheduling conflicts.
- Use it for internal company scheduling: you can manage your calendar booking rules and your team's shared calendars. You get a booking landing page for your team, with relevant links and, most importantly, the relevant calendars for specific meetings. And you can do collective or round robin meetings, making sure meetings are distributed fairly.
- Use it for external scheduling: you get your own booking pages and calendars and send them to your stakeholders, so that they pick a time that fits your calendar. Struggling to meet a marketing agency or finding a time slot to interview new candidates? Easy, just send them your booking page and let them book in there, or share with them the booking link, or embed the calendar on your pages.
By combining Outlook's Scheduling Assistant with Zeeg, you create a scheduling system that makes both internal coordination and external meeting management simpler and more efficient. Focus on your meetings rather than on the logistics of setting them up.
